Professional Skills (QTS) Test Practice

• About the QTS
• QTS Literacy Test
• QTS Numeracy Test
• Preparing for the QTS Professional Skills Test

About the QTS

The Department for Education (DFE) has assembled the Professional Skills Test (QTS) to assess your ability to become a teacher.

The QTS is divided into two sections: numeracy and literacy. These sections cover a total of six different test areas.

QTS Literacy Test

The literacy test is divided into four sections: spelling, punctuation, grammar, and comprehension. You have 48 minutes to complete this portion of the test, and it is worth between 41 and 49 points. The reason for the range is that the grammar section of the literacy often varies in the number of questions.

Spelling 

This section consists of an audio test. You are required to spell words that you hear in the audio. The words you encounter on the audio are related to both everyday use and professional use as a teacher. Moreover, you are presented with ten sentences, each possibly containing a mistake that you will have to identify and correct.

Punctuation

This section assesses your ability to punctuate correctly. You are presented with a passage varying in length (approximately 150-200 words long) and containing 15 punctuation errors.

In this section, you must insert the correct punctuation where it is needed. However, you are not required to rewrite any part of the passage.

This is an essential part of being a teacher as many tasks in your profession require you to have a precise eye for detail and an excellent editorial hand.

Grammar

This section measures your ability to identify the differences between passages that are grammatically correct and passages that are grammatically incorrect. During this section, you are presented with four sentences, and must complete a paragraph correctly.

Comprehension

This section concerns itself with reading and understanding official passages. You are requested to demonstrate your ability to recognize main points, make distinctions between facts and opinions, and draw conclusions, among many other skills.

This section of the exam consists of a complex passage and follow-up questions.

QTS Numeracy Test

The QTS Numeracy Test can be divided into two sections: mental arithmetic and written arithmetic and data. You have 48 minutes to complete the test and 28 questions to solve in this time frame.

A key element to succeed in this section is to practice your numeracy skills. We recommend practicing all four operations, whether they involve fractions, decimals, whole numbers, or a mix. This is an excellent way to avoid wasting time with simple calculations. Moreover, by knowing how to quickly and accurately perform operations, you can avoid simple mistakes that could lead to an incorrect answer.

Mental Arithmetic

The mental arithmetic section consists of an audio test and requires headphones. This section measures your skills in solving arithmetic problems involving the four operations, fractions, decimals, percentages, conversions, measurement, and problems with time.

Written Arithmetic and Data

The written arithmetic and data section consists of a series of problems. This section measures your ability to understand, use, and interpret the data presented in order to compare and contrast, interpret information, and identify trends.

Here, it is key to understand not only which precise calculations will be required to answer the question, but also how to interpret the relevant data and more easily ignore less-important details in an otherwise complex graph.

Much like in the mental arithmetic section, you will be tested in time-related and money-related problems, in addition to proportion and ratio, conversions, average, and range.

Preparing for the QTS Professional Skills Test

It is imperative to pass the QTS Professional Skills Test in order to become a teacher. Therefore, it is crucial to be properly prepared.

This can be easily achieved by starting with ample time. Organize all the study materials you have in an orderly fashion and plan a formal, regular study session each day. Some people benefit more from having continuous study sessions where they study for hours, whereas others prefer to have short sessions with short breaks (for example, five-minute break for every 30-40 minutes of study).

This is, of course, personal and you should try studying with the techniques that work best for you.

Start by reading all the study guides to refresh the knowledge required in every area. Summarize these tips so you may focus only on understanding the logic behind every question, and later reproducing said logic.

Read all the explanations carefully. You can test yourself by trying to rewrite the explanation in your own words.

You can retake all the tests as many times as you want. Use this to your advantage, remember the questions that you have found more challenging and try revisiting them. You can track your progress using our score reports.