Measures of Student Development (MSD)

MSD contains tests appropriate for students at four different levels - middle primary school, the end of primary school, the start of secondary school and middle secondary.

V&Q (verbal and quantitative reasoning abilities),

• A test of verbal (V) and quantitative abilities (Q), presented in the one test booklet.   The testing time is 60 minutes for primary students and 90 minutes for secondary students.

A (abstract reasoning abilities)

• A test with abstract items to allow the assessment of reasoning in a language-free environment.  The testing time is 30 minutes for primary students and 40 minutes for secondary students.

All V, Q and A items are multiple-choice.

W (written communication)

• Students are given a prompt – a picture or a short piece of text - and asked to develop a piece of writing over 30 minutes that demonstrates their creativity.
• The essay score is reported separately from the reasoning test scores.

Schools may choose to use any combination of tests at any level noting that V&Q items are presented in the one test booklet.