A Comparison of the Turkish Ministry of National Education’s Mathematics Sample Scenario Questions and Teachers’ Written Exam Questions Based on the MATH Taxonomy

In this study, mathematics sample scenario questions published by the Turkish Ministry of National Education (MoNE) and written exam questions prepared by middle school mathematics teachers were analyzed and compared within the framework of the Mathematical Assessment Task Hierarchy (MATH) taxonomy. The research was conducted using a document analysis design, and a total of 536 questions from the 2023–2025 academic years (201 MoNE sample scenarios; 335 teacher-written exam questions) constituted the units of analysis. The data were coded according to the eight categories of the MATH taxonomy (A1–C3). Inter-coder reliability was calculated using Miles and Huberman’s (1994) agreement formula and was found to be 90%. The findings indicated that questions in both sources were predominantly concentrated at the A3 level (Use of Routine Procedures), accounting for 49.25% of teacher-written exam questions and 39.3% of MoNE sample scenario questions. MoNE sample scenarios were found to include higher proportions of questions in the B2 (Adaptation to New Situations) and C2 (Inferences–Predictions–Comparisons) categories than teacher-written exams. However, no questions were identified in the C3 (Evaluation) category, which represents the highest level of cognitive demand, in either source. Overall, the results highlight a need to increase cognitive depth in classroom assessment practices and to provide support for teachers in developing mathematics questions that elicit higher-order cognitive skills.