The whole teaching process of the PACE involves the student taking on more and more of the responsibility for his or her own learning. This includes scoring their own work and holding themselves accountable for their own diligence and honesty.

PACE tests, however, require external accountability. There is no possibility of looking back; no possibility of changing the answers. All the checks and balances have been applied - ongoing assessment, Checkups, and finally the Self-Test have all been passed. Doing the PACE test should be a mere formality! This does not mean, however, that it should be treated lightly.

The student should not know what will be asked in the test, or else they could feel they only need to review some of the work. The security surrounding the PACE test should be as stringent as any external examination. Armed guards and locked vaults may not be necessary in a homeschool situation, but supervising parents must be confident that their children are as honest as they are diligent. When we talk about a secure location to store PACE tests, we mean as secure as they need to be. Locks may be involved, or maybe just a solemn injunction. We used a special folder kept in a private area.

When a student has passed the Self Test to your satisfaction, spend some time reviewing any problem areas, and ask the odd random question, preferably putting the question in different words.
Ask them if they are ready for the test. If they want to review further, let them. If they say they are ready, take the PACE from them and do not let them review it further.
Give the test first thing the next morning. Not after the weekend; not the same day.

For more information, see our Parent Training videos: Issuing a New PACE and Assessment.