Types of test

1. 1. Types of test rd (To be reported by Nhisa S. Tumanda, Group 1, 3 reporter, MTh

10:30-12:00) Learning Objectives After studying the report, you should be able
to: 1. 2. 3. Identify the type of test and types/kinds of each types of test; Know
the guidelines in constructing the each type of test; Know the advantages and
disadvantages of each type of test. Types of test: 1. True or False Test in this
type of test, the examinees determine whether the statement presented true or
false. Types of True or False Tests: a. b. c. d. e. f. g. Simple True or False Modified
True and False-underlining the word(s) that make the statement wrong. True or
False with Correction (e.g. 5x3=8 Answer: False 5+3=8 or 5x3=15) Cluster True
or False (e.g. T if TRUE, F if FALSE) True or False with Options (e.g. Write A if only
the first statement is TRUE. Write B if only the second statement is TRUE.) Fact or
Opinion-identifying if the statement is a FACT or OPINION. Identifying
Inconsistencies in a Paragraph Advantages of True or False Test It covers a lot
content in a short span of time. It is easier to prepare compared to multiple-
choice and matching-type of test. It is easier to score because it can be scored
objectively compared to a test that depends on the judgement of the rater(s). It
is useful when there are two alternatives only. The score is easy to check and is
more reliable than essay test. Easy to construct. Disadvantages of True or False
Test Limited only to low level of thinking skills such as knowledge and
comprehension, or recognition or recall information. Dependence of absolute
judgement at the teachers criteria for the evaluation of the truth or falsity of any
statement. High probability of guessing (50%).
2. 2. Guidelines in Constructing True or False Test Avoid writing a very long
statement. Avoid trivial questions. It should contain only one idea in each
item except for showing the relationship between cause and effect. It can be
used for establishing cause and effect relationship. Avoid using negative or
double negatives. Avoid specific determiner such as Never, always, all,
none, some, may, etc. Avoid grammatical clues that could lead to a
correct answer such as the article (a,an,the) Avoid statement directly taken
from the textbook. Avoid arranging the statements in a logical order such as
(TTTT,FFTT,FTFT) Directions should indicate where or how the students should
mark their answer. The number of true items must be the same with the
number of false items. Construct items that measure important objectives.
Avoid using trick questions. Approximately half of the statements should be
false (if the answer is false). 2. Supply Type or Subjective Type of Test Items this
type of test requires students to create and supply their own answer or perform a
certain task to show mastery of knowledge or skills. It is also known as
constructed response test. Kinds of Subjective Type or Short Answer Test Items:
a. Completion Type or Short Answer Test an alternative form of assessment
because the examinee needs to supply or create the appropriate word(s),
symbol(s) or number(s) to answer the question or complete a statement rather
than selecting the answer from the given options. Two ways of constructing
completion type or short answer type of test: question form or complete the
statement form. Advantages of a Completion or Short Answer Test It
covers a broad range of topic in a short span of time. It is easier to prepare and
less time consuming. It can assess effectively the lower level of Blooms
 Taxonomy. It reduces the possibility of guessing the correct answer because it
requires recall. It covers greater amount of contents than matching type test.
Disadvantages of a Completion or Short Answer Test It is only
appropriate for questions that can be answered with short responses. There is a
difficulty in scoring when the questions are not prepared properly and clearly. It
can assess only knowledge, comprehension and application levels in Blooms
Taxonomy of Cognitive domain. It is not adaptable in measuring complex learning
outcomes. Scoring is tedious and time consuming.
3. 3. Guidelines in Constructing Completion Type or Short Answer Test The item
should require a single word answer or brief and definite statement. Be sure
that the language used in the statement is precise and accurate in relation to the
subject matter being tested. Be sure to omit only key words. Do not leave the
blank at the beginning or within the statement. It should be at the end of the
statement. Use direct question rather than incomplete statement. Be sure to
indicate the units in which to be expressed when the statement requires
numerical answer. Be sure that the answer the student is requires to produce is
factually correct. b. Essay Items it consists of a few number of questions
wherein the examinee is expected to demonstrate the ability to recall factual
knowledge, and organize and present his knowledge in logical and integrated
answer. Types of Essay Items: 1. 2. Extended Response Essays An essay test
that allows students to determine the length and complexity of the response.
Restricted Response Essays An essay item that places strict limits on both
content and the response given by the students. Advantages of Essay Test
It is easier to prepare and less time consuming compared to other paper and
pencil tests. It measures higher-order thinking skills (analysis, synthesis, and
evaluation) It allows students freedom to express individuality in answering the
given question. It reduces guessing answer compared to any objective type of
test. It presents more realistic task to the students. It emphasizes on the
integration and application of ideas. Disadvantages of Essay Test It
cannot provide and objective measure of the achievement of the students. It
needs so much time to grade and prepare scoring criteria. The scores are usually
not reliable most especially without scoring criteria It measures limited amount of
contents and objectives. Low variation of scores. It usually encourages bluffing.
Guidelines in Constructing Essay Test Items Construct essay question
used to measure complex learning outcomes only. Essay questions should relate
directly to the learning outcomes to be measured. Formulate essay questions
that present a clear task to be performed. An item should be stated precisely and
it must clearly focus on the desired answer. All students should be required to
answer the same question.
4. 4. Number of points and time spent in answering the question must be
indicated in each item. Specify the words, paragraphs or number of sentences
for the answer. The scoring system must be discussed or presented to the
students. Suggestions for Grading Essay Test (by Zimmaro) Decide on a policy for
dealing with incorrect, irrelevant, or illegal responses. Keep scores of the
previously read items out of sight. The students identity should remain
anonymous while his/her paper is being graded. Read and evaluate each
students answer to the same question before grading the next question. Provide
students with general grading criteria by which they will be evaluated prior to
examination. Use analytic scoring or holistic scoring. Answer the test yourself by
writing the ideal answer to it so that you can develop the scoring criteria from
your answer. Write your comments on their papers. 3. Matching-Type Test is
 similar to the multiple-choice test. In this kind of test, the examinee associates
an item in one column with a choice in the second column. Types of Matching-
Type Tests: a. b. c. d. Perfect Matching- an option is the only answer to one of the
items in column A. Imperfect Matching- an option is the answer to more than one
item in the column. Sequencing Matching- requires the examinees to arrange
things, steps, or events in chronological order. Multiple Matching- requires the
examinees to match the items in column A to B, then match the answers from
column B to column C and further match answers from column C to column D.
Advantages of the Matching-Type Test The matching-type test is simple to
construct and score. It reduces the effects of guessing, although the chance of
guessing increases as the student progresses in answering items. Disadvantages
of the Matching-Type Test It tends to ask students to associate trivial
information. Guidelines in Constructing Matching-Type Tests If
possible, the response list should consist of short phrases, single words, or
numbers. Use homogeneous options and items. Have more options than the
given items. Arrange the options and items alphabetically, numerically or
magnitudinally. Limit the number of items within each set. Place the shorter
responses in column B. Provide complete directions. Place the list of options on
the same page as the list of items.
5. 5. Avoid specific determiners and trivial information that can help the students
find the correct response without any effort on their part. Clearly explain the
basis on which the match is to be made. Suggestions for Measuring Complex
Objectives with Matching-Type Tests Match examples with terminologies. Use
novel pictorial materials.
Recommended

