GNA and GLA Prep

This is a page to find links to information about the Graduation Numeracy and Literacy Assessments.

online sample

Every student must complete these assessments in order to graduate. There are three in total:

  • Graduation Numeracy Assessment 10

  • Graduation Literacy Assessment 10

  • Graduation Literacy Assessment 12

You can have three tries on each, but most students only do the assessment once.

Form of the Assessments

Each assessment has a "Selected Response" (multiple choice, etc) component done on a website, and two "Constructed Response" (written answer) questions. The written responses are done on paper for the Numeracy Assessment, and on the website for the Literacy Assessment.

The score for the assessment are out of 4, and are included as a separate item on your transcript. You must complete enough of the assessment to get at least a 1, otherwise you will be deemed to not have written the assessment at all. Very few students receive a 4 (about 4% of students overall), and most are 2s and 3s.

We don't know who is going to be using these scores, but they may become more important in the future, so students are encouraged to do their best.

Numeracy

Numeracy is not Math, but it involves math-like communication. It has the same relationship to math as literacy has to literature. As literacy is about the ability to read, numeracy is about the ability to "number".

The Numeracy Assessment has two similar parts. Each starts with 12 selected response questions on the computer about two different situations involving computation of some sort. The questions ask about the computations.

Next, the student must decide on which of the two situations to do a longer form answer for. (You can't go back and choose the other one.) This written response is on one piece of paper, and involves answering a complicated question about some data. You have to show some work, and clearly lay out and explain your answer. A table is often to best choice for presenting the data.

For the second part, we do the same thing: 12 more questions about 2 situations, then you choose one to answer on paper.

Literacy 10

This assessment has two parts, but the parts are not the same as in the Numeracy assessment.

In Part A, you read some texts and infographics and answer selected-response questions about them. Then you fill in an outline of an essay in chart form. Then you write a "multi-paragraph composition" giving a convincing argument about some question related to the readings.

In Part B, you choose either "Literacy for Information" (Science or History type of writing) or "Literacy for Expression" (Language Arts type of writing). Then you read some texts and answer selected-response questions about the texts you chose, and at the end write another response to a question.

Literacy 12

The Literacy 12 Assessment is similar to Lit 10 in that it is all online, has readings, selected-response questions, and written response sections. It also has two parts, and a choice of pathway.

The web site for Lit 12 is a different one from Lit 10 and Num 10, but it is pretty straightforward to use. The answer key for the sample test is online, too. The Student Exemplars show what is expected in the written responses.

Practicing for the Assessments

The assessments have an online sample web site that looks much like the website you will be using. For the sample website, choose any district and any 9 digit number for a student number (say, 123456789). (Don't choose an independent school). Then select either GNA or GLA, and a particular sample test.

For the written answers, the Ministry has provided some exemplars for the Numeracy 10 and Literacy 10, that is, some samples of student work with the marks they got and why.

The answers for some of the Numeracy 10 Sample A and Sample B, and for the Literacy 10 are at these links.

All of this info can be found by searching for "bc gna" or "bc gla" and following the links.