FAQ

Every year in November.

There are four competence tests and a pre-test each lasting no more than 50 minutes, plus a student questionnaire which will take around one lesson period. The parent questionnaire takes around ten minutes to complete.

Taking the ÉpStan, i.e. the tests and the questionnaire, is compulsory for all students.

If a class has not had any German courses/lessons or has only recently begun German courses/lessons, the difficulty level of the test may be adjusted or the respective competence test may not be administered. If this occurs, the ÉpStan coordinators must inform us before the test. If students have visual difficulties, we ask that teachers please contact us and let us know the student’s code (not their name!) (info@epstan.lu or +352 46 66 44 49 99). In this event, we can allocate more time to complete the test.

To administer the tests, you will need the class list and the forms with the student codes. You should receive both from your school’s ÉpStan coordinator before the testing process. In addition, to administer the tests you will need the passwords found in the test administration manual.

Pocket calculators, rulers, geometry set squares and other aids are not allowed when completing the tests. We highly recommend that students have a pen and paper available so that they can write down their calculation steps or additional calculations.

Upon request, we will provide you with a link that allows you to simulate a test. If you do not experience any problems during this, you should not have any under real test conditions. However, the actual test materials cannot be viewed before the test itself.

Testing on a computer is not permitted in grade 7. The results of competence tests are to some extend dependent of the administration method, so switching between tablet and computer could skew the results.

The information day for secondary school grades takes place in mid-October. School directors/principals will receive an invitation from MENJE.

At the end of the class list you will find enough additional student codes that you can use. Enter the student’s name next to one of these student codes and forward the amended class list to the ÉpStan coordinator immediately. The ÉpStan coordinator should enter the changes into the itrust portal. If class names are not correct, please immediately contact your school’s ÉpStan coordinator so that they can pass this on to itrust consulting (epstan_ttp@itrust.lu, tel.: +352 26 17 62 12).

Where possible, students who are unable to take the test (e.g. as a result of illness) should repeat it during the testing period under testing conditions that are as standardised as possible. This means that the student could for example take the test another day in another class – but please make sure that the student uses the student code from their own class list.

Please contact the ÉpStan coordinator. If it is only a short time until the test, it can still be administered without the class list. Distribute the sheets with the student codes using the names on the sheets.

Please contact your school’s ÉpStan coordinator. They should reprint the class list and the sheets with the student codes with the names.

The test can also be started by going to the address cbt.epstan.lu (without www) in an internet browser (e.g., Safari).

Check whether the password you wrote on the blackboard is correct and remind the student to type the password in correctly. Make sure that Caps Lock is not on.

If you have technical difficulties of any kind, relaunch the browser and log in again. If this has no effect, restarting the tablet usually works. If this still does not solve the problem, call the university’s test helpline +352 46 66 44  4999). If you have problems with your internet connection, please contact your school’s system administrators. As soon as the technology is working again and the test environment has been re-established, you can continue the test. Any items already completed will still be there, as they are stored on our servers in real time.

Please start by marking the answers in the test booklets. Use the guidelines in the coding instruction booklet. Then transfer your notes from the test booklets to the coding sheets. Mark one cross in each respective box. Please use a dark pen (ballpoint pen, marker or similar) to ensure that there are no issues with machine processing.

Please contact the ÉpStan team (info@epstan.lu, Tel: +352 46 66 44 97 77). We will send you new coding sheets so that you can transfer the results over. Corrections using correction rollers or fluids (such as Tipp-Ex) will make further processing difficult, as these forms can no longer be read by machine.

In grade 1, inverted written numbers (“single digits”) and letters are not counted as incorrect. However, for inverted numbers, it should be noted that only the individual figure may be inverted, not the number as a whole (e.g., “13” instead of “31” should be coded as incorrect, whereas „ε“ for „3“ or „я“ for „R“ should be coded as correct).

If multiple answers are checked, then the task is coded as “0 = student’s answer does not match the correct answer given in the coding instructions”. The code “9 = item was not processed” should only be used for items which actually have not been processed.

Results for the children as well as for the class as a whole will be supplied to you in pseudonymised form. Only you as class teacher will be able to use the class list you received from your ÉpStan coordinator at the beginning of the ÉpStan process to assign real names to the student codes used in the results feedback. Other agencies, such as Directions de région or MENJE, will not be informed of either the results of your class or of children’s individual results.

 You will receive the results for your class (class report) and for individual students (student report) as a download option on the website feedback.epstan.lu.

From experience, data processing and report compilation is completed in February so that you will be able to download your class’ results from feedback.epstan.lu . MENJE will inform you by email in due course.

You may only help students with questions relating to technical processing. Content-related help is not permitted.

The test should not be manually ended or the browser closed before the 45 minutes are up, as this could cause problems in moving on to the next test section. We also aim for test conditions to be as comparable as possible, so all students have 45 minutes to complete the test.

No, students are assigned different tests, on one hand to make copying more difficult and on the other hand to take signs of fatigue into account in the data analysis.