Test Department

Drumcondra Primary Spelling Test

The Drumcondra Primary Spelling Test (DPST) is designed to be administered to pupils in first to sixth classes in primary schools. There are two forms of the test at each level: Form A and Form B. The DPST takes 45-50 minutes to administer.

Range of the Drumcondra Primary Spelling Test

Class Level	DPST Level	Form*
First	1	A and B
Second	2	A and B
Third	3	A and B
Fourth	4	A and B
Fifth	5	A and B
Sixth	6	A and B

*Only one form of the test, A or B, can be administered during a testing session.

The DPST includes three item types: word spelling, in which pupils are asked to spell words called out by the teacher; sentence or story completion, in which the pupil is asked to write out the missing words in a text that is also read aloud by the teacher; and error detection ('mistakes') where the pupil is asked to identify common spelling errors in each of several sentences, and to write out the correct spellings. At Level 1, pupils are provided with illustrations corresponding to some of the words they are asked to spell, and are not asked to complete the error detection task.

The content of the Drumcondra Primary Spelling Test was carefully chosen to include both words that pupils would be likely to encounter in the course of the reading, spelling and writing instruction in school, and words that are of high utility (high-frequency words).

The DPST was standardised on a representative national sample of about 2000 pupils at each class level (first to sixth). Test scores can be reported in terms of raw scores, standard scores and percentile ranks. In addition, teachers may wish to use the test-wide scale to track the progress of pupils from year to year, as they complete Levels 3-6 of the test. Suggestions for teaching spelling to pupils who need extra support in this area are also given in the manual. These suggestions are designed to complement those found in the 1999 Primary School English Curriculum: Teacher Guidelines.