Intelligence tests of retarded school children. Numerous studies of the age-grade

progress of school children have afforded convincing evidence of the magnitude and
seriousness of the retardation problem. Statistics collected in hundreds of cities in the
United States show that between a third and a half of the school children fail to
progress through the grades at the expected rate; that from 10 to 15 per cent are
retarded two years or more; and that from 5 to 8 per cent are retarded at least three
years. More than 10 per cent of the $400,000,000 annually expended in the United
States for school instruction is devoted to re-teaching children what they have already
been taught but have failed to learn.

The first efforts at reform which resulted from these findings were based on the
supposition that the evils which had been discovered could be remedied by the
individualizing of instruction, by improved methods of promotion, by increased
attention to children's health, and by other reforms in school administration. Although
reforms along these lines have been productive of much good, they have nevertheless
been in a measure disappointing. The trouble was, they were too often based upon the
assumption that under the right conditions all children would be equally, or almost
equally, capable of making satisfactory school progress. Psychological studies of
school children by means of standardized intelligence tests have shown that this
supposition is not in accord with the facts. It has been found that children do not fall
into two well-defined groups, the "feeble-minded" and the "normal." Instead, there are
many grades of intelligence, ranging from idiocy on the one hand to genius on the
other. Among those classed as normal, vast individual differences have been found to
exist in original mental endowment, differences which affect profoundly the capacity
to profit from school instruction.

We are beginning to realize that the school must take into account, more seriously
than it has yet done, the existence and significance of these differences in endowment.
Instead of wasting energy in the vain attempt to hold mentally slow and defective
children up to a level of progress which is normal to the average child, it will be wiser
to take account of the inequalities of children in original endowment and to
differentiate the course of study in such a way that each child will be allowed to
progress at the rate which is normal to him, whether that rate be rapid or slow.

While we cannot hold all children to the same standard of school progress, we can at
least prevent the kind of retardation which involves failure and the repetition of a
school grade. It is well enough recognized that children do not enter with very much
zest upon school work in which they have once failed. Failure crushes self-confidence
and destroys the spirit of work. It is a sad fact that a large proportion of children in the
schools are acquiring the habit of failure. The remedy, of course, is to measure out the
work for each child in proportion to his mental ability.

