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+.

Track progress over time

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.

Quickly identify gaps in number knowledge

As BNST focuses purely on numbers and mathematical understanding, you can use the results to target your teaching:

• Identify the learners who have areas of improvement in number and number operations.
• Drill down and identify the specific mathematical areas learners are struggling with to target your teaching.

Generate quick and accurate data

Quick and insightful, BNST enables you to generate an accurate picture of a leaner's Maths ability. 

• Quick to administer, the test can be completed in 30 minutes.
• Saves time as the test stops once the learner is not able to go further.
• Generate data such as standardised scores, age standardised scores and number ages – enabling you to put the right support in place.

Core features

Parallel Forms:
Track progress over time by re-assessing with the parallel forms. You can administer BNST pre- and post-intervention to assess impact.

Enhanced reporting:
Get actionable insights from your test results like standardised scores by syncing BNST with Boost Insights.

Updated standardisation:
Recently standardised against a representative sample aligned with the DfE's Ready to Progress criteria.