The Merdeka Curriculum has been implemented in the majority of schools in Indonesia, and one of its characteristics is an emphasis on students’ critical thinking. Therefore, it is so important to integrate Higher-Order Thinking Skill (HOTS) questions in reading assessment tasks within textbooks. This study aims to 1) examine the diversity of question forms in reading assessment tasks and to 2) determine the distribution and percentage of cognitive levels (LOTS, MOTS, HOTS) present in those assessment tasks. Through content analysis, the researcher determined the presence of Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTS), Middle Order Thinking Skills (MOTS), and Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) in reading assessment tasks within the English textbook “Pathway to English Tingkat Lanjut”. The result shows that 1) the most predominant question form in reading assessment tasks in the textbook falls under short answer with a total of 87 questions. Another finding of this study indicates that 2) 32% of the reading assessment tasks are attributed to LOTS, 49% of reading assessment tasks belong to MOTS, and 19% of reading assessment tasks found in the textbook are represented as HOTS. The result shows that the most frequent cognitive domain level in the reading assessment task C2, which is associated with understanding skills and falls under MOTS. In relation to that, MOTS has the highest percentage compared to LOTS and HOTS. Thus, this textbook may be effective in promoting critical thinking among students, as the distribution of cognitive levels is relatively balanced.
