This paper reports on a qualitative research study into the test-taking strategies employed in completing two picture prompt writing tasks--Situational Writing and Interpretational Writing in the Beijing Matriculation English Test. Think-aloud and retrospective interview protocols were collected from twelve Chinese students representing two key…

Background: In England, there are concerns about boys' under-achievement in reading, and girls consistently do better than boys in national reading tests taken by 11-year-olds. At the same time, there have been accusations of bias in the content of the reading tests. Purpose: This article looks at the performance of boys and girls on the 2008…

Grade 3 teachers in Ontario must administer the Primary Assessment of Reading, Writing and Mathematics to their students. In this study, we analyze how four teachers framed and addressed the problem of the stress some of their students experienced when sitting the test. The teachers framed the problem in different ways: as related to students'…

The strengths and weaknesses of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) are described with reference to its origins, previous research and comments from critics and supporters. A case is made for this allegedly theoretical approach to provide the kind of outcomes focused intervention that psychology and psychologists can offer to schools. In…

The recent decision by the Department of Education and Science in the Republic of Ireland to introduce the mandatory testing of children in Irish primary schools provides the broad context for this paper. This decision has particular implications for schools designated as disadvantaged. The main focus of this study is on identifying the strategies…

This study considered ways of improving mathematical outcomes for urban Indigenous students. It focused on three primary schools in Western Australia and identified factors that were perceived to be having an impact on student learning. These included expectations for students, attendance rates, parent involvement, student literacy levels, student…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of City & Guilds' development of simulation-based assessments for its ICT user qualification. These simulations are authentic scenario-based replicas of word processing and spreadsheet software, which present a series of tasks that the test-taker completes as if they were using…

Following up on the general framework of the research study of Yip (2007), this article sets out a similar research question, investigating the differences between high and low academic achieving Hong Kong university students based on their different learning and study strategies. In this study, we recruited 100 university students who pursued…

The present study describes the self-reported learning strategies and study approaches of college and university students with and without dyslexia and examines the relationship of those characteristics with reading ability. Students with (n = 36) and without (n = 66) dyslexia completed tests measuring reading rate, reading comprehension, reading…

This research set out to compare the quality, length and nature of (1) exam responses in combined question and answer booklets, with (2) responses in separate answer booklets in order to inform choices about response format. Combined booklets are thought to support candidates by giving more information on what is expected of them. Anecdotal…

This study investigated the relative frequency of seven TW strategies among Iranian EFL students to find out probable relationship(s) between test-wiseness, proficiency and gender. To do so, out of 138 participants, a total number of 80 undergraduate EFL students from Shahid Chamran University were chosen and divided on the basis of their…

This study investigated the functions of annotations, the role of annotations in markers' decision-making processes, whether annotations conform to conventions, and whether these vary according to subject area. Across subjects a number of scripts were analysed to survey which annotations are subject specific and which are more general. Twelve…

This paper gives an account of a project exploring 12- and 13-year-old children's uses of strategies while solving reading and writing test tasks in English as a foreign language EFL. The study was conducted to provide insights into how learners go about solving tasks and what they think and rely on while doing them. The first part provides an…

Responses from a stratified random sample of British elementary schools (64 of 102) found generally consistent practices in preparing students for national science achievement tests. Variations in time spent, approaches, and resources were related to variables of attainment, school size, class composition, and teacher's professional…

A study of scores on England's General Certificate of Education (GCE) examinations suggested that, compared to females, males perform better on objective tests than they do on other forms of assessment. The fact that nonobjective tests emphasize written communication skills, which tend to be more highly developed in female candidates, may explain…