A SATs reading test that left pupils in tears included an extract from a book with a ‘13-18 reading age’.
Hundreds of parents and teachers claimed that last week’s exam for Year 6 pupils – aged 10 or 11 – was too difficult.
Schools said it was so tricky that staff also struggled to understand the questions.
There were claims the English reading test booklet included ‘GCSE-level’ questions, with even high-ability pupils unable to finish the paper.
The reading booklet has three passages of dense text spanning nine pages. It includes an extract from the book ‘The Rise of Wolves’ – a novel described on book sharing site Goodreads as for children aged 13 to 18. There was also a lengthy magazine interview about bats in Texas with the information thought to be adapted from a New York Times article.
The contents last night sparked outrage among parents who said youngsters’ confidence has been ‘undermined’ by tough testing.
Hundreds of parents and teachers claimed that last week’s exam for Year 6 pupils – aged 10 or 11 – was too difficult (Stock Image)
Arabella Skinner, of the parent group UsForThem, said: ‘Many parents have expressed concerns that the papers this year for SATs were significantly more difficult than previous years.
‘Our current Y6 pupils have had almost all their Key Stage 2 education disrupted by the pandemic and now industrial action – the last thing they need is their confidence to be undermined by unnecessarily difficult testing.’
The reading booklet, obtained by The Mail, has three passages of dense text spanning nine pages.
It includes an extract from the book ‘The Rise of Wolves’ – a novel categorised as being for children aged 13 to 18 on Goodreads.
The 304-page book is written by Kerr Thomson who teaches geography at a school in Glasgow.
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A source who watched as pupils struggled to complete the exam added: ‘How on earth can a text from the New York Times on bats in the USA be appropriate for children of this age group?
‘The extract “A Howl at Dusk” literally puts thousands of children at a disadvantage. I witnessed that with the children at our school.’
Schools minister Nick Gibb has pledged to ‘look at’ the Year 6 test exam for ten and 11-year-olds amid a wave of complaints
Schools minister Nick Gibb has pledged to ‘look at’ the Year 6 test exam for ten and 11-year-olds amid a wave of complaints.
Based on Department for Education guidelines that a Key Stage 2 Sats pupil is expected to be able to read a minimum of 90 words a minute, it means reading the booklet alone would take 23 minutes and 30 seconds.
The Department for Education defended the exam that sparked outrage last week, saying ‘the tests are designed to be challenging’.
But Mr Gibb said the tests shouldn’t be ‘too hard for children’ and vowed to inspect the paper.
He said: ‘The Standards and Testing Agency have tested this assessment in tests before the pandemic. They tested it last year, with a large group of children.
‘They monitored the response of those children to the test, to the questions. They found that 85 per cent enjoy taking the test.
‘But we will certainly look at this because I know that there has been concern expressed by some schools.’
The National Association of Head Teachers, which represents heads at the majority of primary schools, said it planned to complain to Ofqual, the exams regulator.
Sarah Hannafin, from the union, said: ‘Members have told us that the choice of texts was not accessible for the wide range of experiences and backgrounds children have and the difficulty was beyond previous tests, leaving children upset, and even staff struggling to understand the questions.’
