Diagnostic Assessment
A grade tells you where they are. It doesn't tell you why
A predicted grade, a mock percentage and a school report all describe the same thing: the outcome. None of them say which specific pieces of knowledge or technique produced it. That is the gap the diagnostic closes. The paper is written by us and mapped question by question to your child's own specification, so what comes back describes them against the exam they will actually sit, not a generic student.
£30 each additional subject
Free for the subjects we tutor
What the diagnostic finds
The sub-skill, not the topic
A school report says "algebra needs work". That is not actionable. The diagnostic names the actual failure point: rearranging formulae with negative indices, or balancing symbol equations with state symbols. You can revise a sub-skill. You cannot revise a topic.
Knowing versus showing
Two students lose the same six marks for different reasons: one did not know the content, the other knew it and wrote an answer the mark scheme could not credit. Those need opposite fixes. The diagnostic separates them, question by question.
Exam technique losses
Marks dropped to incomplete working, misread command words, unstated units or answers that stop one step short. These are the cheapest marks in the paper to recover, and the ones most commonly missed because they never look like a knowledge gap.
Written for their exact specification
We write the paper ourselves against your child's board and tier, so every question is one their examiner could actually set. It samples the whole specification rather than the topics recently taught at school, which is what surfaces the older gaps quietly undermining current work.
What is already secure
Just as useful as the gaps. Knowing which topics are genuinely solid stops revision time being spent on content that is already safe, which is where most independent revision goes wrong.
A priority order, with reasons
Not a list of everything that is wrong. A sequence: what to fix first, what depends on it, and what can safely wait. Where content builds on earlier content, the order matters more than the effort.
What you receive: two documents, written the way we would brief a tutor
These are not auto-generated score sheets. Each is written after marking the paper by hand, and they are the same documents an Ascera tutor would work from if you went on to book sessions.
The Diagnostic Report
A topic-by-topic picture of the whole specification, rated for how secure each area is, with evidence drawn from your child's own answers rather than general observation. Where a topic is weak, the report names the sub-skill responsible.
Written, not generated
Every paper is marked by hand and every report written from that marking. There is no scoring algorithm and no template paragraph describing a student who could be anyone.
Specific enough to act on
The test we apply to every line: could a parent or a tutor sit down tomorrow and work on this? "Weak on moles" fails that test. "Cannot convert between mass, Mr and moles when the equation needs balancing first" passes it.
The Focus & Session Plan
The report says what is wrong. This says what to do about it, in what order. Content at GCSE and A-Level builds on itself, so fixing things in the wrong sequence wastes effort: there is no point drilling rates of reaction while the underlying mole calculation is still unreliable.
A recommendation, not a sales pitch
If the honest answer is that your child needs a fortnight of focused revision at home rather than paid tutoring, the plan says so. A report that recommends lessons every time is not a diagnostic.
Yours to keep and share
The documents are yours regardless of what you decide next. Families regularly share them with school tutors and subject teachers, which is exactly what they are written for.
Inside the report: every topic, rated and evidenced
The core of the Diagnostic Report is a table covering every topic the paper sampled. For each one you see what your child actually did, precisely where the marks went, and a status telling you how much attention it needs. Nothing is described in general terms: every judgement is tied to a specific question on their own paper.
Read this page as text
| Topic | What they did | Where the marks went | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Specific heat capacityQ1, 3 of 11 | Attempted the calculation and a written description of the method. | Wrote the equation upside down, temperature change over energy, giving 0.002 instead of 920, so the whole 3-mark calculation was lost. The method description scored 1 of 6: apparatus not named, measurements not stated. | Priority |
| WavesQ5, 2 of 10 | Identified transverse motion correctly and attempted to measure wavelength and amplitude. | The "measure wavelength, frequency and speed" answer scored 1 of 6, with no clear method. Confused amplitude with mean height: amplitude is measured from the mid-point, not averaged across the peak readings. | Priority |
| Forces and elastic energyQ6, 7 of 14 | Elastic potential energy calculation, energy-transfer explanation and the spring investigation. | Did not convert 1.2 cm to 0.012 m, so the answer came out as 6210 J instead of 0.61 J. Used "potential difference" where they meant elastic potential energy. Did not answer how the compression is measured. | Develop |
| Resistance and unitsQ3, 10 of 12 | Correct circuit diagram, correct resistance calculation, suitable resistors selected. | One loss only: 450 mA was not converted to 0.45 A, so the resistance came out as 0.006 ohms instead of 6. The same unit habit as Q1 and Q6. | Secure |
| Motion graphs and work doneQ7, 7 of 7 | Distance from the area under a speed-time graph, then work done and mean force. | Nothing lost. Full marks, and the spring-constant-from-gradient work in Q6 was also full marks. Multi-step graph analysis is a genuine strength and does not need revision time. | Strength |
And the habit sitting underneath three of those rows
Maths under pressure: rearranging equations and converting units. This is the single most expensive habit on the paper. The specific heat equation was written upside down, 450 mA was not converted to 0.45 A, and 1.2 cm was not converted to 0.012 m. The same pattern then shows up in Chemistry mole ratios and Biology rate calculations, so it is one fix that recovers marks across all three papers rather than three separate ones.
This is a page from a Diagnostic Report exactly as it was sent to a family, with the student's name removed and nothing else altered. The full report covers all three sciences to this depth, and is followed by the Focus and Session Plan setting out the order to tackle it in.
How it works: four steps, about a week end to end
Nothing is posted and nothing needs to be arranged around a tutor's calendar. The paper is sat at home at a time that suits, and apart from one short call at the start, everything happens by email.
A short call first
We confirm the exam board, tier and year group, and check a diagnostic is actually the right thing. If your child has just started the course and there is very little to assess yet, we will say so rather than take the booking.
They sit the paper
We send the paper we have written for their board and tier. Sat at home under timed conditions, in one sitting, closed book, sampling the full specification rather than recent topics. Completed papers are photographed or scanned and sent back, so nothing needs posting.
We mark it by hand
Marked against the board's own mark scheme conventions, with every dropped mark categorised: a knowledge gap, a method error, or a technique loss. That categorisation is what makes the report specific rather than descriptive.
Report, plan and a recommendation
Both documents arrive together, yours to read in your own time. The recommended route is set out in writing alongside them, and any questions you have afterwards are answered in full. There is no obligation to book anything, and no follow-up sales call.
What each subject includes, and what it costs
Each subject gets its own paper, its own marking and its own written report. The Focus and Session Plan then covers the student rather than the subject: everything assessed is sequenced into one order of work, so the priorities are ranked against each other instead of arriving as separate lists. Subjects assessed at the same time are charged at the rates below.
| Subjects assessed | One-off fee |
|---|---|
| One subject | £50 |
| Two subjects | £80 |
| Three subjects | £110 |
| Each additional subject | +£30 |
Free with tutoring, for the subjects we tutor. If you book lessons, the diagnostic is not charged for those subjects. A family taking Biology lessons who also wants a Chemistry diagnostic pays the £30 additional-subject rate for Chemistry. There is no cap on the number of subjects, and there are no credits or bundles to keep track of.
