Cram School Teacher: Increase in Text-Based Questions in Science Exam May Disadvantage Students with Poor Reading Comprehension

A cram school teacher analyzed that the science section of this year's Comprehensive Assessment Program for Junior High School Students (CAP) saw a decrease in graphical questions and an increase in text-based narrative questions, which requires more time to comprehend and tests verbal skills. Students with weaker reading comprehension may be at a disadvantage. The CAP for the 115th year concluded at noon today. After the exam, the Taiwan Normal University's Psychological and Educational Testing Research and Development Center released the questions and reference answers. Cram school teachers were invited by Taipei's and the nation's cram school associations to analyze the exam's characteristics. Science teacher Yang Guo stated that while the science section typically has around 50 questions, the number of biology questions has slightly increased since last year, with 15 this year, alongside 10 in earth science. This year, there were about 32 graphical questions, fewer than in previous years, while purely text-based questions increased. He noted that the questions featured various graphical formats like four-panel comics and coordinate graphs, requiring students to grasp information from diverse presentations. For example, question 38 provided a graph of daylight hours in Chiayi and asked students to deduce the corresponding graph for a city at a higher northern latitude, testing both textual understanding and graph interpretation. Yang Guo pointed out that the proportion of such questions has increased, testing verbal skills. He cited question 43, about the difference in rainwater pH measurements by the EPA and a local environmental bureau, as an example of a question whose key details might be missed even by adults, posing a significant reading challenge for students.