Click here to download this Spelling Placement Test as a PDF.
Assessing your Student's Spelling Competence
- This program is designed for students ages 9 and up. If your student is younger, begin with All About Spelling.
- There are three levels of the The Phonetic Zoo program: Level A (primary), Level B (intermediate), and Level C (highest). By giving your student one or more of the three spelling tests below, you can determine at which level he/she should begin.
- Do not allow your student to see or study these tests before you give them since it would interfere with the accuracy of the placement.
- When you administer the test to the students, do not repeat the words in sentences or give definitions unless absolutely necessary.
(For a student in grades 3–5, give Test I. For students in grade 6 or higher, begin with Test II.)
Spelling Placement Test I (for students in grades 3, 4, & 5)
| spend | flight | carried | view | obtain | beg | lining |
| enjoy | travel | repair | prison | family | kitchen | nephew |
| visit | rapid | clock | helper | fortune | clerk | nineteen |
| usual | beautiful | empire | engine | hungry | through | vacation |
| complaint | favor (favour) | mayor | loss | husband | white | room |
| auto | entrance | wait | election | amount | degree | passenger |
| awful | importance | trouble | department | human | noticed | quiet |
| guest |
Scoring
- Missed 0-6: give Test III.
- Missed 7-16: give Test II.
- Missed 17-32: begin with the Phonetic Zoo Level A.
- If you find that the Test I words are too difficult for your student or if the student missed more than 33 words, we recommend All About Spelling.
Spelling Placement Test II (for students in grades 6 and up)
| guess | estimate | automobile | required | really | biscuits | commence |
| circular | accident | various | refer | celebration | bruised | compete |
| argument | invitation | decide | minute | folks | burglar | deceive |
| volume | accept | entitle | ought | ache | business | discoveries |
| organize | impossible | political | absence | amusement | changeable | electricity |
| summon | concern | national | conference | approval | chimney | error |
| official | associate | recent | Wednesday | banana | choir | exceptions |
| victim |
Scoring:
- Missed 0-6: begin with the Phonetic Zoo Level C.
- Missed 7-32: begin with the Phonetic Zoo Level B.
- Missed 33 or more: begin with the Phonetic Zoo Level A.
Spelling Placement Test III (high school and beyond)
| immediate | architecture | exquisite | persevere | athletic | antique | orchestra |
| convenient | development | peculiar | repeated | extreme | bicycle | parliament |
| receipt | beneficial | financier | rinsed | practical | calendar | precipice |
| preliminary | contagious | intelligent | treachery | proceed | decision | restaurant |
| disappoint | artificial | mistletoe | familiar | cordially | accuracy | seized |
| especially | distillery | opportunity | appreciate | character | digestible | surgeon |
| annual | employees | emergency | sincerely | February | mucilage | thoroughly |
| committee |
Scoring:
- Missed 33 or more: begin with the Phonetic Zoo Level B.
- Missed less than 32: begin with the Phonetic Zoo Level C.
Click here to download this Spelling Placement Test as a PDF.
