The Extended HOTS Question
The Extended HOTS question replaces the Justification question on both the Summative
Assessment and the Bagrut exam for both the F and D modules. In this question, students are
asked to name a HOTS that they will use to answer the question and then answer the question
showing evidence of the appropriate use of the chosen thinking skill.
Students will no longer be asked to explain/justify why they chose the specific HOTS, rather
they will be showing evidence of their learning of the HOTS through the use of the HOTS in
their answer. This change will be as of the Summer 2014 exam.
Criteria
Content
Descriptors
 The chosen thinking
skill is appropriate.
 There is appropriate
evidence of the use
of the thinking skill.
5
 The chosen
thinking skill is
appropriate.
 There is partial
evidence of the
use of the
thinking skill.
---
3
 The chosen
thinking skill is
appropriate but
there is no
evidence of its use.
OR
 The chosen
thinking skill is
not appropriate.
---
0
Here are two examples of good answers to the Extended HOTS question:
Question 1: How do you think Mr. Cattanzara sees George? Support your answer with
information from the story.
Thinking skill: Inferring
I think Mr. Cattanzara sees George as someone who reminds him of himself. I infer this from
Mr. Cattanzara’s words: “Don’t do what I did” which means that once Mr. Cattanzara was in the
same situation as George and he doesn’t want George to repeat his mistakes.
Question 2: How does what we learn about George’s family and / or his neighborhood help
explain his situation at the beginning of the story?
Thinking skill: Explaining cause and effect
George’s family is poor and uneducated. The fact that he had no educated role model at home
caused George to misunderstand the importance of education and also caused him to do nothing
to improve his life.
When assessed based on the rubric above, the answers fully meet the criteria for content.
Note: There are no language criteria for this part of the answer because language is included in
the rubric for HOTS questions.
A complete graded Summative Assessment based on the new Table of Specifications is attached,
below.