Before an engineer constructs a railroad bridge or trestle, he studies the materials to be

used, and learns by means of tests exactly the amount of strain per unit of size his
materials will be able to withstand. He does not work empirically, and count upon
patching up the mistakes which may later appear under the stress of actual use. The
educational engineer should emulate this example. Tests and forethought must take
the place of failure and patchwork. Our efforts have been too long directed by "trial
and error." It is time to leave off guessing and to acquire a scientific knowledge of the
material with which we have to deal. When instruction must be repeated, it means that
the school, as well as the pupil, has failed.

Every child who fails in his school work or is in danger of failing should be given a
mental examination. The examination takes less than one hour, and the result will
contribute more to a real understanding of the case than anything else that could be
done. It is necessary to determine whether a given child is unsuccessful in school
because of poor native ability, or because of poor instruction, lack of interest, or some
other removable cause.

It is not sufficient to establish any number of special classes, if they are to be made the
dumping-ground for all kinds of troublesome cases -- the feeble-minded, the
physically defective, the merely backward, the truants, the incorrigibles, etc. Without
scientific diagnosis and classification of these children the educational work of the
special class must blunder along in the dark. In such diagnosis and classification our
main reliance must always be in mental tests, properly used and properly interpreted.

Intelligence tests of the feeble-minded. Thus far intelligence tests have found their
chief application in the identification and grading of the feeble-minded. Their value
for this purpose is twofold. In the first place, it is necessary to ascertain the degree of
defect before it is possible to decide intelligently upon either the content or the
method of instruction suited to the training of the backward child. In the second place,
intelligence tests are rapidly extending our conception of "feeble-mindedness" to
include milder degrees of defect than have generally been associated with this term.
The earlier methods of diagnosis caused a majority of the higher grade defectives to
be overlooked. Previous to the development of psychological methods the low-
grade moron was about as high a type of defective as most physicians or even
psychologists were able to identify as feeble-minded.

Wherever intelligence tests have been made in any considerable number in the
schools, they have shown that not far from 2 per cent of the children enrolled have a
grade of intelligence which, however long they live, will never develop beyond the
level which is normal to the average child of 11 or 12 years. The large majority of
these belong to the moron grade; that is, their mental development will stop
somewhere between the 7-year and 12-year level of intelligence, more often between
9 and 12.

The more we learn about such children, the clearer it becomes that they must be
looked upon as real defectives. They may be able to drag along to the fourth, fifth, or
sixth grades, but even by the age of 16 or 18 years they are never able to cope
successfully with the more abstract and difficult parts of the common-school course of
study. They may master a certain amount of rote learning, such as that involved in
reading and in the manipulation of number combinations, but they cannot be taught to
meet new conditions effectively or to think, reason, and judge as normal persons do.

It is safe to predict that in the near future intelligence tests will bring tens of thousands
of these high-grade defectives under the surveillance and protection of society. This
will ultimately result in curtailing the reproduction of feeble-mindedness and in the
elimination of an enormous amount of crime, pauperism, and industrial inefficiency. It
is hardly necessary to emphasize that the high-grade cases, of the type now so
frequently overlooked, are precisely the ones whose guardianship it is most important
for the State to assume.
Intelligence tests of delinquents. One of the most important facts brought to light by
the use of intelligence tests is the frequent association of delinquency and mental
deficiency. Although it has long been recognized that the proportion of feeble-
mindedness among offenders is rather large, the real amount has, until recently, been
underestimated even by the most competent students of criminology.

The criminologists have been accustomed to give more attention to the physical than
to the mental correlates of crime. Thus, Lombroso and his followers subjected
thousands of criminals to observation and measurement with regard to such physical
traits as size and shape of the skull, bilateral asymmetries, anomalies of the ear, eye,
nose, palate, teeth, hands, fingers, hair, dermal sensitivity, etc. The search was for
physical "stigmata" characteristic of the "criminal type."

Although such studies performed an important service in creating a scientific interest

in criminology, the theories of Lombroso have been wholly discredited by the results
of intelligence tests. Such tests have demonstrated, beyond any possibility of doubt,
that the most important trait of at least 25 per cent of our criminals is mental
weakness. The physical abnormalities which have been found so, common among
prisoners are not the stigmata of criminality, but the physical accompaniments of
feeble-mindedness. They have no diagnostic significance except in so far as they are
indications of mental deficiency. Without exception, every study which has been made
of the intelligence level of delinquents has furnished convincing testimony as to the
close relation existing between mental weakness and moral abnormality. Some of
these findings are as follows:--

Miss Renz tested 100 girls of the Ohio State Reformatory and reported 36 per cent as
certainly feeble-minded. In every one of these cases the commitment papers had given
the pronouncement "intellect sound."

Under the direction of Dr. Goddard the Binet tests were given to 100 juvenile court
cases, chosen at random, in Newark, New Jersey. Nearly half were classified as
feeble-minded. One boy 17 years old had 9-year intelligence; another of l5 had 8-
year intelligence.

Of 56 delinquent girls 14 to 20 years of age tested by Hill and Goddard, almost half
belonged either to the 9- or the 10-year level of intelligence.

