1.1 PEP Framework, Components & Placement

1.1 PEP Framework, Components & Placement

Quick Answer: The Primary Exit Profile (PEP) is Jamaica's national assessment of how well students have mastered the National Standards Curriculum (NSC) in Grades 4, 5 and 6. It replaced the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), was first sat by a Grade 6 cohort in 2019, and its scores are used to place students in high school. Grade 4, Grade 5 and Grade 6 results count for 10%, 20% and 70% of a 400-point placement score.

From GSAT to PEP

Until 2018, Grade 6 students were placed in high school mainly through the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), a one-time examination. A Ministry review of GSAT that began in 2009, together with the new National Standards Curriculum (NSC) introduced in schools from 2016, led to the Primary Exit Profile (PEP). The Ministry explains that PEP assesses what students know and how well they use 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, communication, creativity and collaboration. Instead of a single test day, PEP collects evidence across Grades 4, 5 and 6 to build a profile of each student's strengths, weaknesses and readiness for Grade 7.

PEP is run by the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information (MoESYI). Its Exam & Assessment Administration Services Branch produces the official test-preparation publications, and every year's arrangements are announced in Ministry bulletins on the PEP website (pep.moey.gov.jm).

The Three Components

1. Performance Tasks (PT): curriculum-based tests that ask students to apply concepts, principles and procedures to solve a problem set in a realistic scenario. A Grade 6 Performance Task test has four to six questions of mixed types, such as multiple-select multiple choice, table grids, order-match items, short constructed answers and extended writing.
2. The Ability Test: not based on the curriculum. The Ministry says it measures a student's ability to reason with words and quantities (verbal and quantitative reasoning). It is sat only in Grade 6.
3. Curriculum-Based Tests (CBTs): tests that sample Grade 6 NSC content in Mathematics, Language Arts, Science and Social Studies. CBT items range across Depth of Knowledge (DOK) levels 1 to 3, from recalling facts to short chains of analysis and evaluation.

In Mathematics and Language Arts, the Performance Task score and the Curriculum-Based Test score are combined to show a student's overall achievement of the NSC in that subject.

What the Full Suite Looked Like (2025)

The 2025 Grade 6 cohort's profile used tests taken in three different school years:

On the multiple-choice papers, students shade one option (A, B, C or D) on a separate answer sheet. The 2025 CBTs sampled Language Arts content up to Term 2, Unit 2; Mathematics up to Term 2, Unit 4; and Science and Social Studies up to Term 2, Unit 3. The revised 2025 dates were: Ability Test on 20 February; Performance Task tests on 19 March (Language Arts) and 20 March (Mathematics); and CBTs on 30 April (Language Arts and Science) and 1 May (Mathematics and Social Studies).

The 2026 Adjustments After Hurricane Melissa

Hurricane Melissa, which the Ministry called an unprecedented Category 5 hurricane, severely disrupted schools in late 2025, especially in western Jamaica. A January 2026 Ministry bulletin and the PEP FAQ set out these changes for the 2026 administration:

Grade 6 students did not sit Performance Tasks or the Science and Social Studies CBTs in 2026, and the tests were built from a modified curriculum (Term 1, all units, and Term 2, Units 1 and 2). The 2026 Grade 6 results were released on 22 June 2026.

Weighting and the Placement Score

The Ministry publishes this split by grade level. Its bulletins do not give a fixed percentage for each separate Grade 6 paper, so every Grade 6 test matters. Scores are converted to standard scores and combined into composite scores, which are used to rank students for placement.

The Four Achievement Levels

PEP results describe performance in four achievement levels, from lowest to highest:

1. Beginning: the student shows limited mastery of grade-level skills and needs substantial support.
2. Developing: the student shows partial mastery and needs targeted help in some areas.
3. Proficient: the student meets the grade-level standard.
4. Highly Proficient: the student exceeds the standard and applies skills confidently to new problems.

How High-School Placement Works

1. Seven choices: the PEP registration form gives seven school choices. The first five may be any school across the island; choices 6 and 7 must come from the cluster list of schools printed on the form.
2. Ranking: each student's composite score is ranked against all other candidates, and computer placement starts with the highest-ranked student.
3. Preference placement: the student's choices are checked in order. A school is assigned if it matches the student's gender requirement (for single-sex schools) and still has space.
4. Cluster and proximity placement: if the first five choices are full, the two cluster choices are checked. If those are also full, the program uses the Ministry's proximity list of receiving schools for the student's primary school.
5. Manual placement: any student still unplaced is placed by the Ministry's regional representatives.

The Ministry advises parents to choose schools based on the child's interests, abilities and needs, the programmes offered, safety, and travel distance and cost, rather than on reputation alone.

Special Accommodations

Students with documented special needs may receive accommodations such as extra time; a reader, writer, prompter or shadow; preferential seating; breaks; interpreters or linguistic aides for students whose first language is not English; and large-print or braille papers. Parents apply through the school or directly to the Ministry with a psycho-educational report, a medical report or, for language support, a school letter. The Ministry's FAQ sets a six-week window for submitting these documents, so confirm the exact deadline with the school early in the year.