In the Swedish criterion-referenced school system teachers are trusted to teach, assess and grade their students. The grading is high stakes since the grades are used for admission to higher education. There are national tests for some of the courses. However, the national tests are not final examinations and the results from the national tests are not decisive in the grading. The main aim with the national tests is that they should support fairness and equality when assessing and grading the students.
In 2011, new syllabuses for upper secondary school were introduced. In mathematics the most obvious and visible change was an ambition to set an even larger focus on competencies instead of content.
The result on the Swedish national tests are reported in the form of a test grade. It has also been taken for granted that the only reasonable is to report the total result and nothing else. However, there has been an increased demand to not only report results based on the total score but also report subscores connected to the competencies. The question is if the national tests are developed in that manner that it is possible and relevant to report subscores based on the competencies.