Dr. G. G. Fernald's tests of 100 prisoners at the Massachusetts State Reformatory

showed that at least 95 per cent were feebleminded.

Of 1186 girls tested by Miss Dewson at the State Industrial School for Girls at
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 28 per cent were found to have subnormal intelligence.
Dr. Katherine Bement Davis's report on 1000 cases entered in the Bedford Home for
Women, New York, stated that there was no doubt but that at least 157 were feeble-
minded. Recently there has been established at this institution one of the most
important research laboratories of the kind in the United States, with a trained
psychologist, Dr. Mabel Feniald, in charge.

Of 564 prostitutes investigated by Dr. Anna Dwyer in connection with the Municipal
Court of Chicago, only 3 per cent had gone beyond the fifth grade in school. Mental
tests were not made, but from the data given it is reasonably certain that half or more
were feeble-minded.

Tests, by Dr. George Ordahl and Dr. Louise Ellison Ordahl, of cases in the Geneva
School for Girls, Geneva, Illinois, showed that, on a conservative basis of
classification, at least 18 per cent were feeble-minded. At the Joliet Prison, Illinois,
the same authors found 50 per cent of the female prisoners feeble-minded, and 26 per
cent of the male prisoners. At the St. Charles School for Boys 26 per cent were feeble-
minded.

Tests, by Dr. J. Harold Williams, of 150 delinquents in the Whittier State School for
Boys, Whittier, California, gave 28 per cent feeble-minded and 25 per cent at or near
the border-line. About 300 other juvenile delinquents tested by Mr. Williams gave
approximately the same figures. As a result of these findings a research laboratory has
been established at the Whittier School, with Dr. Williams in charge. In the girls'
division of the Whittier School, Dr. Grace Fernald collected a large amount of
psychological data on more than 100 delinquent girls. The findings of this
investigation agree closely with those of Dr. Williams for the boys.

At the State Reformatory, Jeffersonville, Indiana, Dr. von Klein-Schmid, in an

unusually thorough psychological study of 1000 young adult prisoners, finds the
proportion of feeble-mindedness not far from 50 per cent.

But it is needless to multiply statistics. Those given are but samples. Tests are at
present being made in most of the progressive prisons, reform schools, and juvenile
courts throughout the country, and while there are minor discrepancies in regard to the
actual percentage who are feebleminded, there is no investigator who denies the
fearful role played by mental deficiency in the production of vice, crime, and
delinquency.[1]

Heredity studies of "degenerate" families have confirmed, in a striking way, the

testimony secured by intelligence tests. Among the best known of such families are
the "Kallikaks," the "Jukes," the "Hiu Folk,"the Nams," the Zeros," and the
"Ishmaelites."
The Kallikak family. Martin Kallikak was a youthful soldier in the Revolutionary War.
At a tavern frequented by the militia he met a feeble-minded girl, by whom he became
the father of a feeble-minded son. In 1912, there were 480 known direct descendants
of this temporary union. It is known that 36 of these were illegitimates, that 33 were
sexually immoral, that 24 were confirmed alcoholics, and that 8 kept houses of ill-
fame. The explanation of so much immorality will be obvious when it is stated that of
the 480 descendants, 143 were known to be feeble-minded, and that many of the
others were of questionable mentality.

A few years after returning from the war this same Martin Kallikak married a
respectable girl of good family. From this union 496 individuals have been traced in
direct descent, and in this branch of the family there were no illegitimate children, no
immoral women, and only one man who was sexually loose. There were no criminals,
no keepers of houses of ill-fame, and only two confirmed alcoholics. Again the
explanation is clear when it is stated that this branch of the family did not contain a
single feeble-minded individual. It was made up of doctors, lawyers, judges,
educators, traders, and landholders.[2]

The Hill Folk. The Hill Folk are a New England family of which 709 persons have
been traced. Of the married women, 24 per cent had given birth to illegitimate
offspring, and 10 per cent were prostitutes. Criminal tendencies were clearly shown in
24 members of the family, while alcoholism was still more common. The proportion
of feeble-minded was 48 per cent. It was estimated that the Hill Folk have in the last
sixty years cost the State of Massachusetts, in charitable relief, care of feeble-minded,
epileptic, and insane, conviction and punishment for crime, prostitution, pauperism,
etc., at least $500,000. [3]

The Nam family and the Jukes give equally dark pictures as regards criminality,
licentiousness, and alcoholism, and although feeble-mindedness was not as fully
investigated in these families as in the Kallikaks and the Hill Folk, the evidence is
strong that it was a leading trait. The 784 Nams who were traced included 187
alcoholics, 232 women and 199 men known to be licentious, and 40 who became
prisoners. It is estimated that the Nams have already cost the State nearly $1,500,000.
[4]

