What Grade 9 assessments are
Grade 9 assessments are the competency-based tests and tasks used to check what a Grade 9 learner has mastered in each Junior School learning area, describing performance against clear levels rather than reducing it to a single mark. They cover the continuous assessment that runs through the term as well as the topic and end-of-term tests that check a longer stretch of learning.
Grade 9 is the final year of Junior School, and that gives its assessments a particular weight. The work consolidates three years of Junior School learning, and it is the point at which a learner's strengths across the learning areas start to inform the pathway they will follow at Senior School. This page brings together the Grade 9 assessments for every learning area in one place, in editable format.
What a Grade 9 learner is assessed on
Under the CBC Junior School timetable, a Grade 9 learner takes nine core learning areas alongside the Pastoral or Religious Instruction Programme:
- English – listening and speaking, reading, grammar in use, and writing.
- Kiswahili or Kenya Sign Language – kusikiliza na kuzungumza, kusoma, kuandika na sarufi, following the school's programme.
- Mathematics – numbers, algebra, measurement, geometry, and data handling and probability.
- Religious Education – offered as Christian Religious Education (CRE) or Islamic Religious Education (IRE).
- Social Studies – people and population, the natural and built environment, and governance.
- Integrated Science – biological, physical and chemical science taught as one learning area.
- Pre-Technical Studies – the practical and technical foundation area.
- Agriculture and Nutrition – the current merged area combining agriculture with nutrition and food.
- Creative Arts and Sports – the merged creative and physical area.
Because assessment is continuous rather than only end-of-term, these work as regular check-ins across the year — and in the final Junior School year, as a way of seeing where a learner stands before the transition to Senior School.
What the assessments actually cover, by learning area
An assessment only makes sense against what the year is meant to teach. Two Grade 9 learning areas are set out below as they appear in the curriculum design. KICD notes that the suggested number of lessons per sub-strand may run shorter or longer depending on context, so read these as the shape of the year rather than a fixed timetable.
Mathematics
Roughly 150 lessons across five strands. Grade 9 Mathematics is noticeably more abstract than earlier years, and the assessments follow:
- Numbers – integers, cubes and cube roots, indices and logarithms, and compound proportions and rates of work.
- Algebra – matrices, the equation of a straight line, and linear inequalities.
- Measurements – area, volume of solids, mass and density, time, distance and speed, money, and approximations and errors.
- Geometry – coordinates and graphs, scale drawing, similarity and enlargement, and trigonometry.
- Data Handling and Probability – interpreting grouped data, and probability.
Several of these — matrices, logarithms, trigonometry — are the foundation for Senior School mathematics, so a Grade 9 assessment here is genuinely diagnostic.
Creative Arts and Sports
Roughly 114 lessons across two strands, covering art, music and sport as one merged area:
- Foundations of Creative Arts and Sports – careers in the field, and the components of the area. The careers focus is specific to Grade 9 and reflects the approaching pathway choice.
- Creating and Performing – drawing and painting, rhythm, athletics and mosaic, melody, rugby, photography, the descant recorder, and play.
Assessment here is largely performance- and portfolio-based, judged against what a learner produces or performs.
The remaining learning areas follow the same principle, each built from the strands in its own curriculum design.
What you get in the files
The Grade 9 assessments download in editable format, so you can adjust them to your class, your term dates and the ground you have actually covered. Alongside general CBC-aligned assessments, some Grade 9 material is developed against specific KICD-approved publisher coursebooks — both sit under the same catalogue link, so open it and check the file titles to see which you are getting.
Who these are for
- Teachers – ready-made competency-based assessment material for Grade 9, matching how Junior School learning areas are assessed under the CBC, for continuous assessment and end-of-term tests.
- Learners and home users – practice tests and tasks to revise with across the Grade 9 learning areas, including in preparation for the transition to Senior School.
- Parents, and anyone downloading on a learner's behalf (including from a cyber café or business centre) – these are specifically Grade 9, the final Junior School year. Confirm the learner's grade first, then the learning area.
- Researchers and education-sector readers – these are the CBC competency-based assessments for the exit year of Junior School, structured by learning area.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do Grade 9 assessments include? Competency-based tests and continuous-assessment tasks tied to the CBC learning outcomes for Grade 9, describing a learner against performance levels rather than a single mark.
How many learning areas does a Grade 9 learner take? Nine core learning areas, plus the Pastoral or Religious Instruction Programme.
Does Grade 9 performance affect Senior School placement? Grade 9 is the final Junior School year, and a learner's performance across the learning areas informs the Senior School pathway they go on to follow. The assessments here are the ordinary classroom and end-of-term kind rather than a national placement examination.
Are these aligned to the CBC Junior School curriculum? Yes. The assessments follow the CBC learning areas and outcomes for Grade 9, so they match what learners are taught and assessed on.
Are the assessments tied to a particular coursebook? Some are. Alongside general CBC-aligned assessments, we publish material developed against specific KICD-approved publisher coursebooks. Open the catalogue link and check the file titles to see which a file follows.
I've been asked to download these for a learner – what do I check? The grade first, since Junior School assessments are grade-specific. Then the learning area the learner needs to practise.
Looking for another Junior School grade?
This page covers Grade 9. Grade 7 and Grade 8 each have their own detailed hub — Grade 7 Assessments and Grade 8 Assessments. For the Junior School phase as a whole, start from our Junior School Assessments hub. For other levels — primary, Senior School and secondary 8-4-4 — see the Exams & Assessments hub.
Download the Grade 9 assessments
The full set of Grade 9 assessments, for every learning area, is in our catalogue organised by learning area. Use the button below for the complete Grade 9 collection.