Immediately after the tutorial, students proceed to their Initial Assessment or Knowledge Check (Chap. 4). The Initial Assessment may be optional in some ALEKS Accounting courses based on the course settings. Students with prior knowledge of accounting may wish to take the assessment in order to begin their work with appropriate material. To reiterate, no help of any kind should be given to students being assessed, not even rephrasing a problem. It is also advisable for students to have pencil and paper for assessments in ALEKS. A calculator is included in ALEKS when needed.

The ALEKS assessment is adaptive and variable in length. Consistency of effort and concentration may influence the length of an assessment.