I heartily agree Janette - especially when native English teachers sometimes have problems with the answers. I have seen many students who have reading comprehension skills do far better on the test than those whose English is better but whose RC skills are not as good. These later pupils suffer in other subjects and it breaks my heart that although they are good in English (almost as good as in their L1) they are being penalized once again for their lack of RC skills. Why? If we want them to be prepared for University as someone mentioned recently, then perhaps translation from L1 to L2 and from L2 to L1 should be introduced. Most academic articles at the BA level do NOT require the "nit picking" that Janette refers to As for intelligence.. we can believe in our intelligent pupils and many of them indeed are far more intelligent in many other ways but if they keep seeing that they get a far lower mark than the rest of their friends, they will sadly reach their own conclusions. I have seen their frustration as each time they are tripped up by yet another indirect and confusing American question or open question .. and seen how their motivation begins to go down as I prepare them for the unseens by doing various papers. Enthusiasm goes down, the light in their eyes fades and months/years of encouragement goes out the window Barbara Just a tiny reminder David- and perhaps other pro -"let's make the English Bagrut an intelligence test" that we are teaching English as a foreign language....Nit-picking should not be a primary goal of an English bagrut test for EFL learners. Janette Segal David Hyatt wrote: >. As teachers we are trying to build discerning, critical thinkers, good and responsible citizens and the medium of language is among the best for achieving that goal. test taking is not the sole measure of' intelligence, .. as teachers our students as individuals they are not equivalent to their bagrut grades. To realize the maximum of their "intelligence" they have their whole lives before them... ----------------------------------------------- ** Etni homepage - http://www.etni.org or - http://www.etni.org.il ** ** for help - ask@xxxxxxxx ** ** to post to this list - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** -----------------------------------------------