Parallel forms
Track progress over time by re-assessing with the parallel forms. You can administer BNST pre- and post-intervention to assess impact.
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Basic Number Screening Test
A quick, reliable assessment focusing on children's understanding of number and number operations.
Basic Number Screening Test (BNST) is a quick, reliable, standardised assessment focusing on a learner's understanding of numbers and number operations. Delivered orally, BNST accurately reflects a learners’ maths ability by assessing numeracy skills rather than reading ability – perfect for tracking the progress of lower-ability readers, learners who may have suspected learning difficulties and less-able learners who are 11+.
Ages | 5–14 |
Format | Print with digital marksheets and online reporting |
| Updated in 2022 | Restandardised in 2022 for up-to-date data. |
Recommended by Catch Up
Catch Up® is a not-for-profit charity established to help learners who struggle with literacy and numeracy.
They have endorsed Basic Number Screening Tests for over a decade.
Reviewed the the SpLD Assessment Standards Committee
Included in the List of Suitable Test for the Assessment of Specific Learning Difficulties, published by the SpLD Test Evaluation Committee (part of SASC).
BNST is in the category Tests / Screeners for Exploring Sense of Number.
Why choose BNST?
Track progress over time
Quickly identify gaps in number knowledge
Generate quick and accurate data
Flexible, easy to administer and backed up by reports, BNST enables you to track progress over time:
- Parallel forms help you closely monitor the progress of less-able learners at a cadence of your choosing. You can test monthly, termly or yearly to track progress.
- Reports in Boost Insights give you oversight into past performance on the test and areas where learners are improving and not improving.
- Identify whole school, cohort and individual trends to determine areas of success and improvement.
What schools say about BNST
I would really recommend it. From being able to identify learning gaps early on... to being able to easily get clear information about how the children are doing, I think that this is a well thought out, really useful diagnostic tool for schools.
Catrin Tingle Extended Leadership Team Member, Nine Acres Primary SchoolBNST is very useful as a baseline test for interventions and checking the effectiveness of the interventions as there are two strands to the test. It is also useful to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses in children. The test is easy and quick to administer – it can be done in groups/whole classes which makes it time efficient. It is also easy to make and results can be seen in standardised scores or maths age.
SENCo & SLT The Rissington School
Download the brochure
If you would like to learn about use cases for BNST, please download our brochure today.
Core features
Enhanced reporting
Get actionable insights from your test results like standardised scores by syncing BNST with Boost Insights.Learn moreDigital marksheets
Digital marksheets, hosted in Boost Insights, make your marking quick and easy.Updated standardisation
Recently standardised against a representative sample and aligned with the DfE's Ready to Progress criteria.Verbally delivered
Assess understanding of number and number operations, not reading ability by verbally delivering the questions. Learners then write their answers down.
Check out SNAP Maths
If BNST identifies learners who are significantly behind in their maths learning, SNAP Maths can help you to identify other barriers that could be impacting their maths learning including specific maths learning difficulties/dyscalculia and maths anxiety.
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