Common Test Items in Kindergarten Testing

posted by Karen Quinn, The Testing Mom - March 27th, 2013

Kindergarten testing is an increasingly common phenomenon and is most often used to measure a child’s readiness to enter kindergarten. Usually, if kids are given a kindergarten test, it’s done while they’re still in preschool and before they actually enter kindergarten. Age 5 is the best time for kindergarten testing to take place.

Knowing what comes out in a kindergarten test is a great way to prepare your child for kindergarten testing. Once you familiarize yourself with the coverage of the test, you will find it easier to practice and get your child ready for testing for kindergarten.

Kindergarten testing evaluates your child’s motor, communication, and social skills. Here are some of the most common items found in kindergarten test materials so you know what to expect going in:

• Letter recognition—By the time your child reaches the age of five, he or she must already know the letters of the alphabet, both in upper and lower cases.
• Sound recognition testing also assesses how well your child can recognize and produce the sounds of the different letters.
• Shape identification – your child must know some basic shapes like circles, squares, and triangles and associate them with objects having such shapes.
• Following directions is another part of a kindergarten test. In this part, the teacher gives directions to your child, such as hop, skip, draw, and many more, to test whether he or she knows how to follow them.
• Listening: The teacher reads a story and then asks your child simple questions about it to test whether he or she pays attention or listens attentively.
• Interview- in kindergarten testing, your child will answer basic questions about himself or herself, such as their name, age, and birthday.

A kindergarten test varies, but these types of tests often come out in testing for kindergarten.

Kindergarten Readiness Testing