Placement Test

Hello Andrea! My name is Lisa Krueger and I am a Khan Academy Ambassador teaching in Chicago. Unfortunately, there is no placement test for students. The Khan Academy grade level missions included all skills associated with that grade level. If your student is easily working through the content perhaps you should start him on a higher grade level. I have a few 4th grade students who have worked through the 4th & 5th grade content and are now working on 6th grade content. I also feel review is not necessarily a bad thing. Hopefully this helps. Please let me know if you have any further questions, comments, or suggestions. Thank you for posting. 

If I remember right, way back when I started using Khan with my students, there was a placement test.

It seems like back then it was more about learning math, regardless of grade level. The implication seemed to be that grade level was irrelevant, and that it was the foundation that mattered.

Now when I put my third graders on Khan, the process has become so cumbersome, with all the extra screens and things to fill out. And the one greatest thing I loved about Khan, which was the individualization that put each learner in a different spot, seems to have vanished. Now they're forced to specify a grade level, and that's the math they get, whether they're ready, or more advanced, or not. I've already got that option, which hits about 1/3 of my class, with the district math program. 

Sort of ranty maybe, but the site used to be so good for those of trying to target students one by one.

I really miss it. And now we're looking for alternatives.

There was a placement test years ago, and each student was then placed on their personalized star chart to help them learn what they were missing.  Unfortunately that seems to be gone and it seems not having a placement test is a step backwards. I wish they would add it back to easily individualize math better for my students.

Hello all! If your areas take the NWEA then you maybe interested in the MAP Recommended Practice pilot program which allows users to input their NWEA scores and then the system generates practice skills in the 4 domain areas to help them show growth on the assessment. Additionally, there are Course Challenge for every grade level that students can take determine what they need to work on within a grade level (see image below). Please let me know if you have any further questions, comments, or suggestions. Thank you for posting. 

The issue is that the grade levels on Kahn don’t line up exactly with a state’s standards. That means that in Kahn, a certain math lesson might come in say grade X in the classroom, but be in grade x-1 or x+1 on Kahn. As such, just having a kid progress through on one year’s level until it “seems too easy” may have a kid missing a lot of key material. An assessment/placement test would help identify the areas of deficiency or inadequate knowledge, so that conceivably a kid could push on topics with their classroom, but then revisit material that hasn’t been mastered. This becomes a big issue when the unmastered topics are algebra-related, because that has perhaps the most cumulative components of any math track.

Please bring back placement test. It really helped me realize what I do and do not know. I'm not here learning specifically for school. I'm here learning to learn and having that test helps me know what I do know and what I need to learn. I am in college but I'm not studying this to pass a test I want to learn everything I can. I miss the placement test and personally believe taking it away was a bad move. If some people don't like it make it optional so thoes who do want to take it can but it doesn't affect how the site operates if you don't wish to take it. Knowledge is power and now I have to go through every section and take the unit test instead of just taking one over all test, it's tedious and makes my learning take longer. 

I can't believe you guys don't have a placement test.  I have been very frustrated so far because we keep trying to find where my child is...oh you already know that...try the next one...the next one... etc.  It's really cumbersome and frustrating.  What if you have a child who is advanced or behind for their age/grade?  Please please please get a placement test.  I think is would be a small thing that makes a HUGE difference.

I would like to figure out where to start in my mathematics. I am very excited to find the Khan academy, and inspired and motivated to learn about physics and chemistry. However, I understand that the language of both sciences is based in mathematical principals that i do not possess.

Mathematics is not inspiring to me! Doing the work to go where i want to go is however. My problem is I have no idea where to start and stay efficient and feel rewarded in my progress. I cannot use a grade level, as i have had a very broken childhood and only gotten very small bits and pieces of education from the third until the eighth grade. And nothing after.

I would like to find out where to start. Is there any direction you can provide? Maybe a outside resource?

Thanks!

I work in an extended engagement high school program with transition-age (18-22) students with special needs. Math skills in my classroom range from pre-kindergarten addition to High School Algebra. A pretest or placement test would allow me to easily find my student's skill levels and then individualize the work that they are doing. KA could be an ideal place for me to create differentiation in a universal design sort of way if there was a way for me to get them set up at their current skill level. As it is now, it looks like I will have to find there skill levels another way and them set them up individually and not as a single class. I realize that my problems pertain to a limited number of users on KA, I just wanted to put my vote in for a return to placement testing on KA.

Thank you, Hal

As a high school math teacher, I would just like to add my recommendation to bring back the placement test.  I think that the course mastery is a helpful tool, but there's nothing like being able to see "exactly" where to start. 

