NCDS – Age 16 – Mathematics Test

The 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS) assessed their cohort members (CMs) during the study’s age 16 sweep using the Mathematics Test.

Details on this measure (devised by the National Foundation for Educational Research) and the data collected from the CMs are outlined in the table below.

Year of data collection:	1974
Domain:	Mathematics
Measures:	Mathematics
	Numerical and geometric skills
CHC:	Gq (Quantitative Knowledge)
CLOSER Source:	Explore this sweep in CLOSER Discovery: NCDS Age 16 Survey (1974) (opens in a new tab)
Administrative method:	Teacher at school; individually face to face; pen and paper
Procedure:	The test consisted of 31 items. The test included, number skills and geometry using 27 multiple-choice and 4 true or false questions.
	Duration: The test was conducted under timed conditions and within time-limit (45 minutes)
Link to questionnaire:	No direct link to pdf. Information can be found in the file ‘ncds3_1974_questionnaires_and_codebook.pdf’ which accompanies data download from UK Data Service website.
Scoring:	31 items, each correct answer received one mark. The total of possible marks for the test was 31.
Item-level variable(s):	Not currently available
Total score/derived variable(s):	n2930
Age of participant (months):	Mean = 192.52, SD = 1.36, Range = 190 – 201
Descriptives:	Raw score
	N = 11,920
	Range = 0 -31
	Mean = 12.76
	SD = 7.00
	(click image to enlarge)
Other sweep and/or cohort:	None
Source:	Constructed by National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) specifically for use in the NCDS.
Technical resources:	Shepherd, P., Measures of ability at ages 7 to 16. National Child Development Study User Guide, 2012.
Example articles:	Fogelman, K. (1978). School attendance, attainment and behaviour. British journal of Educational Psychology, 48(2), 148-158.
	Jeffers, B. J., Power, C., & Hertzman, C. (2002). Birth weight, childhood socioeconomic environment, and cognitive development in the 1958 British birth cohort study. BMJ, 325(7359), 305.