Of 540 Jukes, practically one fifth were born out of wedlock, 37 were known to be
syphilitic, 53 had been in the poorhouse, 76 had been sentenced to prison, and of 229
women of marriageable age 128 were prostitutes. The economic damage inflicted
upon the State of New York by the Jukes in seventy-five years was estimated at more
than $1,300,000, to say nothing of diseases and other evil influences which they
helped to spread.[5]
But why do the feeble-minded tend so strongly to become delinquent? The answer
may be stated in simple terms. Morality depends upon two things: (a) the ability to
foresee and to weigh the possible consequences for self and others of different kinds
of behavior; and (b) upon the willingness and capacity to exercise self-restraint. That
there are many intelligent criminals is due to the fact that (a) may exist without (b).
On the other hand, (b) presupposes (a). In other words, not all criminals are feeble-
minded, but all feeble-minded are at least potential criminals. That every feeble-
minded woman is a potential prostitute would hardly be disputed by any one. Moral
judgment, like business judgment, social judgment, or any other kind of higher
thought process, is a function of intelligence. Morality cannot flower and fruit if
intelligence remains infantile.

All of us in early childhood lacked moral responsibility. We were as rank egoists as

any criminal. Respect for the feelings, the property rights, or any other kind of rights,
of others had to be laboriously acquired under the whip of discipline. But by degrees
we learned that only when instincts are curbed, and conduct is made to conform to
principles established formally or accepted tacitly by our neighbors, does this become
a livable world for any of us. Without the intelligence to generalize the particular, to
foresee distant consequences of present acts, to weigh these foreseen consequences in
the nice balance of imagination, morality cannot be learned. When the adult body,
with its adult instincts, is coupled with the undeveloped intelligence and weak
inhibitory powers of a 10-year-old child, the only possible outcome, except in those
cases where constant guardianship is exercised by relatives or friends, is some form of
delinquency.

Considering the tremendous cost of vice and crime, which in all probability amounts
to not less than $500,000,000 per year in the United States alone, it is evident that
psychological testing has found here one of its richest applications. Before offenders
can be subjected to rational treatment a mental diagnosis is necessary, and while
intelligence tests do not constitute a complete psychological diagnosis, they are,
nevertheless, its most indispensable part.

Intelligence tests of superior children. The number of children with very superior
ability is approximately as great as the number of feeble-minded. The future welfare
of the country hinges, in no small degree, upon the right education of these superior
children. Whether civilization moves on and up depends most on the advances made
by creative thinkers and leaders in science, polities, art, morality, and religion.
Moderate ability can follow, or imitate, but genius must show the way.

Through the leveling influences of the educational lockstep such children at present
are often lost in the masses. It is a rare child who is able to break this lockstep by extra
promotions. Taking the country over, the ratio of "accelerates" to "retardates" in the
school is approximately 1 to 10. Through the handicapping influences of poverty,
social neglect, physical defects, or educational maladjustments, many potential leaders
in science, art, government, and industry are denied the opportunity of a normal
development. The use we have made of exceptional ability one of the primitive
methods of surface mining.

It is necessary to explore the nation's hidden resources of intelligence. The common

saying that "genius will out" is one of those dangerous half-truths with which too
many people rest content.

Psychological tests show that children of superior ability are very likely to be
misunderstood in school. The writer has tested more than a hundred children who
were as much above average intelligence as moron defectives are below. The large
majority of these were found located below the school grade warranted by their
intellectual level. One third had failed to reap any advantage whatever, in terms of
promotion, from their very superior intelligence. Even genius languishes when kept
over-long at tasks that are too easy.

Our data show that teachers sometimes fail entirely to recognize exceptional
superiority in a pupil, and that the degree of such superiority is rarely estimated with
anything like the accuracy which is possible to the psychologist after a one-hour
examination. B. F., for example, was a little over 7 years old when tested. He was in
the third grade, and was therefore thought by his teacher to be accelerated in school.
This boy's intelligence, however, was found to be above the 12-year level. There is no
doubt that his mental ability would have enabled him, with a few months of individual
instruction, to carry fifth or even sixth-grade work as easily as third, and without
injury to body or mind. Nevertheless, the teacher and both the parents of this child had
found nothing remarkable about him. In reality he belongs to a grade of genius not
found oftener than once in several thousand cases.

Another illustration is that of a boy of 10 years who tested at the "average adult"
level. He was doing superior work in the sixth grade, but according to the testimony
of the teacher had "no unusual ability." It was ascertained from the parents that this
boy, at an age when most children, are reading fairy stories, had a passion for standard
medical literature and textbooks in physical science. Yet, after more than a year of
daily contact with this young genius (who is a relative of Meyerbeer, the composer),
the teacher had discovered no symptoms of unusual ability.[6]

Teachers should be better trained in detecting the signs of superior ability. Every child
who consistently gets high marks in his school work with apparent ease should be
given a mental examination, and if his intelligence level warrants it he should either
be given extra promotions, or placed in a special class for superior children where
faster progress can be made. The latter is the better plan, because it obviates the
necessity of skipping grades; it permits rapid but continuous progress.