We have used Kahn Academy and since we homeschooled for 2 years, my son got really far in math. He was in 4th grade last year when he went back, he's so far ahead on specific things that it becomes very boring. Also being in the process of moving from CT to SC, Kahn was where we were going to pick back up, but WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PLACEMENT TESTS!?! Please bring those back ASAP!! Such a huge help!

I also would really like to see the placement test brought back. My wife is planning to go back to school this fall, and her biggest obstacle has always been math. I suggested Khan Academy because I remembered a few years ago trying out their math program and having the really useful placement test, but now it isn't there, and it seems like it would be quite a burden to go through every single math course to figure out, for example, what 5th grade math skills she needs to brush up on, and what 7th grade skills, etc, etc. I would really appreciate the individual placement part as an option again.

I see countless requests for placement tests and individualizations for a tailored program that suits the individual and not the group yet I see no feedback or changes from Khan Academy in the past 2 years of requests. My daughter is going to 10th grade and shifting from a local Swiss system into the private international one yet has no clue which classes she needs to brush up on since there is no clear matching of her old classes with the new, only an assessment test would be able to do that for her. Bring it back please! Can’t be too hard to program that, it’s really quite simple once the content is there. Thanks!

+1 for a placement test!

I want to make sure I understand all fundamentals - but have no clue where to start. I don't want to have to go through tons of videos that aren't relevant to me. 

A placement test would be a highly valuable feature. Please implement it :) 

I used Khan in it's inception for students to get placed and work forward at their own right pace. It was glorious. For once, it felt like work for mastery and not just the same skills and drills you can get anywhere. I have continued to send countless people here and none of them had the heart to tell me there was no placement test. I just look foolish and Khan just looks like every other IXL or ALEKS program. 

Why take out something so useful to the underlying goal of pursuing math to competency and filling in learning gaps? 

Why ignore such valuable feedback from those of us who represent exponential other users with our recommendations? 

Please re-implement the placement test. It already exists. It is so very helpful. 

Ok Kahn! WE NEED THE PLACEMENT TEST IMPLEMENTED once again, because without the test, your videos are currently extra help and not able to actually be classes any longer. How do we just plug our kids in at a grade level when you literally have thousands of students all on different levels of learning? PLEASE!

I need to chime in here as well.  We have used Khan Academy off and on for many years for our oldest kiddo, and had great success matching the coursework to her skill levels.  However we are now trying to use it to help another child who has significant learning disabilities and is many grade levels behind in most areas - she is enthusiastic to practice math skills outside of school, but her skills are so scattered and so far off grade level, we have no idea where to start her in Khan.  Without a placement test, it is nearly impossible to get useful work out of the system for a child like this.  It's a shame because it should be such a useful tool to support kids who don't fit the typical grade level mold. PLEASE bring back the placement test.

Wow, I can't believe they removed the placement test. I come back to the site after a couple years to try to resume studying math, but I have no idea where I should start at this point. It's a little infuriating. It makes the site much less helpful.

So many years without a placement test, very disappointing to see there still hasn't been one added considering all the comments requesting the feature. This would certainly make the site more user friendly and customizable.

Khan, any news on returning placement testing??

PLEASE bring back the placement tests.  I'm an adult trying to refresh and advance my math skills for a prospective career.  I remember taking your math placement test years ago and it being SO helpful.  I believe back then your math was also categorized by subject rather than by grade which was far more useful.  I'm no longer in any grade.  I need to find and study specific skills and Khan USED to be GREAT for that.  Please listen to the many teachers, parents, and students in this thread all asking for you to simply bring back THE feature that MADE Khan better than every other math study resource.

I am an adult attending college in my 40s. I need to brush up on math to prepare for college-level math courses. A placement test would help me know what I need to brush up on. Please bring back placement testing. 

It's quite strange to not have placement tests. Has anyone found a third-party placement test that seems alright?

Khan Academy, do you have ANY plans to reinstate the useful and NEEDED math placement test you used to offer? Do you have a suggestion as to where I could find something equivalent? Your site is useless to me and many others without it.

Hi, I have been using Khan on and off for the last 4 years, and have continuously  recommended Khan Academy to anyone who'll listen. It comes to a shock and surprise that the ability to take a placement test has been taken away. Now that I need to study more in-depth, specifically math and Language arts, as I prepare to take the military entrance exam I find it very disappointing and frustrating that I can not go in and retake or in this case, take, the placement test. 

Was there a main reason for sunsetting this feature? Was user feedback taken into consideration when your team made the decision to scrap the placement test overall? Is there any hopes that it will be reintegrated into the platform or an updated version of it? 

Would love to have these questions as well as the other users questions answered. 

Thanks.

+1 for bringing back placement test! 

I'm surprised with all of the requests above, that there hasn't even been an explanation about why the placement test was removed. 

I vote for a placement test as well!! :) Please reconsider!