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The National Institute of Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira (Inep) adopted, for the first time, the testlets model to prepare the 90 language and human sciences questions for the first day of the 2025 National High School Exam (Enem).
The announcement was made by the Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, at a press conference at the institute’s headquarters, in Brasília, after the first day of exam tests, last Sunday (9).
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In the test, the new methodology groups different questions related to the same base text.
The objective of the change is to better evaluate the participant’s knowledge acquired throughout school training, explains Inep.
Expanding use
Next Sunday (16), those enrolled in Enem will take the second day of tests in more than 1,800 municipalities across the 27 federation units. However, Inep does not confirm whether the model was applied in preparing the 90 mathematics and natural science questions (biology, chemistry and physics) in these tests.
“Inep does not previously disclose information about the test for reasons of security and secrecy”, he responded in a note to Brazil Agency.
However, the director of Basic Education Assessment at Inep, Hilda Linhares, stated that the plan is to expand the use of the testlets model.
“It is expected that, from this edition onwards, this model will be adopted not only for the area of languages, in which it was applied in 2025, but also for other areas of knowledge.”
Understand the use
The testlets format seeks to analyze the participant’s ability to understand and use information to demonstrate the knowledge acquired. This type of assessment approach ranges from literal interpretation to inferences and applications of concepts.
Although the same base text links, as a block, several questions to it, there is no dependence between the answers, that is, it does not present elements that can be considered to answer another question.
According to Inep, the initiative allows:
· reduction of the size of the test;
· avoid wasting effort in reading several excerpts of text.
· Allow the reading and analysis of texts that are closer to the integrity of the primary source;
· approach to more complex contexts;
· assessment of more complex cognitive tasks.
See the PDFs of the question papers from the first day of p, using the new testlets format.
Evaluation of the methodology
A Brazil Agency sought expert opinion on the testlets model in Enem. The director of Assessments at Arco and spokesperson for the teaching platform SAS Educação, Camila Karino, said that Inep’s use of the Testlet model in Enem surprised her because, until the last edition, the institute linked to the Ministry of Education (MEC) used a standardized format, where each question on the Enem test had a base text as a statement and, just below, the alternatives for the candidate to choose the correct answer.
Despite not imagining a significant change in the construction of the test questions, the director sees the methodology as “an advance in the evaluation model and there are no clear disadvantages.”
Camila Karino, director of Assessments at Arco and spokesperson for SAS. Camila Karino/Personal archive
With the change, Camila Karino understands that the main benefit of Testlet for the Enem context is to allow the assessment of more complex skills.
“When there was a base text per question, it was necessary to choose smaller texts, preventing deeper understandings from being assessed. This new format allows for denser texts, which raises the level of the test.”
However, she believes that the adoption of a base text will not impact the size and time of the test. “Texts will become denser”, he predicts.
This model that uses the same base text for a sequence of questions is not new in Brazil. The selection processes of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), the São Paulo State University (Unesp), the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), the State University of Ceará (Uece), Fuvest entrance exam [Fundação Universitária para o Vestibular]which selects for the University of São Paulo (USP), in addition to the Serial Assessment Program (PAS) at the University of Brasília (UnB) already presented this format.
“However, these processes do not exploit the full potential of testlets. I have a bet that Inep is pointing to a new trend for future editions of the exam, just like Pisa [Programa Internacional de Avaliação de Estudantes] has already been using it”, says director Camila Karino.
Item Response Theory
In an interview with Brazil Agencythe educator explains that the testlets model cannot be confused with Item Response Theory (IRT).
To calculate grades, for years, Inep has adopted this mathematical model that considers the coherence of the participant’s correct answers and identifies the consistency of the answer, depending on the degree of difficulty of each question.
“Item Response Theory (IRT) is the analysis methodology used to estimate student proficiency. It does not define the format.”
by Item Response Theory, which considers coherence of correct responses.
Enem
can be used to access public universities, in different ways; to apply for full and partial scholarships at private universities; to apply for student credit to pay private college fees; for admission to colleges without entrance exams; to study in Portugal; for self-assessment by trainers; and for certification of completion of secondary education or partial declaration of proficiency in this stage of basic education.
