ICAS Year 8 test

The breakdown of the results into categories and being able to drill down into what [skills] questions were actually assessing has been very well received by teachers. The comments were generally along the lines of: ‘We don't often get a lot of detailed data for our top students to assist in extending their knowledge and identifying gaps in their knowledge.’

Get rich data on how your students’ are performing

ICAS is an internationally-recognised competition that has been completed by millions of students across the world. It includes rich information on your students’ strengths and weaknesses, which when used with other assessment data, can help you to build a clearer picture of their abilities.

The ICAS Year 8 tests are created by experienced teachers, psychometricians and education measurement experts, and are curriculum-based to ensure your students are being tested on relevant skills.

What the ICAS Year 8 test reveals for your students

How your students compare against the nation, the rest of the school, and their classmates.

Whether your students’ performance is going up or down.

Your students strengths and weaknesses, clearly marked on the results report.

When you need to set up extra classes for gifted and talented students.

Which students may need a little extra work, or which need support.

Whether your students’ skill levels are on par for their grade.

ICAS Year 8 test subjects

ICAS exam pages change depending on the year level and country. To find the Year 8 exam papers for your country, please see our exam papers by year level page.

English

The ICAS Year 8 test for English covers four key skills:

Text comprehension
Syntax
Writer’s craft
Vocabulary

To test these skills, students may be expected to identify modal objectives, match words with contexts, examine the use of voice and tense, and more.

Mathematics

The ICAS Mathematics Year 8 competition tests areas such as numbers, patterns, space, chance, shape, and more. Students may be asked to use formulae to calculate areas, classify properties of shapes and plot co-ordinates on graphs.

The goal is to stretch their abilities with curriculum-relevant skills, some of which may be beyond their grade.

Science

The Year 8 assessment for ICAS Science covers four broad skill areas: observing/measuring, interpreting, predicting/concluding, investigating and reasoning/problem solving.

Students are tested on these skill areas with topics such as energy & change, life & living and earth & beyond. They may be asked to identify the different parts of cells, show that they understand the structure of Earth, and more.

Writing

Every ICAS Writing Year 8 test uses the same method and marking rubric as every other year, but students’ entries will be marked according to their expected skill level.

There are two forms of writing that are included: persuasive and narrative. Students are marked on their application of genre, textual grammar and syntax/punctuation.

Prepare your Year 8 students for ICAS with past papers

If you’re looking for an effective way to prepare your students for ICAS, check out our past papers. They contain genuine former questions and answers that are excellent for practice.

All year levels for ICAS

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Year 7

Year 8

Year 9

Year 10

Year 11

Year 12

Start getting insights into your students’ performance today.

Much more than a competition, ICAS gives you rich data on how your students are performing. When combined with other assessment data, you can build a vivid picture of their needs.