Six Questions Your Student Needs to Know How To Answer
An achievement test measures three areas: reading, language arts, and mathematics. When you think about the reading part of the test, you’re probably thinking how well does my student understand or comprehend what they just read? You’re right in a general sense. But, how well your student comprehends what is read is broken down into seven categories which results in seven kinds of questions. That’s what I want to talk to you about.
One way to think of the questions found on achievement test is to picture a pyramid. The questions on the bottom of the pyramid are foundational. They’re also the easiest questions. The questions on the top of the pyramid are the hardest and require the highest level of critical thinking skills. Another way to think of this is to visualize a series of steps. Questions on the bottom step are the easiest to answer. Questions on the top step are the hardest.
What kind of questions are bottom step questions? Fact Questions!
These are the kinds of questions that often dominate the textbooks you and I have used with our children over the years. These questions, while often necessary, don’t evaluate our student’s grasp of a subject much beyond the surface level. But, many publishers like these kinds of questions because they’re easy to write. We like them because they’re easy to correct. Our children like them because they’re easy to regurgitate and then simply forget.
These kinds of questions commonly start with the following phrases:
What happened when…
List the steps for…
Name the city where…
How long is a…
Who painted the…
Locate the rivers flowing from…
Write the formula used to solve…
State the rule that governs…
These kinds of questions make up some of the items your student will need to be able to answer when they take an achievement test.
There are five other types of questions students will face. I’ll explain the second category in my next post. If you don’t want to wait, you can access the content immediately as an instant download. It’s titled, How to Ask Questions That Matter. This booklet is filled with tips on how to teach and train your child to answer the six kinds of questions commonly found on achievement tests.
Thanks for Reading!
Curt Bumcrot, MRE
Interested in testing in the comfort and safety of your home? We just posted the remote group test dates here
