This document is designed for use by an employment-counselling client to assess skill in reading at Level 2 complexity. This booklet is part of a tool developed by HRSDC, now called Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), to promote a better understanding of Essential Skills (ES) needed for the workplace, and to help identify ES strengths and areas for improvement.

Each assessment task in this booklet describes a typical workplace situation, illustrating how reading skills are used in different jobs across Canada. Each is accompanied by a series of questions, all in multiple-choice format.

Some tasks require the client to read the whole text and summarize its meaning, while others involve going over the text to find a specific piece of information.

The assessment is not a test, the authors note. It is an opportunity for the client to identify both strengths and areas for improvement.