\label{sec:data} This section describes how data was collected and how the tests were administrated to the pupils.
The tests were given to 236 pupils in the Danish school system grade six through ten from two different schools. For the first school, the headmaster was asked if the school wanted to participate in this study, while at the second school, a teacher was asked for permission to hand out and instruct the pupils. According to national GPA data, one of the schools were a little above average, while the other was a little below.
For test sessions one of us administered the tests so the administration was standardized. However for the 7^th, 8^th (A and B) and 9^th grade at GS, test administration was done by a teacher, who were told to give the same instructions as was given to the rest of the pupils. Said teacher was present at one of the previous test sessions as to minimize errors while administering the tests.
The tests were filled out with pen and paper, which were later digitized manually. If more than one answer or no answer was marked on the test it counted as “not correct”. The age of the pupils at the time the test was administered and the results were computed, which will be described in section \ref{sec:analysis}. Before handing out the test, the pupils were given oral instructions to minimize confusion for how to proceed with the test. The instructions were as follows:
There are 5 questions, each with multiple answers.You are only to mark one answer per question, meaning you will have a total of five answers when you are done. At the very top of the test, write down today’s date and your birthday.
While taking the test, please be quiet, so your fellow pupils are not disturbed. Remain quiet till everyone is done with the test. When you have marked five answers please raise your hand, so that your test can be collected.
If you are in doubt, mark the answer which you feel is the most correct.
As for question 3, there might be a difficult word for some of you. When encountering a ’alphanumerical’ series, you are to convert the letters into numbers like:
A = 1
B = 2
C = 3
And so on. Then you are supposed to find the next logical step in this number series. An example of a number series could be:
1 2 3 4 (5)
2 4 6 8 (10)
You may take as long as you need to finish this test.
The last part was done to ensure that, the pupils had understood the third question. From a pilot run, nearly all students in a 6^th grade asked for the meaning of this question, so it was assessed that this question had to be explained.