Summary
A step-by-step guide to enabling pre-assessments on portal courses and reviewing learning-gain reports in the KnowledgeCity LMS.
Introduction
The Pre-Assessment feature allows organizations to measure learning gain by capturing a student's knowledge before they begin a course and comparing it to their certification test score after completion. Pre-assessments are available on portal (library) courses and are scoped per account — each organization's results and settings are fully independent.
Pre-assessment questions and settings are configured at the platform level. As an LMS administrator, your role is to enable or disable pre-assessments on the courses relevant to your organization, and to review the learning-gain report for those courses. If you need more help, contact your KC admin.
Administrator Permissions
Capability | KC Admin | Super Admin | Admin |
|---|---|---|---|
Enable / disable pre-assessments on portal courses | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Bulk enable / disable across all portal courses | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Edit pre-assessment questions or settings | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
View Pre-Assessment Report | ✅ | ✅ Requires Reports access | ✅ Requires Reports access |
Note: Pre-assessment questions and all quiz settings (minimum score, shuffle, timer, score display) are managed at the platform level and are not editable from the LMS.
Requirements
Before you begin, make sure:
✅ The Allow pre & post assessments on library courses feature has been enabled for your account
✅ You have LMS administrator access to the Courses section
✅ To view reports: your administrator account has access to the Reports section
Steps to Follow
Step 1 — Enable or Disable a Pre-Assessment on a Course
Log in to the KnowledgeCity LMS as an administrator.
Navigate to Courses from the left-side panel.
Open the Portal Courses tab.
Locate the course you want to update. The Pre-Assessment column shows its current status (Enabled / Disabled).
Check the box next to the course.
Click Enable Pre-Assessments or Disable Pre-Assessments in the actions toolbar that appears.
The status column updates immediately to reflect the change.
Step 2 — Bulk Enable or Disable Pre-Assessments
To apply changes across multiple courses or your entire portal catalog at once:
Selected courses:
Go to Courses → Portal Courses.
Check the boxes next to the courses you want to update.
Click Enable Pre-Assessments or Disable Pre-Assessments in the mass-actions toolbar.
All portal courses on the account:
Click Enable All Pre-Assessments or Disable All Pre-Assessments in the buttons above the table.
Confirm the action in the modal that appears. This applies to every portal course on the account.
Step 3 — View the Pre-Assessment Report
The Pre-Assessment Report shows how students performed before and after a course, with a direct comparison between pre-assessment scores and certification test scores.
Access requirement: The Pre-Assessment Report is only visible to administrators who have access to the Reports section. If you do not see the report options below, contact your account owner to confirm your permissions.
From the standalone report page:
In the LMS left-side panel, navigate to Pre-Assessment Report.
Use the search field to find and select a course.
The report loads automatically. Click Download CSV to export the full report.
What the report shows:
Column | Description |
|---|---|
Username | Student's login name, linked to their profile |
Full name | Student's first and last name |
Student's email address | |
Pre-assessment score | Score recorded before the course |
Cert. test score | Best certification test score after the course |
Learning gain | Difference between cert test score and pre-assessment score |
Date | Date the pre-assessment was completed |
The summary row at the top shows: Unique Students, Total Attempts, Average Score, Passed, Failed.
Click Download CSV to export the report (filename includes the course ID and name).
Example Use Cases
Measure learning gain: Compare each student's pre-assessment score with their certification test score using the Learning Gain column to see the measurable knowledge improvement from completing the course.
Identify skill gaps before training: Review pre-assessment averages across your team to understand baseline knowledge levels and tailor onboarding or training plans accordingly.
Track participation: Use Unique Students and Total Attempts to confirm how many employees have gone through the pre-assessment for a given course.
Demonstrate training ROI: Export the CSV and share learning gain data with stakeholders as evidence of training effectiveness.
Important Notes
Enabling a pre-assessment does not affect the course itself. Students who have already started or completed the course are not re-prompted.
Pre-assessments never fail a student. The assessment always records a result regardless of score. Access to the course is never blocked by a pre-assessment.
One-time prompt per student. Students are redirected to the pre-assessment only on their first visit before completing it. All subsequent visits go directly to the course.
License-gated. Students without a valid license for the course will not be redirected to the pre-assessment. The course page will display the appropriate access notification instead.
The Pre-Assessment Report sidebar item appears only on accounts with the pre-assessments feature enabled and administrator Reports access.
Conclusion
As an LMS administrator, enabling pre-assessments is a single action from the Portal Courses page. Once enabled, students are automatically guided through the pre-assessment before their first course visit, and the Pre-Assessment Report gives you an immediate, exportable view of learning gain across your organization.