This essay is about how thinking skills are requested in examinations in the course religion 1 in Swedish upper secondary schools. To investigate this an analysis template has been created which is constructed from Göran Svanelids theory the big five, who explains which abilities the Swedish curriculum demands. The main question for this study is How clear and to what extent are the abilities who Göran Svanelids theory the big five points out in exams within the course religion 1? To answer this, three support questions has been made. The First is about how these abilities change between the program they are used. The second one is how the form of examination affects the possibilities to show the abilities and lastly how the kind of question affects the possibility to show the abilities. The analysis template and theory derive from the Swedish curriculum and the lecturer Göran Svaneldis analysis of the curriculum. He found five thinking skills or abilities which all subjects value and who the pupils are supposed to learn. These are; concept skills, the skill to analyse, communicative skills, the ability to perform a procedure and metacognition. These abilities have been operationalized to become a theory to inspect how well and to what extent they are asked for in an examination. Therefore, this study is based on text interpretation of the examinations, with an aim of being both qualitative and quantitative. Out of the total amount of 106 emails sent to principals, teachers and administrative personnel at upper secondary school’s total of 38 examinations were collected1. 14 out of these were written tests, 16 were written essays and eight were oral examinations. The result displays that all examinations ask for the abilities but not all types of questions in the examinations ask for all abilities. The closed type of question only gives the opportunity to show concept skills. The concept skill is the most visible ability in all exams, the secondly most visible skill is the communicative skill, thirdly the analysis skill, fourthly is the skill of procedure and fifth and lastly, the metacognitive skill. The conclusion is that programs who aim to ensue further studies ask for all abilities to a larger extent and with a higher level of clarity. While the vocational program who aim to ensure a working career after upper secondary school ask for the abilities with a lesser clarity. Written essays are the best form of examination to ask for the abilities to a larger extent and with a higher clarity than oral examinations or written tests.