One of these passages assessed student skills in the area of narrative reading. Narrative reading, such as adventure stories and mysteries, frequently consists of a problem, conflict, and resolution.
Expository texts are more informational and can have causal and comparative organization.
Common expository passages are taken from the science and social studies areas. Each of the two reading passages was followed by a number of multiple-mark items. The multiple-mark items had one or more correct answers and students were instructed to mark all responses that were correct. Scores from both reading types are combined to derive a reading index score. The reading index scores that are graphed indicate the percentage of total points answered correctly.