Levels of difficulty
LEVEL PROSE DOCUMENT NUMERACY PROBLEM-SOLVING
1 Find information in a short text Enter information from personal knowledge into a document Understand basic math such as counting, sorting Perform concrete task with limited amount of reasoning; draw direct consequences
2 Compare information based on specified criteria; ignore implausible information Identify information from different parts of a document Identify and understand basic math concepts and estimations involving percents, fractions, simple measurements Evaluate alternatives with well defined, explicit criteria; use step-by-step reasoning combining information from different sources
3 Match information to text; may require making basic inferences Identify multiple pieces of information from two or more documents ignoring tables containing irrelevant information Understand math information shown in symbols, maps, graphs and drawings; able to interpret proportions, data and statistics in text with distractors Order several objectives according to criteria; solve a problem involving non-obvious or multiple constraints; reasoning is non-linear and requires coping with multi-dimensional or illdefined goals
4 Make complex inferences from lengthy, complicated text and incorporate conditional information Identify information in documents using multiple-feature matches; provide numerous responses and incorporate conditional information Understand abstract math information from complex texts; use multiple steps to find solutions to problems requiring complex reasoning and interpretation skills such as working with formulas Judge completeness, consistency, dependency among multiple criteria, explaining how solution was reached and why it is correct; reason using metaperspective, taking into account entire system of problem solving states and possible solutions but criteria and goals must be inferred before beginning solution process
5 Find information in dense text with numerous distractors, making high level inferences or use specialized background knowledge Search through complex text with multiple distractors and use specialized knowledge to make high level text-based inferences Understand complex representations, abstract and formal math and statistical ideas N/A