The usual reluctance of teachers to give extra promotions probably rests upon three
factors: (1) mere inertia; (2) a natural unwillingness to part with exceptionally
satisfactory pupils; and (3) the traditional belief that precocious children should be
held back for fear of dire physical or mental consequences.

In order to throw light on the question whether exceptionally bright children are
specially likely to be one-sided, nervous, delicate, morally abnormal, socially
unadaptable, or otherwise peculiar, the writer has secured rather extensive information
regarding 31 children whose mental age was found by intelligence tests to be 25 per
cent above the actual age. This degree of intelligence is possessed by about 2 children
out of 100, and is nearly as far above average intelligence as high-grade feeble-
mindedness is below. The supplementary information, which was furnished in most
cases by the teachers, may be summarized as follows: --

1. Ability special or general. In the case of 20 out of 31 the ability is decidedly

general, and with 2 it is mainly general. The talents of 5 are described as more
or less special, but only in one case is it remarkably so. Doubtful 4.

2. Health. 15 are said to be perfectly healthy; 13 have one or more physical

defects; 4 of the 13 are described as delicate; 4 have adenoids; 4 have eye-
defects; 1 lisps; and 1 stutters. These figures are about the same as one finds in
any group of ordinary children.

3. Studiousness. "Extremely studious," 15; "usually studious" or "fairly studious,"

11; "not particularly studious," 5; "lazy," 0.

4. Moral traits. Favorable traits only, 19; one or more unfavorable traits, 8; no
answer, 4. The eight with unfavorable moral traits are described as follows: 2
are "very self-willed"; 1 "needs close watching"; 1 is "cruel to animals"; 1 is
"untruthful"; 1 is "unreliable"; 1 is "a bluffer"; 1 is "sexually abnormal,"
perverted," and "vicious."
It will be noted that with the exception of the last child, the moral irregularities
mentioned can hardly be regarded, from the psychological point of view, as
essentially abnormal. It is perhaps a good rather than a bad sign for a child to
be self-willed; most children "need close watching"; and a certain amount of
untruthfulness in children is the rule and not the exception.

5. Social adaptability. Socially adaptable, 25; not adaptable, 2; doubtful, 4.

 6. Attitude of other children. "Favorable," "friendly," "liked by everybody," "much
admired," "popular," etc., 26; "not liked," 1; "inspires repugnance," 1; no
answer, 1.

7. Is child a leader? "Yes," 14; "no," or "not particularly," 12; doubtful, 5.

8. Is play life normal? "Yes," 26; "no," 1; "hardly," 1; doubtful, 3.

9. 1s child spoiled or vain? "No," 22; "yes," 5; "somewhat," 2; no answer, 2.

According to the above data, exceptionally intelligent children are fully as likely to be
healthy as ordinary children; their ability is far more often general than special, they
are studious above the average, really serious faults are not common among them,
they are nearly always socially adaptable, are sought after as playmates and
companions, their play life is usually normal, they are leaders far oftener than other
children, and notwithstanding their many really superior qualities they are seldom
vain or spoiled.

It would be greatly to the advantage of such children if their superior ability were
more promptly and fully recognized, and if (under proper medical supervision, of
course) they were promoted as rapidly as their mental development would warrant.
Unless they are given the grade of work which calls forth their best efforts, they run
the risk of falling into lifelong habits of submaximum efficiency. The danger in the
case of such children is not over-pressure, but under-pressure.

Intelligence tests as a basis for grading. Not only in the case of retarded or
exceptionally bright children, but with many others also, intelligence tests can aid in
correctly placing the child in school.

The pupil who enters one school system from another is a case in point. Such a pupil
nearly always suffers a loss of time. The indefensible custom is to grade the
newcomer down a little, because, forsooth, the textbooks he has studied may have
differed somewhat from those he is about to take up, or because the school system
from which he comes may be looked upon as inferior. Teachers are too often
suspicious of all other educational methods besides their own. The present treatment
accorded such children, which so often does them injustice and injury, should be
replaced by an intelligence test. The hour of time required for the test is a small matter
in comparison with the loss of a school term by the pupils.

Indeed, it would be desirable to make all promotions on the basis chiefly of

intellectual ability. Hitherto the school has had to rely on tests of information because
reliable tests of intelligence have not until recently been available. As
trained Binet examiners become more plentiful, the information standard will have to
give way to the criterion which asks merely that the child shall be able to do the work
of the next higher grade. The brief intelligence test is not only more enlightening than
the examination; it is also more hygienic. The school examination is often for the
child a source of worry and anxiety; the mental test is an interesting and pleasant
experience.

Intelligence tests for vocational fitness. The time is probably not far distant when
intelligence tests will become a recognized and widely used instrument for
determining vocational fitness. Of course, it is not claimed that tests are available
which will tell us unerringly exactly what one of a thousand or more occupations a
given individual is best fitted to pursue. But when thousands of children who have
been tested by the Binet scale have been followed out into the industrial world, and
their success in various occupations noted, we shall know fairly definitely the
vocational significance of any given degree of mental inferiority or superiority.
Researches of this kind will ultimately determine the minimum "intelligence quotient"
necessary for success in each leading occupation.

