Bracken (BSRA)
Bracken School Readiness Assessment
The Bracken School Readiness Assessment checks whether a young child knows the basic concepts that school takes for granted. Some private schools and kindergarten programs use it, and it is often part of a wider early-years assessment.
The examiner shows a page of pictures and asks the child to point, so no reading or talking is needed beyond understanding the question.
- Ages
- 3 to 7
- How it is given
- One-to-one, by a psychologist, speech therapist or trained teacher
- How long
- About 15 to 20 minutes
What it measures
- Colors
- Letters
- Numbers and counting
- Sizes and comparisons: bigger, longest, same and different
- Shapes
What you can do
- Name colors, shapes and sizes in everyday life: 'pass me the biggest red cup'.
- Count steps, snacks and toys; point to letters on signs and in books.
- Practice pointing to an answer in a picture book when asked a question.
Practice for the same skills
None of these is the Bracken (BSRA). Each one builds a general skill it draws on, in a short, friendly format your child can try at home.
- CogAT KindergartenPicture questions read aloud, no reading needed: the kind of puzzle young children meet one-to-one too.Try it
- NNAT KindergartenShape and color patterns with no words, for children who are not reading yet.Try it
- Matrices-style, KindergartenColored picture patterns with six choices and no clock.Try it
Practice the skills, not the test
These tests are given in person by a trained examiner, and their questions are kept private: publishers do not sell them to families, and nobody can lawfully offer the real items. Nothing on this site is taken from them.
Drilling a child on copies of the questions would not help either. A result is only meaningful if the questions are new to your child, so a rehearsed score can place them in a program that does not fit, and a psychologist may set it aside.
Other tests
- WISC-V
- WPPSI
- Stanford-Binet 5
- KABC-II
- KBIT-2
- RIAS-2
- WASI-II
- Woodcock-Johnson and WIAT
- SAGES-3
- Raven's
- Spatial Test Battery
- Torrance and CAP
Test names belong to their publishers and to the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. Scholar Tests is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them, and nothing on these pages is taken from a test. Ages and times are the publishers' published ranges; editions change, so check the details with the person giving the test.