Te wā | Timing

The whole assessment, including administration, is designed to take no more than 60 minutes to complete which includes introducing the assessment and talking about the writing task. 

The students have 40 minutes for the test. We suggest:

  •  5mins for planning 
  • 30mins for writing
  • 5 mins for editing.                   
  • Reassure ākonga that there is only enough time for approx a 1pager - students are encouraged to write at least 10 sentences - there must be at least 50 words, 3 pieces of punctuation, and the five reflection questions answered before the auto-scoring will takeover.
  • If the student closes their browser before clicking Finish their response will not be scored

Ensure you have PREVIEWED (see below) the assessment first


Introducing the writing assessment

  • Login and choose the Preview button - red circle
  • Ensure all ākonga are looking at the screen with the title Planning | Whakamahere. Read the text on the screen and talk about the writing task and images with your ākonga. This can involve ākonga talking in different groups and as a whole class. You can make links between learners’ lives, the task and images, and to your classroom experiences of writing.
  • The images are illustrative only—encourage ākonga to write to the task. Please do not make a written record of the discussion, and do not let ākonga type in the planning screen until you have finished talking about the prompt. You want to evaluate the ākonga skills in planning as per the expectation in the NZC English Curriculu

It may take some ākonga 40 minutes or less. The assessment does not include a built-in timer. Kaiako should use their discretion if ākonga need more time to finish their test however the national reference data is based on a 40minute timeframe.




Generating tokens

To generate a set of unique token codes for your ākonga:

  1.  Select the PAT Tuhituhi assessment from your dashboard. 
  2. Select the Manage Learners icon next to the assessment name. Your tokens will open in a new window. These can be printed as a PDF, cut into individual strips, and then distributed to learners.


Running the assessment

1. Give the URL https://www.nzcerassist.org.nz/login to ākonga (this can also be found on the tokens) and wait until everyone has found the site.

2. Ask ākonga to enter their tokens and click sign in. They will see a welcome screen that asks them to confirm their name. If the name on the screen is correct, ākonga should click the “Yes” button. If the name on the screen is incorrect, check that they are using the correct token.

3. Ask ākonga to open the menu [see Accessibility features, above] and explore the available font and contrast options. Tell ākonga that they should use the arrow buttons within the assessment task, instead of the arrows in their browser toolbar, to move through the task.

4. Read through the online tools and assessment statement screens with ākonga.

5. Make sure ākonga know how to use the scrolling function. When it is necessary to scroll to see a text, a grey bar appears at the edge of the screen. Moving the cursor onto the bar will make it appear darker and more noticeable. You may also need to help ākonga resize their browser window if they are using a smaller screen.


Supporting ākonga to complete the writing assessment

Provide ākonga with up to 40 minutes to complete their planning, writing, and editing. 


Emphasise to ākonga:

• this assessment is all about their current writing skills

• they should try their best to write at least a paragraph

• they should use only the tools provided in the platform.