Children are left in TEARS by reading tests that one teacher claims is the hardest EVER set by the Government

Teachers today condemned the 'hardest ever' reading test imposed on hundreds of thousands of 10 and 11 year-olds, reporting some pupils were reduced to tears by the exam.

Almost 600,000 children sat the reading test this morning in the first example of exams on a new tougher national curriculum.

After the test was complete, teachers took to the Times Educational Supplement forums to protest at how hard the SAT was.

One teacher said: 'That was, without doubt, the hardest reading test I've ever seen. Unbelievable. I'm so angry right now.

'That has completely demoralised a number of children in my class. It wasn't even like the sample paper they released. Much harder.'

Another added: 'The texts weren't so bad but the questions and the wording of them (vocabulary etc) was like something I have never seen before.

'I'm staggered.'


The TES reported another as posting: 'The questions were ridiculously hard from the start and I had a child in tears within five minutes, because in her words, ''I don't understand the questions''.

'This wasn't even a less able child.'

Another teacher claimed: 'Children who had succeeded previously in the 'sample' test were sobbing! More able not finishing.

'If ever a test was set up to prepare children to fail, this was it.'