---
title: 'Level 2: Add a validation and test set'
description: >-
  - Validate and test a model — Add a validation and test data split to avoid
  overfitting. - Save your model progress — Learn to save the state of a
  model...
canonical: 'https://lightning.ai/docs/pytorch/stable/level-up/core_skills/basic_level_2'
---
# Level 2: Add a validation and test set {#level-2-add-a-validation-and-test-set}

- [Validate and test a model](/docs/pytorch/2.6.6/reference/common/evaluation_basic.md) — Add a validation and test data split to avoid overfitting.

- [Save your model progress](/docs/pytorch/2.6.6/reference/common/checkpointing_basic.md#save-a-checkpoint) — Learn to save the state of a model as it trains.

- [Enable early stopping](/docs/pytorch/2.6.6/reference/common/early_stopping.md) — Use early stopping to decide when to stop training your model.

---

**Navigation**

- Parent: [Basic skills](/docs/pytorch/2.6.6/level-up/core_skills.md)