This article investigates how test-takers change their strategies to handle increased test difficulty. An adult sample reported their test-taking strategies immediately after completing the tasks in a reading test. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling specifying a measurement-invariant, ability-moderated, latent transition…

Reasoning skills have been clearly related to achievement in introductory undergraduate biology, a course with a high failure rate that may contribute to dropout from undergraduate STEM majors. Existing measures are focused on the experimental method, such as generating hypotheses, choosing a research method, how to control variables other than…

Reading instruction can be transformed into cynical test-beating exercises. Victory arises from frequent practice in taking similar tests. Students who spend most of their time on test-type activities generally do better on reading tests than those who "waste" time reading for information or pleasure. Teachers whose students score highest on…

The reading comprehension items for the Nelson Reading Skills Test, a revision of a widely used standardized reading test, were administered to several hundred fourth- and sixth-grade students in order to determine whether the student's ability to answer correctly actually depended on his comprehension of the accompanying passage. All the…

Standardized reading tests are likely to provide an inaccurate assessment of reading comprehension for deaf students due to the lack of test coaching and test taking skills; item irrelevancy; and the difficulty of test directions. Testing alternatives include parent and teacher observation of students and qualitative evaluations of reading skills…

Attempts to obtain information in regard to children's willingness to skip passages when answering reading comprehension test questions. (RB)

Reports on introspective and retrospective accounts from test takers, in an attempt to examine the validity of reading and test-taking "skills." It is noted that there are clearly certain skills or processes involved in answering test items in a particular format that are not necessarily specified by the test writer. (15 references) (GLR)

Notes the problem that comprehension questions that claim to assess students' skills in finding main ideas may in fact be measuring their knowledge of identifying the topic of a passage. (JC)

This study considers whether or not the various sentence structures in standardized reading tests cohere to facilitate the extraction of information. In the context of the theoretical framework of the study, a schema theory of reading, a diffuse discourse structure may legitimately activate more than one way of conceptualizing an answer to a test…

To determine how much prior knowledge affects students' performance on a reading comprehension test, a study was undertaken to examine the prior knowledge factor in a reading competency test developed for college freshmen in New Jersey. The passages used in this test are based on common, everyday topics. Subjects were students in two sections of a…

Reports on a study providing evidence that prior knowledge influences the comprehension of texts and that the effect is not because of contrived materials or other validity problems. (FL)

Current issues in the literature on the testing of linguistic and communicative proficiency are reviewed and discussed in relation to reading comprehension testing. Several theoretical issues in language testing are discussed, including testing purposes and test validity. Areas of concern regarding methods of testing reading comprehension are then…

A study of 26 college seniors used introspective and retrospective interviewing to assess cognitive processes used during multiple-choice reading comprehension tests. Categories of processing identified included an overall approach to the test task, reading strategies, and test-taking strategies. (TJH)

The potential reliability and construct and predictive validity of a 30-item Study Skills Questionnaire (SSQUES) was evaluated for its ability to: (1) predict student performance in a self-paced, individualized, or computer-managed instructional environment, and (2) identify students needing some type of study skills remediation. The study was…