We’re now in the lead up to ICAS Assessments, which begin in just over 2 months. Preparing for the assessments helps your child put their best foot forward on the day. We will be posting a series of tips for the six different papers over the coming weeks, including a special post on the use of the ICAS locked-down browser.
Today, we start by looking at general tips and tricks to prepare for ICAS, regardless of the papers your child is registered for.
The general topics and skills covered by the assessment
We suggest that you and your child become familiar with the major topics assessed in each subject they will be sitting. You can view the lists of topics covered for each subject and year level on the ICAS Assessments website here.
ICAS Assessments are designed to cover the crucial foundations for each subject, so the topics covered should be ones your child has studied in school. For some subjects, such as English, the papers are split into three (English, Writing, and Spelling Bee), whereas others are standalone subjects (such as Maths and Science).
Getting used to the digital assessment environment
The ICAS Assessments are run via a digital environment. To minimize hurdles and reduce extraneous cognitive load on your child as they sit the assessments, get them used to this digital environment by doing a few practice questions. ICAS Assessments provides digital sample tests on their website for each subject and level here. This is most important for younger students who may be less practiced using digital testing environments.
Familiarity with their device
Students sitting ICAS Assessments at Focus Education must bring their own device for the assessments. The device should pass the technical readiness test provided on the ICAS website here.
Make sure your child is familiar with how to operate the laptop or iPad they will be using. Students should know how to:
- Turn the device on and off
- Access settings and connect to a WiFi network
- Use the keyboard and mouse or trackpad
- Open a browser window and type in a URL to access a website
While we provide all the support we can in the testing environment, the more familiar students are with these tasks, the better their assessment experience will be.
Reviewing past papers
If you and your child wish to revise subjects in preparation for the ICAS Assessments, a key way to do this is to purchase complete past papers for the relevant subjects and year levels. You can purchase these via the ICAS Assessments shop here.
Note that past papers are only available for 2020 and earlier, in order to preserve the academic integrity of the real assessments. Past papers are also only available for Science, English, Maths, and Digital Technologies. The most recent batches of ICAS past papers in PDF format contain skill descriptions for each question, allowing you to identify skills your child may need to work on, as well as auto-marking options.
Revision classes
In addition to past paper practice, your child may benefit from targeted revision classes to prepare specifically for ICAS 2025. These classes are available from Focus Education in addition to normal tutoring. In ICAS revision classes, students are taught about the structure of the ICAS papers, how to interpret question intent, strategies for success, and targeted activities to strengthen any weak spots in your child’s knowledge and skills. Contact us if you wish to find out more.
Time management and stress
For some students, ICAS Assessments can be their first experience of external standardized testing. They may feel pressure or anxiety to succeed, and uncertainty about what to do on the day. A significant reason to sit ICAS Assessments is to gain more familiarity and confidence in the process of standardized testing and their own ability to cope with these environments. As students experience these challenges frequently in high school and university, building skills of time management and resilience is very helpful.
In the preparation phase of ICAS, you can assist your child by creating time limits on their practices, looking at their results and discussing with them how to deal with time pressures and expectations. Encourage them to see the practice as a discovery process, rather than a judgement. This will help your child experience the ICAS Assessments in a positive, motivated frame of mind and thereby display their skills and knowledge in full.
Final notes
Being prepared for an assessment is crucial for a student’s success, mental wellbeing, and lessons learned from the experience. We encourage all students who are registered for ICAS 2025 to follow these tips and tricks, and wish you all the best for your assessments this year!
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