Time Zones Placement Test: To the teacher

Teacher’s Notes
The Time Zones Placement Test will help you decide which level of the Time Zones series will be most
suitable for your students. There are two parts to the test:

1. Grammar and Vocabulary. This section has 50 questions.

2. Listening. This section has 10 questions related to 5 audio tracks.

The sections can be done in either order. If you are short on time, or if you don’t have an audio player, you
can skip the Listening section.

Instructions
1. Photocopy the Student Placement Test and a blank Student Answer Sheet for each student.
2. Distribute the Answer Sheet first. Tell students that the questions are all multiple choice, and
they should darken the correct letter for each question on this sheet. Next, distribute the
Question Sheet. Students should not write on this sheet.
3. Students take the Grammar and Vocabulary portion of the test. You will need to determine
how much time to give them. If they are able to answer every question, it may take them as
long as 40 minutes. However, because the questions increase in difficulty, some students
may find they finish the questions they are able to answer in a shorter amount of time. Note
that the scoring system below assumes that students will answer every question.
4. For the Listening Test, explain to students that there are 10 questions, but only 5 audio tracks. For
each track, they will answer 2 questions. Students mark their answers under "Listening" on the
blank Answer Sheet. Play each track in order, one time only, pausing between tracks to give
students time to record their answers.

Scoring
Use the separate Teacher Answer Key to give each student a score out of 50 for the Grammar and
Vocabulary Test, and out of 10 for the Listening Test.
Decide which level of Time Zones would be most appropriate for your students, using the following
guidelines. It is possible that some students may get different levels for the two sections. This is normal—
some students may have stronger listening skills than their reading abilities, or vice versa. In such cases you
will need to use your judgment—probably by choosing the lower of the two levels.
Grammar and Vocabulary Listening
Student Score Appropriate Level of Student Score Appropriate Level of
(indicates total Time Zones (indicates total Time Zones
number correct) number correct)
19 or below Starter 4 or below Starter
20–26 Book 1 5 Book 1
27–34 Book 2 6–7 Book 2
35–42 Book 3 8–9 Book 3
43 and above Book 4 10 Book 4