The Influence of Test-Wiseness on Performance of High School Seniors on School Leaving Examinations

Abstract

The influence of test-wiseness on the performance of high school seniors on provincial school leaving examinations in English, algebra, geography, history, biology, and chemistry was empirically assessed. The percentages of test-wise susceptible four-option multiple-choice items varied from 43% to 80% across the six examinations. The mean score of provincially representative samples on the subject area subtests comprised of these faulty items exceeded by 9.2% to 18.4% p < .01) the mean scores of the same students on the corresponding subtests consisting of the nonsusceptible items.