The PAT:Listening Comprehension is a test for Years 3-10 assessing a student's comprehension of texts read to them. It uses short stories, extracts from novels, poems and nonfiction items. Because the student is listening rather than reading, their response provides information about meaning making that is independent of their ability to decode text. 

PAT: Listening Comprehension offers teachers the unique ability to assess students’ understanding that more than one meaning can be made from a piece of text. Because students are listening instead of reading, their response informs teachers of the level of text they have the cognitive ability to understand. Placed alongside PAT:Reading Comprehension, it will give teachers a better understanding of their students’ thinking about texts.


  • Multiple tests reflect expected progress through the curriculum. Teachers choose appropriate tests for students well above or well below - these students do not need to sit the year level test.
  • Student-centred and relevant, giving an immediate picture of how students are achieving and progressing against the curriculum. Provides trustworthy evidence of achievement, useful for transition data of students’ learning pathways.
  • Curriculum progressions built into multi-choice questions supporting teachers’ moderation and analysis of curriculum levels and needs.
  • All Students arepositioned  on the one scale no matter which test they sit. Teachers can correlate the scale position with a curriculum level and measure scale progress over time against expected scale benchmarks. This allows for accurate school-wide and/or CoL-wide reporting for strategic goal setting and planning.
  • CoL/multi-school analysis reporting for trends, patterns and shift using ethnic, gender and year level filters for targeted improvement in teaching and learning.