| Question | Answer |
| What does “endorsed and certificated by the University” actually mean? | The quality and reliability of the tests is aligned with the standards and expectations of the University of Oxford, a world-leading institution. Students will also receive a certificate signed by the University, which is recognized and respected globally. |
| How will I know when our school’s results are ready? | You will receive an email from us once the results are available. This email will include instructions for accessing the results and certificate. |
| What do the reports show? | Visit the results page for more information. https://support.oisa.oup.com/teacher-support/results/reports-an-interpretation-guide/. |
| Parents at our school are not used to standardized scoring – do you have any documentation to help explain it to them? | Yes, this document is designed to be shared with parents alongside the Student Report or the Certificate to support their understanding of standardized scoring and what the results mean for their child. |
| Will the students receive certificates? | Once an individual student has received results for all their subjects, their certificate will be released on the platform within 24 hours. |
| Will there be a certificate for each subject or one for all subjects (if more than one is taken) | Students taking more than one subject get one certificate that holds scores from all their subjects, all in one place. Certificates can be exported in bulk at Class level for ease of use (or one at a time). |
| When will certificates be available? | Both reports and certificates will be available at the same time. For this early access phase, this will be 15 July. |
| Can we see how a test-taker answered a particular question? | To preserve the integrity of the test for future sessions, test-taker responses are not available. |
| Can we see scores for individual questions or for the test papers that make up each subject? | We do not publish question-level or test-level scores, to preserve the integrity of the assessment for future sessions. The Oxford International Standardized Assessments report holistically on attainment at the subject, domain, and subdomain levels. Each domain is assessed across the several tests that make up each subject, so it is not possible to report meaningful results at test level. |
| What are the score thresholds for each of the subdomain performance bands? | Across the various subdomains, different raw scores equate to the same performance band, This is because, in order to cover curriculum learning objectives, certain subdomains may be represented by greater numbers of questions than others, meaning a comparison of scores between subdomains may be misleading. As such, instead of publishing score thresholds, we map all scores proportionally to the performance bands. Threshold proportions may vary between subdomains and year by year, depending on the relative difficulty of the tests. |
| Why do I not have scores for this student? | Results are available where a set of responses was submitted for all of the mandatory tests that comprise a subject. If a student did not submit one or more of the mandatory tests in a subject, they will receive no results, even if they did submit one or more of the other mandatory tests. |
| Why might a student’s results be lower than expected? | If a test-taker did not complete all questions on a test, or submitted a blank response on one of the tests in the subject, the test-taker will still receive results, but may attain a lower standardized score relative to the rest of the cohort. During this year’s assessment window (March-May 2025), test attempts that were not actively submitted at the end of a test session were included in results if there was evidence that any time had been spent on the test by the student. As such, for example, a student who opened a test but did not answer any questions will have received a raw score of zero for that test, which will affect their overall standardized score for the subject and the domains assessed on the test. |
| Where are the scores for familiarization tests? | Familiarization tests are intended solely to allow schools and test-takers to experience the platform. Results are not returned for these tests. |
| Can students from online schools take OISA remotely? | No. OISA must be taken on site according to the invigilation conditions set out in the user guide, so that all students complete the assessment under the same supervised conditions. This ensures fairness and consistency and protects the reliability of the results each year. |
| Why are all/some of my students in a class named Year 6 of Year 9? | If a student was imported with no class data they have been placed into a class for their relevant year group determined by the assessments they were enrolled into. |
| Why does the date range of when our assessments took place not align with when assessments actually happened? | In some cases, students left test attempts open and did not submit them during the test session. When this happens, the latest date shown in the range reflects when we manually submitted the most recent attempt for that year, class, or student. |
| How are the assessments protected against malpractice? | As the Oxford International Standardized Assessments are primarily intended to provide schools with accurate information on students’ attainment, malpractice limits the value of results to schools in which it occurs. Invigilators are responsible for ensuring that appropriate exam conditions are observed, as set out in the user guide. OUP monitor continuously for potential malpractice, using both automated and manual checks. In cases of potential malpractice, OUP may withhold results and will exclude candidate answers from the standardization dataset. Students are asked at the beginning of each test to state that they have not used AI or model answers, or engaged in other forms of malpractice. Where teachers cannot confirm that this statement is true, scores of zero may be awarded. |
| What happens if a candidate is ill/ misses a test? | The student must still take all tests for that subject in order to achieve a subject result but there may be a delay to other student results return for the same assessment. It is advisable not to schedule assessments too close to the end of the test window for this reason. |
| Can I apply for Special Consideration if child is sick or disadvantaged in any way? | This is not really needed at mid-stakes assessment. As teachers, you know your students best so we leave it up to your judgement. |
| Why does the Familiarization test need to be taken 5-10 days before the first test? | Taking the Familiarization Test well in advance serves two important purposes: 1) It allows learners to experience the digital format and question styles without the pressure of a real assessment, helping them feel comfortable and prepared. 2) It ensures smooth test administration. It gives schools time to check equipment, internet connectivity, and test conditions. If any issues arise, there’s enough time to resolve them before the actual assessment. |
| How does the difference in English proficiency between high‑proficiency and low‑proficiency groups taking e.g. a maths test affect the meaning and interpretation of standardization? | During the piloting of the Oxford International Standardized Assessments and the subsequent standardization process, we determined which questions were taken by both types of English proficiency students and then excluded from this year’s tests any questions where there was a marked difference in performance between the two groups. And by analyzing the pilot data and excluding questions where there was evidence that lower proficiency speakers were unduly disadvantaged, we have controlled the effect of English proficiency to a reasonable degree and arrive at a more levelled comparability of scores. |
| Are there any past papers available? | Oxford International Standardized Assessments is not designed to be high-stakes . In line with the Oxford International Curriculum’s commitment to student wellbeing, it does not require extensive preparation or repeated practice. Its value lies in the insights it provides into students’ current attainment, helping schools support learning more effectively. To help students and teachers feel confident, familiarization tests are included with the purchase. These allow schools to explore the test-taking process – getting used to the digital testing environment and the format of the questions they will encounter, without focusing on specific subject content. Additional sample content available demonstrates the style, format, and level of challenge across subjects. Over time, we will publish additional sample materials using questions retired from the annual assessments. This will help build a useful bank of demonstration content for schools. |