Exhibits 14.9, 14.10, 14.11, and 14.12 present teachers’ reports on the frequency with which students take mathematics and science tests on computers or tablets. On average, 61 to 69 percent of fourth and eighth grade students “never” take mathematics and science tests on computers or tablets according to their teachers, 14 to 21 percent do so “once or twice a year,” and 17 to 20 percent do so “once a month or more.” At the fourth grade, taking tests on digital devices was slightly less common in science compared to mathematics, with 69 percent of students “never” taking them and just 14 percent taking them “once a month or more,” compared to 64 percent and 18 percent in mathematics, respectively. There is tremendous variation across countries, however, with a number of countries at both grades having 90 percent or more of students “never” taking mathematics and science tests on digital devices, and some countries having about half or more of students doing so “once a month or more.”

The relationship between the frequency of taking tests on digital devices and average achievement varied across grades and subjects. At the eighth grade (Exhibits 14.11 and 14.12), although taking mathematics tests on computers “once a month or more” was associated with lower average achievement than “once or twice a year” and “never” (482 vs. 494 and 491, respectively), average achievement was similar across the three categories for taking science tests (492, 496, and 491, respectively). Average achievement was also similar across the three categories at the fourth grade (Exhibits 14.9 and 14.10), for both mathematics tests (502, 504, and 501, respectively) and science tests (489, 491, and 491, respectively).