Statewide competency testing as a high school graduation requirement represents a threat to those who encourage broad notions of reading and writing, even when a number of testing innovations in reading and writing mean a step forward in education. In Alberta, Canada, the English exam comes in a non-academic and an academic version, and contributes 50% of the student's final grade. The writing component of the test requires an expository essay from the academic students and a piece of "functional" writing from the non-academic students. While the selections for the reading component can be considered progressive (e.g., works by Joan Didion, Margaret Atwood), the format is multiple choice, which eliminates the multiple meanings encouraged in reading works of any subtlety. English teachers surveyed indicated that their classroom programs had been affected in ways that contravene the intentions and spirit of the examinations, including: (1) changes in regular tests to correspond more closely to the comprehensive exam format; (2) increased use of multiple-choice testing in the literature program; and (3) new importance among administrators as tests became contests among schools. Such curricular compulsion of exam preparation remains a major source of distortion that can render even the most promising approach a rote and remote exercise. (Examples of writing assignments are included. (NKA)