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chapter 2: performance at international benchmarks
Taipei. The second question, Item 2, directed students to the end of the story
and required a straightforward inference. Thus, it was somewhat more difficult,
but still answered correctly by 69 percent of the students, on average.
Exhibits 2.7 and 2.8 present two informational examples, both from
the article about Antarctica found in Appendix D. The first question, Item 3,
asked students to write their answer to the question about where Antarctica
could be found on the globe. The information was explicitly stated in the
first paragraph (the bottom) or could be found on the map (South Pole).
In many participating countries and all the provinces, 90 percent or more
of the students answered correctly. The second example, Item 4, also in the
constructed-response format, was more demanding, although students at
the low level provided only one text-based reason (of two required) for
not visiting Antarctica between April and September. As can be seen from
Exhibit 2.8, on average internationally, just over half the students (55%)
provided only one reason, far fewer than provided at least one reason (those
providing one reason plus those providing two reasons). Internationally on
average, 78 percent of the students provided at least one reason.
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