The use of context in exam questions - Research and Analysis - Phoebe Surridge - Introduction

Oct 20, 2026

The literature review examines how using real-life contexts in exam questions can enhance engagement and support validity when the context directly focuses attention on what is being assessed. It also highlights risks: irrelevant or misleading contexts can activate inaccurate schemas, trigger incorrect answers, and add strain through extra reading and cognitive load. Evidence also shows interactions with learner characteristics, including language background, socio-economic status, accessibility needs, and gendered responses.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Students’ expectations

Extra strain on students

Impact on accessibility of exams

Interaction with student characteristics

The use of context in exam questions Research and Analysis Phoebe Surridge Introduction Teaching that uses real-life examples or contexts can be engaging and beneficial in the classroom. However, caution is needed when using context in exam questions. Unfocused contextualised questions can threaten the validity of an exam paper. On the other hand, questions containing unforced real-life context that focuses on the matter being tested can improve validity. Such questions can also make it easier for students to achieve marks by reducing misunderstandingsand prompting students’ knowledge of the subject through the activation of schemas (Ahmed & Pollitt, 2001) . This literature review explores the benefits and possible drawbacks of using context in exam questions. Students’ expectations Schemas are sets of knowledge that help us categorise the world around us (Bartlet, 1932) . For example, when a young child sees Garfield – a well-known cartoon cat – for the first time, they might not immediately recognise him as a cat. However, once they know that he is , his features are added to their schema about cats. Subsequently, they might be able to recognise that animated characters like Tom or Felix are also cats. Schemas provide us with a script of what to expect. However, sometimes the schemas activated can be misleading. For example, we might expect a cat’s favourite food to be fish, based on what we have seen them eat, but Garfield prefers lasagne. Exam questions that are set in context activate schemas within students’ minds; if the schemas activated are not relevant to answering the question, students may be misled (Ahmed & Pollitt, 2000) . For example, Crisp and Sweiry (2006) presented students with two versions of the same chemistry question. One version was accompanied by context about toothpaste and an image of toiletry products, while the other used the context of book preservation and an image of books. When asked to identify the product of the chemical reaction in the question, some students who were presented with the first version responded with answers such as ‘soap’ or ‘shampoo’, presumably because the word ‘product’was combined with the image of consumer products. It is likely that the context misled some students , who may in fact have known the correct answer, by activating schemas unrelated to the science behind the question. In addition, if students are unfamiliar with the context of a question, they may panic and doubt their ability to answer the question because they feel they are missing some essential knowledge (Ahmed & Pollitt, 2000) . Context can introduce irrelevant information, and it can bias students towards a particular type of answer or cause them to draw on everyday knowledge rather than the knowledge being tested. The need to filter out any irrelevant knowledge places an extra burden on students , who are already under pressure (Ahmed & Pollitt, 2000) . Extra strain on students Questions set in context can place extra strain on students due to the additional reading that is required under pressurised exam conditions; in effect, students’ reading and comprehensions skills are also being tested (Ahmed & Pollitt, 2001) . In subjects such as maths , the extra reading and potentially confusing language introduced by context may unfairly impact students for whom English is an additional language, especially if reading comprehension is not part of what is being tested (Trakulphadetkrai et al. , 2017) . Supplements to context questions such as pictures or tables may also negatively impact students’performance, as they can introduce irrelevant information and increase cognitive load (Berends & van Lieshout, 2009) . If using supplements, the saliency of the items must be considered. The inclusion of images that do not provide information relevant to answering the question, for example, may lead to students wasting time (Crisp & Sweiry, 2006) . Impact on accessibility of exams In a stud

FAQs

Why can contextualised exam questions both help and harm exam validity?

Real-life contexts can improve validity when they focus on the matter being tested, but unfocused contexts may threaten validity by introducing irrelevant information and activating misleading expectations.

How do students’ schemas affect performance on context-based exam questions?

Context can activate schemas that are not relevant to the target concept, which may mislead students—for example, prompting them to answer with everyday products rather than the scientific result.

What additional burdens can context-based questions place on students?

They can require extra reading under pressure, potentially increasing cognitive load and testing reading comprehension rather than the intended subject knowledge, which can disadvantage students for whom English is an additional language.

Oct 20, 2026

Uploaded by Jordan Avery