When to use assess?

When to use assess, you use assess as a verb meaning to evaluate, judge, estimate, or determine the value, quality, importance, or condition of something. Assess is about making a judgment after careful consideration, not about entry. Use assess when you are evaluating a situation, person, risk, damage, performance, or needs. For example, you assess a student’s progress, assess the damage after storm, assess risk before investment, assess property value for tax, or assess your skills. In business, you assess market conditions, assess feasibility, assess performance reviews. In medical, doctor assesses patient condition. The noun form is assessment. Do not confuse with access which means entry or ability to use. A trick to remember is assess contains double s like evaluate, and both start with assessing value. Access contains c like come in. So use assess whenever you mean to evaluate, measure, or judge something, and use access when you mean to gain entry or retrieve something. Assess is always a verb, never a noun for entry.