Industrial concerns doubtless suffer enormous losses from the employment of persons
whose mental ability is not equal to the tasks they are expected to perform. The
present methods of trying out new employees, transferring them to simpler and
simpler jobs as their inefficiency becomes apparent, is wasteful and to a great extent
unnecessary. A cheaper and more satisfactory method would be to employ a
psychologist to examine applicants for positions and to weed out the unfit. Any
business employing as many as five hundred or a thousand workers, as, for example, a
large department store, could save in this way several times the salary of a well-
trained psychologist.

That the industrially inefficient are often of subnormal intelligence has already been
demonstrated in a number of psychological investigations. Of 150 "hoboes" tested
under the direction of the writer by Mr. Knollin, at least 15 per cent belonged to the
moron grade of mental deficiency, and almost as many more were border-line cases.
To be sure, a large proportion were found perfectly normal, and a few even decidedly
superior in mental ability, but the ratio of mental deficiency was ten or fifteen times as
high as that holding for the general population. Several had as low as 9- or 10-year
intelligence, and one had a mental level of 7 years. The industrial history of such
subjects, as given by themselves, was always about what the mental level would lead
us to expect -- unskilled work, lack of interest in accomplishment, frequent discharge
from jobs, discouragement, and finally the "road."

The above findings have been fully paralleled by Mr. Glenn Johnson and Professor
Eleanor Rowland, of Reed College, who tested 108 unemployed charity cases in
Portland, Oregon. Both of these investigators made use of the Stanford revision of
the Binet scale, which is especially serviceable in distinguishing the upper-grade
defectives from normals.

It hardly needs to be emphasized that when charity organizations help the feeble-
minded to float along in the social and industrial world, and to produce and rear
children after their kind, a doubtful service is rendered. A little psychological research
would aid the united charities of any city to direct their expenditures into more
profitable channels than would otherwise be possible.

Other uses of intelligence tests. Another important use of intelligence tests is in the
study of the factors which influence mental development. It is desirable that we
should be able to guard the child against influences which affect mental development
unfavorably; but as long as these influences have not been sifted, weighed, and
measured, we have nothing but conjecture on which to base our efforts in this
direction.

When we search the literature of child hygiene for reliable evidence as to the injurious
effects upon mental ability of malnutrition, decayed teeth, obstructed breathing,
reduced sleep, bad ventilation, insufficient exercise, etc., we are met by endless
assertion painfully unsupported by demonstrated fact. We have, indeed, very little
exact knowledge regarding the mental effects of any of the factors just mentioned.
When standardized mental tests have come into more general use, such influences will
be easy to detect wherever they are really present.

Again, the most important question of heredity is that regarding the inheritance of
intelligence; but this is a problem which cannot be attacked at all without some
accurate means of identifying the thing which is the object of study. Without the use
of scales for measuring intelligence we can give no better answer as to the essential
difference between a genius and a fool than is to be found in legend and fiction.

Applying this to school children, it means that without such tests we cannot know to
what extent a child's mental performances are determined by environment and to what
extent by heredity. Is the place of the so-called lower classes in the social and
industrial scale the result of their inferior native endowment, or is their apparent
inferiority merely a result of their inferior home and school training? Is genius more
common among children of the educated classes than among the children of the
ignorant and poor?

Are the inferior races really inferior, or are they merely unfortunate in their lack of
opportunity to learn?
Only intelligence tests can answer these questions and grade the raw material with
which education works. Without them we can never distinguish the results of our
educational efforts with a given child from the influence of the child's original
endowment. Such tests would have told us, for example, whether the much-discussed
"wonder children," such as the Sidis and Wiener boys and the Stoner girl, owe their
precocious intellectual prowess to superior training (as their parents believe) or to
superior native ability. The supposed effects upon mental development of new
methods of mind training, which are exploited so confidently from time to time (e.g.,
the Montessori method and the various systems of sensory and motor training for the
feeble-minded), will have to be checked up by the same kind of scientific
measurement.

In all these fields intelligence tests are certain to play an ever-increasing rle. With the
exception of moral character, there is nothing as significant for a child's future as his
grade of intelligence. Even health itself is likely to have less influence in determining
success in life. Although strength and swiftness have always had great survival value
among the lower animals, these characteristics have long since lost their supremacy in
man's struggle for existence. For us the rule of brawn has been broken, and
intelligence has become the decisive factor in success. Schools, railroads, factories,
and the largest commercial concerns may be successfully managed by persons who
are physically weak or even sickly. One who has intelligence constantly measures
opportunities against his own strength or weakness and adjusts himself to conditions
by following those leads which promise most toward the realization of his individual
possibilities.

