What is Doodle Placement?

What is Doodle Placement and when should I use it?

Updated over a week ago

Doodle Placement is a time-saving, stress-free alternative to traditional tests. It identifies each child’s learning gaps and ensures that their Doodle work program is at just the right level for them. When a child first starts using Doodle, our clever algorithm, Proxima™, will ask them a series of questions to determine their current level and confidence. This helps Doodle to create them a unique work program tailored to their strengths and weaknesses. Placements are broken up into short sets of exercises. These can be completed in school or at home, so learners can answer them in relaxed conditions in their own time.

We recommend using Doodle Placement once a year for children in Kindergarten and Grade 1, and at the start of each semester for pupils in Grades 2 to 6. Additionally, If you think the program is not at the right level for a student (they are finding it too easy or too difficult), you can reassess the account by using Doodle Placement.

The number of questions a child is asked in Doodle Placement for DoodleMath will depend on their age and consist of the following:

  • Children under the age of 4.5 will go through two sets of five questions

  • Children age 4.5-7.5 will be asked eight sets of five questions

  • Children age 7.5 and above will be asked ten sets of five questions


How to do it?

  1. Head over to the Educators Dashboard and hover over Work programs and select View placement.

  2. Select your class from the drop down box in the top left hand corner.

  3. When toggled onto Class overview, click Set class placement and select the students you'd like to reassess.

  4. When toggled onto Student view, select the student's name from the box on the left hand side and click Set placement to start a Doodle Placement for just that student

Next you need to ask your pupils to log in to Doodle. They will see a purple placement icon in their Learning Zone. When this icon is selected, children will be asked for their date of birth and confidence rating. We recommend that an adult inputs these details.

It’s important that the confidence slider is set as accurately as possible so the placement will begin at roughly the right level for a child. If it isn’t set correctly, they may initially be asked questions which are too challenging for them, which could shake their confidence.

We recommend using the following as a guide:

Set it right next to Difficult if they’re working below their year group and set it right next to Easy if they're working above their year group. Set it in the middle if they are working at average in their year group.


How long does a Doodle Placement take to complete?

The length of the placement will vary depending on a child’s age and ability.

Younger children and/or those with a low confidence rating will complete a shorter assessment.

Children may be asked up to ten sets of five questions. These don’t need to be completed all at once and can be broken up over a number of days to fit with the recommended 10 minutes of Doodling a day, whether in school or at home.

After completing the first set of questions, they’ll be taken to Doodle’s hub, the Learning Zone. They can start the next set of exercises in the calibration by pressing the purple Placement icon when they’re ready.


How to answer questions

Encourage children to work independently through the questions and have a go at anything they’re unsure about. Helping them may cause the program to become too challenging.

Questions are unlikely to be at the right level to begin with, so don’t worry if they’re finding them too hard or too easy. The purpose of the placement is to find their correct level.

If a child is finding the questions too easy:

  • If they answer the questions quickly and easily, each set of questions will become more challenging until they’re at the right level for them

If a child is finding the questions too difficult:

  • Encourage them to have a go or skip any questions they’re unsure about

  • If they take a long time to answer questions, take multiple attempts, answer a question incorrectly or skip any questions, Doodle will know that the level is too high. It’ll decrease the difficulty with each question set.


How will I know when a Doodle Placement is completed?

Children will know when they’ve completed their Doodle placement as the placement icon will not appear as their next exercise in Doodle.


Please check out this page with a helpful step by step guide and support sheet for teachers to use when completing a Doodle Placement with their class.


💡 Need more help? Feel free to contact our lovely customer support team by using the chat bubble in the bottom right corner of the screen, they will be happy to help!


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