Abstract:

This paper evaluated high-school entrance exam (HSEE) Turkish questions based on the reading criteria of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The study adopted a qualitative document analysis research design. The sample consisted of all Turkish questions in the HSEE in the last four years. The documents were analyzed using descriptive analysis. The questions were analyzed based on four PISA criteria: cognitive processes, proficiency level, text format, and text type. The Turkish questions allow students to combine and interpret information. Cognitive processes are concentrated at the third and fourth proficiency levels. The questions consist mostly of continuous texts but do not contain non-continuous texts. As for text type, the questions predominantly contain explanatory texts but do not contain narration and instruction texts. These results suggest that, though limited, the HSEE Turkish questions in the last four years satisfy the PISA reading criteria compared to the questions in previous years. We can argue that the Ministry of National Education is putting effort into ensuring that HSEE Turkish questions meet PISA criteria in terms of structure and cognitive level. We recommend that HSEE questions be designed in such a way that they measure high-level cognitive processes.

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