English abstract
This study aimed at identifying the cognitive levels measured by General Secondary Certificate Exams. It also measures the relationship between the questions in the third secondary certificate exams in History and the questions in the History book for third secondary level students (Arts stream).
The sample of the study consists of all the questions in the General Secondary Certificate Exams for History taken from 1997/1998 to 2000/2001 and all the questions from the History book for third secondary level students (Arts stream).
The researcher used two instruments to accomplish the aims of his study: 1. A checklist to analyze the questions of General Secondary Certificate Exams for History. 2. A checklist to analyze the questions of the General Secondary History book (Arts stream). The validity of the two instruments was obtained through 17 referees whereas the reliability was obtained by using the reliability coefficient in the interval between the administrations of the two instruments. The reliability coefficient was 98% for the first instrument whereas 96% for the second one.
Some of the results that the study concluded with are: 1. The General Secondary Certificate Exams concentrated on the following cognitive levels: knowledge (971.7%), comprehension (20.1%), application (7.9%), and analysis (0.3%). The exams did not
take into account the other cognitive levels; synthesis and evaluation. 2. The questions included in the History book concentrated on the following cognitive levels: knowledge (52.7%), comprehension
(32%), application (7.47%), and analysis (7.83%). 3. The questions included in the Exams fell into two parts; essay questions and objective questions but the former had slightly more questions. The objective questions were of three parts; multiple choice questions, matching questions, and completion questions. 4. The questions of the History book fell into two parts; essays
questions and objective questions but this time the former had a very big number of questions. The objective questions were of three parts: multiple choice questions, matching questions, and completion questions. 5. The questions of the General Secondary Certificate Exams were
different from the ones in the Third Secondary History book in terms of the percentages of the cognitive levels measured and the types of question included.
According to the results of the study, the researcher proposes some suggestions and recommendations which would hopefully improve the level of the questions included in the General Secondary Certificate Exams and the History Book taught to the General secondary students (Arts Stream).
