What to expect from your Kumon assessment

At Kumon, every child’s journey begins with a no-obligation, initial assessment. This is a great opportunity for you to meet your Instructor, discover what your child is currently capable of, and find out more about Kumon study. Have you ever wondered how a Kumon Instructor assesses your child? Here, we take you through what to expect at your Kumon initial assessment, step-by-step.

Step 1: Get to know your Instructor
The assessment meeting is a great opportunity for you and your child to meet your Kumon Instructor. Your Instructor will be working closely with your child throughout their entire Kumon journey – observing, guiding and setting work at just the right level to keep them motivated and making progress.

This initial meeting, whether in-person or online, will be the start of a fruitful and trusting relationship.

Step 2: Your child sits a short maths and English test
Understandably, your child may be a little apprehensive about this part, but our Instructors are experts at encouraging and getting the best out of children. Your Instructor will tailor the test to your child, covering comfortable questions that will encourage them to show off their abilities, as well as tougher questions that may stretch and challenge them.

Throughout the test, your Instructor will make careful observations, not just on your child’s academic understanding, but also their study skills and attitude to learning; everything from posture and technique, to concentration and confidence.

Step 3: Test feedback
Your Instructor’s observations, along with your child’s test scores, will help your Instructor build up a comprehensive picture of your child’s current abilities as well as areas for development.

Your Instructor will feed this back to you, and determine a suitable starting point in the Kumon programme for your child. Starting points at Kumon are purposefully set at a level that covers already-familiar work, to develop confidence and allow for the development of other important skills. 

Step 4: Goal setting
By this point in your assessment meeting, your Instructor will have a clear idea of suitable short and long-term goals for your child.

Short-term goals will include initial skills to be developed whilst the work remains academically straightforward for your child: such as posture, speed, and carefulness. Longer-term goals will include your child’s study projection for the coming months: the level of the programme your Instructor expects your child to reach, how long that will take, and the skills they’ll develop along the way. These skills will benefit your child across all subjects at school.

Step 5: Discuss the keys to Kumon success
Your Instructor will also discuss with you how Kumon Study will fit into your family life. Kumon is a long-term study programme, so committing to good habits from the outset will set your child up well for future success.

For your child, this will involve habits such as daily study and remembering to time their work. As the parent, you’ll need to facilitate a routine, mark your child’s work daily if using traditional paper Kumon, and occasionally be their study motivator as they work towards becoming an independent learner.

Demet, a parent who recently attended an online Kumon assessment meeting with her daughter, says;

“The Instructor made my daughter, Almira, and I feel so comfortable. She was very quickly able to understand my daughter’s skills and needs and picked up so much about her in such a short space of time. The Instructor clearly explained to me the study plan she wanted to put in place for Almira. She gave Almira a starting point that would be comfortable for her and reassured us that this would motivate her and build her confidence up at the beginning.

Since we joined Kumon, the thing that has impressed me the most is how quickly the Instructor has understood my daughter. She individualises her approach with Almira and I can see how she is benefiting from that. Almira is already getting quicker and is eager to take on more difficult work. It’s been so great to be able to depend on someone professionally, in something as important as learning maths.”

Since the benefits of Kumon study build up over time, there's never a bad time to contact your local Instructor to book your initial assessment meeting. Click here to find your closest study centre and set your child on their path to success!