Skill assessments are criterion-based assessments intended to validate the skill level and ability of a learner.

See Assessments overview and comparison for more about other assessments available through Pluralsight Skills.

Overview

Skill assessments help verify that a learner meets Pluralsight-defined skill outcomes. These assessments are criterion based, meaning they measure an individual learner’s mastery of a topic rather than comparing them to peers learning the same topic.

A skill assessment uses a testing framework with a cut score— a threshold of correct answers a learner must achieve in order to pass a particular assessment. To encourage meaningful learning over rote memorization, the cut score isn’t shared with learners or leaders.

After completing an assessment, learners receive course personalized recommendations to improve their knowledge and prepare them for their next attempt. They can also review their previous results to see how far they’ve come.

Skill assessments also provide valuable analytics to leaders via the skill assessment analytics page.

Format of a skill assessment

Skill assessments are multiple choice or multiple selection and are timed at the assessment level. The timer starts when the assessment begins and ends when the assessment is completed or time runs out. The time allowed depends on the number of questions. Some learners may finish the assessment before the allotted time expires. During the assessment, the learner has the opportunity to take a break.

Learners can retake the assessment as many times as they wish as long as they still have access via their Pluralsight plan and the assessment remains available. Each assessment has a 7 day retake frequency , meaning learners must wait 7 days between attempts. Unlike Skill IQ assessments, skill assessments don’t have immediate do overs.

Finding and taking an assessment

To find an assessment, click the Skill Assessment tile on the learner home page. If you don’t see this tile, check that you are using learner navigation on the navigation menu. The assessment tile takes you to the skill assessment details page for that assessment. This will show you the time allowed for the assessment, the type of questions (multiple choice or multiple selection), and the number of questions. You’re also reminded of the break and retake policies.

Before starting the assessment

Skill assessments measure your proficiency and are timed and closed book. You should only take skill assessments on your own account.

Though you’ll have an opportunity to take a break during the assessment, it's important to limit interruptions within your control, such as silencing notifications and ensuring your internet connection is stable. You may consider blocking out a specific time just to take the assessment so you are less likely to be interrupted or distracted.

Before you begin, ensure that:

• You’re taking the assessment as yourself using your account.
• You aren’t using any resources or notes during this assessment.
• Your internet connection is stable.
• You silence all interruptions so you can focus fully on the assessment for the allotted time.

Starting the assessment

Once you’ve ensured you and your environment are ready for your attempt, you can take your assessment.

To take an assessment:

1. Review the number of questions and time limit listed before clicking Start.
2. Review the assessment requirements, then click Start assessment.
3. Answer each question by selecting an answer(s) from the options provided, then click Next.

4. When you’ve completed the last question, click Submit and finish.

Taking a break

You’re allowed one break per assessment attempt to handle unexpected interruptions or emergencies. This break stops the timer for the assessment after you click Start break and log out. You’ll have 24 hours to return and complete the assessment attempt.

To start a break during a skill assessment attempt:

1. Click Take a break. You’re given a time and date when you must return to finish your assessment attempt.
2. Click Start break and log out. You’ll be logged out of your Pluralsight account.

To return to your assessment attempt:

1. Navigate to the skill assessment page.
2. Click Resume on the assessment you’re attempting. You’ll see the remaining time and number of questions in the assessment.
3. Click Resume assessment.
4. Continue with the assessment.

Understanding your results

At the end of your attempt, you’ll be taken to assessment results page, where you’ll see:

• Outcome
• Score and questions correct
• Recommended courses
• Past attempts table

Revisit your score, recommendations, or your attempt history by reopening the assessment and clicking View past results. If you want to attempt the assessment again, a new attempt will unlock after seven days since the previous attempt was completed.

Outcome

Your outcome is how you did on the assessment. An outcome can be passed, not passed, or expired.

• Passed: you achieved or exceeded the cut score required. The cut score differs between assessments.
• Not passed: you didn’t meet the cut score required.
• Expired: the timer elapsed before you completed and submitted the assessment. No score or questions correct are recorded or displayed.

Score and questions correct

Your score is calculated by the number of questions you answered correctly to the total number of questions. Each question is worth one point with no half points for partially correct answers. You’ll see this score displayed as a percentage and as a ratio.

You won’t see the minimum required cut score of how many correct answers are required to pass the assessment. This threshold differs between assessments.

Recommended courses

Improve your understanding of the assessment topic by reviewing concepts you missed with links to relevant video course material. If you answered all or most of the questions correctly, you may not see any recommendations.

Past attempts table

Review your previous attempts via the past attempt table. View your scores, questions you answered correctly, outcomes, and the dates the data was recorded. See how far you’ve come or where you need to go by sorting any of the table headers.

Leaders on your plan can see some of this information, including the results of your last attempt and how many attempts you’ve made at that assessment. Leaders can’t see which questions or concepts you missed or your course recommendations.

Analytics for skill assessments

Leaders can see analytics for skill assessments for their learners. Analytics for skill assessments are separate from the larger analytics experience and are only accessible through individual skill assessments.

To access analytics for a skill assessment, open the assessment, then click View analytics. This button only appears if you’re a plan admin or team manager and takes you to the skill assessments analytics page.

The skill assessments analytics page shows all skill assessments that learners have attempted. To see a particular assessment’s analytics, click the title of the assessment.

Each assessment arranges analytics into data at a glance and learner data in a table. The data at a glance shows overall results for that particular assessment. The table shows learner attempts with a row for each learner who has attempted the assessment. Click on any column label to sort by that field, and click again to toggle between ascending and descending.

Skill assessment analytics display the following:

• Total attempts: the number of attempts made by learners on the team plan for this assessment.
• Assessment completions: the total number of times the assessment has been finished before the timer elapses.
• Unique learners: the number of individuals who have attempted the assessment.
• Learners passed: the percentage of learners who have passed the assessment, calculated by number of learners who passed against unique learners.
• Name: the name of the learner
• Outcome: the result of the learner’s latest attempt (passed, not passed, expired).
• Best score: the highest score that the learner has achieved expressed as a ratio of correct questions to total number of questions. This may not be the most recent score.
• Best score date: the date the learner achieved their best score.
• Time spent on best score: the amount of time the learner took to complete the assessment.
• Total attempts: the number of times the learner has attempted the assessment.
• Analytics filter: the filter that allows leaders to limit the assessment analytics by time frame.
• Export: button to export the table as a .csv file.

Common solutions