Four ways to place a new student
Most schools place students with a paper test of their own, a quiz built in a form tool, or the English test of a large publisher. Here is how they differ, as fairly as we can put it.
| Topic | Paper test | Home-made online quiz | Publisher's English test | NGPT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Languages | Whatever you write yourself | Whatever you write yourself | English | English, German, Italian, Spanish, French |
| Questions | The same for everyone | The same for everyone | Often adaptive | Adaptive: 18 to 30 scored questions, chosen for each candidate |
| Marking | By a teacher | Automatic, as a raw mark | Automatic | Automatic, at once |
| Result | A mark and a judgement | A mark you convert yourself | A level or a score on the publisher's scale | CEFR level, score inside it, and the margin |
| Reuse | The paper circulates | The questions circulate | Large protected bank | Bank of thousands, drawn afresh each time |
| Your branding | Yours | Yours | Usually the publisher's | Your logo, colour and wording, with "Powered by NGPT" |
| Price | Teacher time | Your time to build and maintain | Often on request, by licence | €1.99 per test, published, no subscription |
Languages
- Paper test
- Whatever you write yourself
- Home-made online quiz
- Whatever you write yourself
- Publisher's English test
- English
- NGPT
- English, German, Italian, Spanish, French
Questions
- Paper test
- The same for everyone
- Home-made online quiz
- The same for everyone
- Publisher's English test
- Often adaptive
- NGPT
- Adaptive: 18 to 30 scored questions, chosen for each candidate
Marking
- Paper test
- By a teacher
- Home-made online quiz
- Automatic, as a raw mark
- Publisher's English test
- Automatic
- NGPT
- Automatic, at once
Result
- Paper test
- A mark and a judgement
- Home-made online quiz
- A mark you convert yourself
- Publisher's English test
- A level or a score on the publisher's scale
- NGPT
- CEFR level, score inside it, and the margin
Reuse
- Paper test
- The paper circulates
- Home-made online quiz
- The questions circulate
- Publisher's English test
- Large protected bank
- NGPT
- Bank of thousands, drawn afresh each time
Your branding
- Paper test
- Yours
- Home-made online quiz
- Yours
- Publisher's English test
- Usually the publisher's
- NGPT
- Your logo, colour and wording, with "Powered by NGPT"
Price
- Paper test
- Teacher time
- Home-made online quiz
- Your time to build and maintain
- Publisher's English test
- Often on request, by licence
- NGPT
- €1.99 per test, published, no subscription
The first three columns describe kinds of test, not one product; individual products differ, and their makers publish the details.
Against your own paper test
Your paper test has one great strength: your teachers wrote it for your courses. What it costs is the marking, the hour in a classroom, and the fact that a beginner and an advanced student answer the same fifty questions. NGPT keeps the outcome, a decision about a group, and removes the paper, the room and the marking.
Against a quiz in a form tool
A form marks itself, which solves the marking. It still asks everyone the same questions, so it has to be long to cover every level, and it gives a mark that somebody must turn into a level. An adaptive test reaches a finer result with fewer questions, and tells you how sure it is.
Against a publisher’s test
The placement tests of the large publishers and exam boards, such as the Oxford Placement Test, the Cambridge English tests and the Dynamic Placement Test, are well made and built for English. If you teach only English and already work with one of them, theirs may suit you. NGPT is for schools that also teach other languages, want their own logo on the test, and want to pay by the test.
When NGPT is not the right choice
- You need a certificate. NGPT places students. It is not an exam and its result is not a qualification.
- You need speaking assessed by the test. NGPT measures grammar and vocabulary in use.
- You place young children. The questions are written for teenagers and adults who can read the language’s script.
Place your next intake with NGPT
Tell us about your school and we add 10 free tests to your account. Use them on real candidates and see the results for yourself.