FPSC SST past paper

Correct answer: National Vocational and Technical Training Commission The National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) has the central coordination role in technical and vocational education and training.

• Higher Education Commission The Higher Education Commission covers higher education.
• National Curriculum Council The National Curriculum Council covers school curriculum.
• Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education A Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education conducts school examinations.

Correct answer: Follow safeguarding procedures and disclose only what the risk requires. Credible information about imminent serious harm requires following safeguarding procedures and disclosing only what the risk requires.

• Preserve complete confidentiality regardless of the identified danger. Confidentiality has limits and gives way to imminent serious danger.
• Inform the learner's classmates so that they can monitor the situation. Informing classmates breaches confidentiality and is not a safeguarding procedure.
• Wait until the threatened harm actually occurs before taking action. Waiting until harm occurs is negligent.

Correct answer: Conduct and certify secondary and higher-secondary examinations. A Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education conducts and certifies the secondary and higher-secondary examinations.

• Appoint all teachers serving in government schools. Teachers are appointed by the education departments and provincial governments, not by the boards.
• Write every textbook used within its jurisdiction. Textbooks are produced by textbook boards and publishers, not by every examination board.
• Set the annual development budget of every school. School budgets are decided by governments, not by examination boards.

Correct answer: Higher Education Commission The Higher Education Commission is the national body for coordination and quality assurance in higher education.

• National Curriculum Council The National Curriculum Council works on school curriculum, not higher-education quality assurance.
• Inter Provincial Education Ministers Conference The Inter Provincial Education Ministers Conference coordinates policy among education ministers.
• Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education A Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education conducts school examinations.

Correct answer: confounding variable Prior achievement is related to both app use and achievement scores, so it is a potential confounding variable.

• mediator A mediator lies on the causal path between app use and achievement.
• sampling frame A sampling frame is the list from which a sample is drawn.
• dependent variable The dependent variable here is achievement, not prior achievement.

Correct answer: longitudinal study Studying the same cohort repeatedly over Grades 6, 7 and 8 is a longitudinal study.

• cross-sectional study A cross-sectional study collects data at one time, often from different groups.
• case-control study A case-control study compares people with and without an outcome.
• post-test-only study A post-test-only study measures once after treatment.

Correct answer: The null hypothesis of zero difference is rejected. The interval 2.1 to 5.7 does not include zero, so the null hypothesis of zero difference is rejected at the 5% level.

• The population difference is guaranteed to lie inside the interval. A confidence interval does not guarantee that the population value lies inside it.
• The two sample means must have been equal before analysis. The sample means differ, as the interval shows a positive difference.
• The result proves practical importance in every educational setting. Statistical significance does not prove practical importance.

Correct answer: Obtain consent and assent, with stated confidentiality limits. Obtaining consent (from parents or guardians) and assent (from the children), while stating the limits of confidentiality, is the ethically sound approach.

• Rely solely on the headteacher's approval for every participant. The headteacher’s approval alone does not replace consent and assent.
• Promise complete confidentiality even when safeguarding concerns arise. Complete confidentiality cannot be promised when safeguarding concerns arise.
• Record identifiable responses and retain them for external verification. Retaining identifiable recordings for external verification puts privacy at risk.

Correct answer: Higher-secondary/intermediate stage After the Secondary School Certificate (grades 9–10), learners normally enter the higher-secondary (intermediate) stage.

• Middle-school stage The middle-school stage comes before the SSC.
• Post-secondary diploma stage A post-secondary diploma is an alternative pathway, not the ordinary next stage.
• Undergraduate degree stage The undergraduate degree stage normally follows higher secondary, not the SSC.

Correct answer: Cohen's kappa Cohen’s kappa measures agreement between two raters on categories after correcting for chance agreement.

• Pearson correlation Pearson correlation is for continuous variables and does not correct for chance agreement.
• Cronbach's alpha Cronbach’s alpha measures internal consistency of items.
• Spearman correlation Spearman correlation measures rank association, not categorical agreement.

Correct answer: About 84% of the reference group scored no higher. The 84th percentile means that about 84% of the reference group scored at or below the learner.

• The learner answered exactly 84% of the items correctly. Percentile rank is not the percentage of items answered correctly.
• The learner's raw score is 84 points above the mean. A percentile is not a number of points above the mean.
• Exactly 84% of all test items were easier for the learner. A percentile does not describe how many items were easier.

Correct answer: The distractor is probably non-functioning. A distractor chosen by almost no examinees is not attracting anyone, so it is probably non-functioning.

• The keyed answer is probably incorrect. Rarely chosen distractors say nothing that suggests the keyed answer is wrong.
• The item therefore has strong discrimination. A non-functioning distractor does not by itself mean strong discrimination.
• The item therefore has strong construct validity. A non-functioning distractor does not by itself show construct validity.

