Purpose of EBT’s

The EBT is an outcome of the National Benchmark Tests (NBT’s) that students are required to pass in order to attend Higher Education institutions in SA.  The purpose of the EBT is to measure an ERLA applicant’s level of proficiency in Academic Literacy and Quantitative Literacy in relation to the demands of completing our bridging year program.

The EBT therefore primarily provides information to assist in the selection and recruitment of students for Eagles Rising Leadership Academy as well as assisting with the interpretation of their NSC results.

This test focuses on the application of knowledge that was learned in the senior phase of secondary school.  The cognitive abilities and skills underlying the school curriculum are required to be transferable to other contexts, and this is essentially what the EBT is assessing.  In other words, has the applicant acquired and can they apply their academic and quantitative literacies in other contexts that mirror those that they might encounter at ERLA and ultimately at university.

The Academic Literacy part of the EBT measures the applicant’s ability to:

  • Negotiate the meaning of words, sentences, paragraphs and complete texts.
  • Understand text signals as underlying structures of discussion and argument.
  • Draw inferences beyond what is stated in the text.
  • Separate essential from non-essential information in the text.
  • Understand and interpret visually encoded information, such as graphs, diagrams and flowcharts.
  • Understand the importance of their voice and opinion.
  • Understand and encode the metaphorical and non-literal base of the English Language.

This component of the EBT consists of 50 multiple choice questions divided over 5 sections.  In all sections applicants are required to read short passages that mirror those that they will encounter at institutions of higher education.

The Quantitative Literacy part of the EBT measures the applicant’s ability to:

  • Understand basic numerical concepts and information used in text.
  • Select and use a range of quantitative terms and phrases.
  • Apply quantitative procedures in various situations.
  • Formulate and apply simple formulae.
  • Interpret tables, charts and information represented symbolically.
  • Integrate information from different sources.
  • Identify trends and patterns.
  • Reason logically.

This component of the EBT consists of 50 multiple choice questions divided into 5 sections.

Kindly select Quiz Component name to begin

SECTION A – Academic Literacy

SECTION B – Quantitative Literacy