How Skill Levels Work

Levels, not grades

A percentage score is easy to misread. A 50 can sound like a failure when it is a perfectly good result for a junior role. So skill results on PreCheckd are shown as a level, and what a level means is the same for every candidate and every skill.

The levels

• Foundational: you handle the core, entry-level questions for this skill.
• Intermediate: you handle the everyday, working-level questions.
• Advanced: you handle working-level questions and can solve some of the hard ones.
• Expert: you handle the hard questions reliably.

Two other states are shown only to you: Developing, when the core questions weren't passed yet, and Provisional, when a test didn't ask enough questions to set a level. Neither is shown to recruiters.

How a level is set

You climb each skill one step at a time. You start with a short Basic test. Pass it and you earn Foundational, and the Intermediate test unlocks. Pass that for Intermediate, and the Advanced test unlocks. A test counts as passed when you get at least 60% of its questions right (for example 3 of 5, or 2 of 3). Your level is the highest step you've reached: the Basic test for Foundational, the Intermediate test for Intermediate, a solid showing (at least a third of the questions right) on the Advanced test for Advanced, and passing the Advanced test for Expert.

Nothing is lost by stopping at a level. You keep what you've earned, and you can come back to climb further. Some skills are still tested as a single test with easy, medium and hard questions, and the same 60% rule applies to each difficulty.

You can open any skill on your profile and choose See by difficulty to see how you did in each tier.

Why levels depend on the step, not a percentage

Answering easy questions correctly is not the same as answering hard ones correctly. Setting levels by step means a level reflects the difficulty of what you can do, not how many questions happened to be on the test.

What recruiters see

• Only skills at Foundational or above, and only those you choose to show.
• How many skills you were tested on and how many you are showing, so a recruiter knows there are results you chose not to display.
• Your level for each skill. Recruiters never see a percentage on a skill test.
• If you choose, also how many easy, medium and hard questions you got right for each skill you show. This is off unless you turn it on from your Skills page.

Job title assessments

Some tests are built around a job title instead of a single skill. Because we can't control how much of each skill they cover, they don't change your skill levels. They show an exact score with context (questions right out of total, and the breakdown by difficulty when available). That score appears on your profile only if you choose to show it. If a recruiter asks you to take one and you accept, the score is shared with that recruiter.

Don't see your skill?

Tell us on your Skills page which skill you want to be tested on. We build tests on request, and your test will be ready within 1 business day. We email you as soon as it is.

Retakes and freshness

• You can retake a skill once every 60 days, and your latest published result counts.
• A result older than 12 months is shown to recruiters as needing a retake.
• If a second test covers a skill you took recently, your earlier result for that skill stays in place until the 60 days have passed.

Keeping results trustworthy

Our test provider checks each attempt and may flag suspected cheating or AI use. A flagged attempt is held and is not shown to anyone until our team has reviewed it. If it is approved, it is published. If it can't be verified, it isn't published and you can try again after a short wait. A flag on its own is not a finding, which is why a person reviews every one.

What we keep

We keep your levels or scores and which questions were answered right or wrong. We don't keep the question text or the answers you gave. Our test provider is given an anonymous ID, not your name or email. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service for details.

Questions? Email hello@precheckd.com.