The readability of selected A-level biology examination papers
Jane Richardson, Roger Lock · Journal of Biological Education · 1993
Students' understanding of the language used in selected A-level biology examination papers was investigated in Ihree ways. First, a number of potentially difficult words were presented to their original sentence context to students, who were asked to Indicate their level of understanding and to suggest suitable synonyms. Secondly, question samples from the Joint Matriculation Board (JMB) and the Associated Examination Board (AEB) A-level biology papers were analysed using readability formulae. A third approach sampled questions set by the two Boards and analysed the Incidence of Graecc—Latin words that were Included. Results from the first approach suggest that many A-level students are not confident of the meanings of several words commonly used on A-level biology examination papers. Results from the second approach indicate that the readability of parts of AEB and JMB papers Is unsuitable for unsupervised reading by 18-year-olds of average ability. The results obtained using the Graeco-Latin instrument showed that text samples that were less readable also had a high incidence of Graeco—latin words, suggesting that these texts may be conceptually difficult and daunting to students.