Correct answer: Simple random sampling Randomly selecting names from the complete list of the population is simple random sampling.

• Stratified random sampling Stratified sampling first divides the population into subgroups.
• One-stage cluster sampling Cluster sampling selects whole groups, not individuals.
• Systematic random sampling Systematic sampling selects at a fixed interval from the list.

Correct answer: quasi-experimental Intact classes, pre- and post-tests, and no random assignment describe a quasi-experimental design.

• true experimental A true experiment requires random assignment of learners.
• cross-sectional Cross-sectional studies collect data at one point in time.
• ethnographic Ethnographic research studies a culture through extended observation.

Correct answer: triangulation Using several data sources and checking whether findings converge is triangulation.

• randomization Randomization assigns participants to groups by chance.
• statistical control Statistical control adjusts for other variables in analysis.
• test equating Test equating makes scores from different test forms comparable.

Correct answer: operational definition Defining “regular attendance” as at least 90% of scheduled days says exactly how the concept will be measured, which is an operational definition.

• theoretical framework A theoretical framework explains relationships among concepts.
• sampling criterion only This statement defines a measure, and it is not only a rule for selecting a sample.
• null hypothesis A null hypothesis states that there is no effect or difference.

Correct answer: 0.75 The item difficulty index p is the proportion answering correctly: 75 ÷ 100 = 0.75.

• 0.25 0.25 is the proportion who answered incorrectly.
• 1.33 1.33 is 100 ÷ 75, the inverse of the proportion.
• 75 75 is the number (or percentage) correct, not the index.

Correct answer: -0.15 D = p_U − p_L = 0.70 − 0.85 = −0.15, a negative discrimination (more lower-group than upper-group learners got it right).

• 0.15 +0.15 has the wrong sign.
• 0.85 0.85 is the lower-group proportion, not the index.
• -0.85 −0.85 is not the difference between 0.70 and 0.85.

Correct answer: 64.1-75.9 70 ± 1.96 × 3 = 70 ± 5.88, which gives about 64.1 to 75.9.

• 61.0-79.0 61.0–79.0 uses about ±3 SEM (±9).
• 67.0-73.0 67.0–73.0 uses ±1 SEM (±3).
• 68.5-71.5 68.5–71.5 uses ±0.5 SEM (±1.5).

Correct answer: Use a test blueprint with expert review. A test blueprint (table of specifications) with expert review shows that the test samples the syllabus and intended cognitive demands, supporting content validity.

• Compare scores with an external achievement criterion. Comparing scores with an external criterion is evidence of criterion validity.
• Estimate internal consistency across test items. Internal consistency is evidence of reliability, not of syllabus coverage.
• Convert raw scores into percentile ranks. Percentile ranks are a way of interpreting scores, not evidence of coverage.

Correct answer: Use wait time with structured response distribution. Wait time with structured response distribution gives more learners time and opportunity to answer while keeping questions challenging.

• Accept answers only from volunteers. Accepting only volunteers favours the confident learners who already dominate.
• Reduce questioning and rely mainly on explanation. Reducing questioning removes opportunities to participate.
• Award marks primarily for speed of response. Awarding marks for speed favours the fastest responders.

Correct answer: collect antecedent and consequence patterns before targeting intervention Collecting antecedent and consequence patterns (a functional approach) shows what is maintaining the behaviour before an intervention is chosen.

• assume that motivation is poor across all subjects Assuming poor motivation across all subjects is premature without evidence.
• remove preferred activities for the remainder of the week Removing preferred activities for a week is a heavy consequence without evidence of a pattern.
• raise task difficulty in every subject immediately Raising task difficulty in every subject could make matters worse.

Correct answer: Test-retest reliability Noticeably different scores for the same learners on a stable trait under comparable conditions a few days apart indicate weak test–retest reliability.

• Content validity Content validity concerns how well the items cover the content.
• Criterion validity Criterion validity concerns the relationship with an external criterion.
• Scoring objectivity Scoring objectivity concerns agreement among scorers, not changes in scores over days.

Correct answer: refine conceptual reasoning through peer discussion Answering, discussing with peers, and answering again (peer instruction) is meant to refine conceptual reasoning.

• secure unrestricted consensus before marking The aim is not to force unrestricted consensus before marking.
• reward the fastest answer in each group The aim is not to reward the fastest answer.
• eliminate independent thinking before discussion Individual thinking comes first and is not removed.

Correct answer: Teach, practise and cue a brief transition routine. Teaching, practising, and cueing a brief transition routine makes transitions quicker and more predictable.

• Increase homework until learners become more organised. More homework does not teach a transition routine.
• Change the transition procedure every week. Changing the routine weekly prevents it from becoming habitual.
• Wait for learners to discover a routine independently. Waiting for learners to discover a routine wastes lesson time.