OECD Programme for

International Student Assessment 2015

Example questions for PISA 2015

PISA 2015 RELEASED FIELD TRIAL
COGNITIVE ITEMS

Produced by ETS (Core 3 Contractor). Version edited by NFER

National Foundation for Educational Research
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PISA 2015 Contractors

Example questions for PISA 2015 in Scotland

This document provides some examples of questions that were written for the PISA
2015 assessment. The questions included here are about science and problem-solving.

The other subjects assessed by PISA are reading and mathematics. Examples of
reading and mathematics questions can be found on the OECD PISA website:
http://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/pisa-test-questions.htm
The examples on the OECD website also cover Financial Literacy, but this is not being
assessed in Scotland in 2015.

Most of the available example questions for PISA are taken from paper-and-pen
assessments from earlier rounds of the survey. In 2015, the questions will be presented
on-screen to students and they will answer by clicking, dragging, or typing their
answers. The examples in this document show this type of computer-based assessment
questions.

The questions here were used in the field trial of the PISA assessment, and which,
following the field trial, were released to the public.

For more information about PISA 2015 in Scotland, please visit www.nfer.ac.uk/pisa

www.nfer.ac.uk/pisa

Example questions for PISA 2015 in Scotland

Example science question: Bee Colony Collapse Disorder

These questions are from the PISA 2015 computer-based assessment. In most of the
questions which assess science, reading and mathematics, the right had part of the
screen shows a short text introducing a topic, a literary text, non-fiction text or a
problem.
In this set of science questions, the topic is Bee Colony Collapse Disorder. On this
screen, information about the disorder is given and on the next screen there is a graph
showing its relationship to an insecticide.
The left hand side of the screen tells students to read the text on the right and then
gives the first of five questions on this topic. For this question, students have to type
their answer in the box. When they have finished they click the green triangle at the topright to move onto the next question.

To correctly answer this question, students must explain that a flower cannot produce
seeds without pollination.

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Example questions for PISA 2015 in Scotland

For Question 2 the graph is shown on the right and, to answer the question, students
choose options from the drop-down lists after the question. The options are:
collapse of bee colonies
concentration of imidacloprid (an insecticide) in food
bee immunity to imidacloprid

The response, that the researchers tested the effect of concentration of imidacloprid in
food on
collapse of bee colonies, correctly identifies the independent and dependent variables in
the experiment.

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Example questions for PISA 2015 in Scotland

Question 3 requires interpretation of the graph that presents data related to the
relationship between concentrations of the insecticide and the rate of colony collapse
over time.

The correct response is the first option (Colonies exposed to a higher concentration of
imidacloprid tend to collapse sooner) because the graph shows that the percentage of
colonies that collapsed is higher when the hives were exposed to a concentration of 400
g/kg of the insecticide as compared with 20 g/kg during weeks 14-20 of the
experiment.

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Example questions for PISA 2015 in Scotland

Question 4 asks students to give possible causes for bee colony collapse based on the
graph.

A correct response indicates either that there must be another natural cause of colony
collapse for the studied colonies or that the hives in the control group were not properly
protected from exposure.

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Example questions for PISA 2015 in Scotland

Question 5 presents the final question without the text or graph and students have to
choose an answer based on their scientific knowledge.

The correct response is the third option: Non-bee DNA was found inside the bees cells.

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Example questions for PISA 2015 in Scotland

Example collaborative problem solving question: The visit

All students will answer science questions. They will also answer questions on
mathematics or reading or collaborative problem solving. There are no examples of
computer-based questions assessing reading or mathematics from the PISA 2015 field
trial. Below is an example of a collaborative problem solving task.
Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) is related to these aspects of collaboration:

establishing and maintaining a shared understanding;

taking appropriate action to solve the problem;
establishing and maintaining team organisation;

and these aspects of problem solving abilities:

exploring and understanding;

representing and formulating;
planning and executing;
monitoring and reflecting.

The questions which measure collaborative problem solving are based on online
discussions (chats) where students are put in a situation where they are interacting with
other people who are working to solve the same problem. Students are given chat
options and they have to choose which one they think is appropriate.
The chat space appears on the left of the screen. The right hand part of the screen (the
task pane) gives information that helps to solve the problem.

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Example questions for PISA 2015 in Scotland

The Visit
The scenario for this question is based on a visit to the students school by a group of
international students.
The group solving the problem is made of the student, 3 other students and a teacher.
The tasks are to plan the visit, match visiting students with guides and respond to a
problem that happens during the visit.
The example screens here give an overview of the way this question works.
This is the opening screen:

When students have finished reading this screen they click the green triangle at the topright to move on.

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Example questions for PISA 2015 in Scotland

In the next screen, instructions for the task are given on the left side. The task pane on
the right includes a notepad and links to the three local sites under consideration.
Clicking on a link displays a brief list of relevant information for each site (location, hours
of operation, tour information and what visitors can see there).

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Example questions for PISA 2015 in Scotland

This screen shows the start of the chat. George asks what to do first.
The responses to choose from are listed below. Students have to click on one and click
Send.

The most useful option to select is Lets discuss whats necessary for a good visit.
The option, Weve got three choices. Lets put it to a vote. is not a good choice,
because there is nothing to usefully vote on at this stage. And the other options, Lets
ask Ms Cosmo what we should do. and Maybe we should think about this for a while
and check back later? are not good choices because they are not taking the chat
forward towards a decision.

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Example questions for PISA 2015 in Scotland

In the next screen, Brad mentions that the group is supposed to visit somewhere local.

The second response is given a mark because it is the only one of the four that helps
advance the groups shared understanding of what local might mean: If its local it
could show what life is like around here.

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Example questions for PISA 2015 in Scotland

Rachel adds a note to the notepad confirming that the site should provide sense of life
in our town. Brad comments that, Local means that the site is not far away.

The most useful response to give from the options is, So it shouldnt take too long to
get there and back.
After this, the chat goes on to look at the times the places can be visited and what
makes each place a good or bad choice.

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Example questions for PISA 2015 in Scotland

Following the discussions, a new screen appears. The task on this screen is to
summarise what the team has learned about the sites and making a recommendation.
The chat history is available to review as is the information about the museum, market
and car factory.

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Example questions for PISA 2015 in Scotland

Following this, there are two more problem solving situations to work through.
The first one is about matching visiting students with guides.
You can see here that there are guides and visitors on the right hand side and the same
chat set-up on the left.

Looking at this opening screen, we can see that the best response is to try to find out
what languages each person has studied so that they can be matched with speakers of
those languages. Two options try to find this information, but not for all the guides, and
one option does not try to work out a solution, and instead suggests that George should
make some suggestions.
The chat goes on and the students have to allocate visitors to guides following the
criteria their teacher gave them.
The third problem that needs to be solved involves one of the visitors needing to get
home urgently. The teams job is to find out the best way to get the visitor to the airport.
The task involves finding where each student is, their distance from the bus station and
rail station, and which mode of transport is the best to take. As the task progresses
more information is included on the screen on the right. The chat continues until the
problem is solved.
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This edited version is produced by the

National Foundation for Educational Research
www.nfer.ac.uk/pisa