All classes of intellects, the weakest as well as the strongest, will profit by the
application of their talents to tasks which are consonant with their ability. When we
have learned the lessons which intelligence tests have to teach, we shall no longer
blame mentally defective workmen for their industrial inefficiency, punish weak-
minded children because of their inability to learn, or imprison and hang mentally
defective criminals because they lacked the intelligence to appreciate the ordinary
codes of social conduct.

Footnotes

[1] See References at end of volume.

[2] H. H. Goddard: The Kallikak Family. (1914.) 141 pp.

[3] Danielson and Davenport: The Hill Folk. Eugenics Record Office, Memoir No. 1.
1912. 56 pp.

[4] Estabrook and Davenport: The Nam Family. Eugenics Record Office. Memoir No.
2. (1912). 85 pp.

[5] R. L. Dugdale: The Jukes. (Fourth edition, 1910.) 120 pp. G. P. Putuam's Sons.

[6] See p. 26 ff. for further illustrations of this kind.

A test or examination (informally, exam or evaluation) is an assessment intended to measure a

test-taker's knowledge, skill, aptitude, physical fitness, or classification in many other topics
(e.g., beliefs).[1] A test may be administered verbally, on paper, on a computer, or in a confined area
that requires a test taker to physically perform a set of skills. Tests vary in style, rigor and
requirements. For example, in a closed book test, a test taker is often required to rely upon memory
to respond to specific items whereas in an open book test, a test taker may use one or more
supplementary tools such as a reference book or calculator when responding to an item. A test may
be administered formally or informally. An example of an informal test would be a reading test
administered by a parent to a child. An example of a formal test would be a final examination
administered by a teacher in a classroom or an I.Q. test administered by a psychologist in a clinic.
Formal testing often results in a grade or a test score.[2] A test score may be interpreted with regards
to a norm or criterion, or occasionally both. The norm may be established independently, or
by statistical analysis of a large number of participants. An exam is meant to test a child's knowledge
or willingness to give time to manipulate that subject.
A standardized test is any test that is administered and scored in a consistent manner to ensure
legal defensibility.[3]Standardized tests are often used in education, professional
certification, psychology (e.g., MMPI), the military, and many other fields.
A non-standardized test is usually flexible in scope and format, variable in difficulty and significance.
Since these tests are usually developed by individual instructors, the format and difficulty of these
tests may not be widely adopted or used by other instructors or institutions. A non-standardized test
may be used to determine the proficiency level of students, to motivate students to study, and to
provide feedback to students. In some instances, a teacher may develop non-standardized tests that
resemble standardized tests in scope, format, and difficulty for the purpose of preparing their
students for an upcoming standardized test.[4] Finally, the frequency and setting by which a non-
standardized tests are administered are highly variable and are usually constrained by the duration
of the class period. A class instructor may for example, administer a test on a weekly basis or just
twice a semester. Depending on the policy of the instructor or institution, the duration of each test
itself may last for only five minutes to an entire class period.
In contrasts to non-standardized tests, standardized tests are widely used, fixed in terms of scope,
difficulty and format, and are usually significant in consequences. Standardized tests are usually
held on fixed dates as determined by the test developer, educational institution, or governing body,
which may or may not be administered by the instructor, held within the classroom, or constrained by
the classroom period. Although there is little variability between different copies of the same type of
standardized test (e.g., SAT or GRE), there is variability between different types of standardized
tests.
Any test with important consequences for the individual test taker is referred to as a high-stakes test.
A test may be developed and administered by an instructor, a clinician, a governing body, or a test
provider. In some instances, the developer of the test may not be directly responsible for its
administration. For example, Educational Testing Service (ETS), a nonprofit educational testing and
assessment organization, develops standardized tests such as the SAT but may not directly be
involved in the administration or proctoring of these tests. As with the development and
administration of educational tests, the format and level of difficulty of the tests themselves are
highly variable and there is no general consensus or invariable standard for test formats and
difficulty. Often, the format and difficulty of the test is dependent upon the educational philosophy of
the instructor, subject matter, class size, policy of the educational institution, and requirements of
accreditation or governing bodies. In general, tests developed and administered by individual
instructors are non-standardized whereas tests developed by testing organizations are standardized.

Contents
[hide]

1History

o 1.1Early history

o 1.2Modern era

1.2.1Civil service

1.2.2Education

2Modern-day use of tests

o 2.1Education

o 2.2Licensing and certification

o 2.3Immigration and naturalization

o 2.4Intelligence quotient

o 2.5Competitions

o 2.6Group memberships

3Types of tests

o 3.1Written tests

3.1.1Multiple choice

3.1.2Alternative response

3.1.3Matching type
 3.1.4Completion type

3.1.5Essay

3.1.6Mathematical questions

o 3.2Oral tests

o 3.3Physical fitness tests

o 3.4Performance tests

4Test preparations

5Cheating on tests

6Support and criticisms of tests

7Other types of tests and other related terms

8See also

o 8.1International examinations

9References

10Further reading

11External links

History[edit]
Early history[edit]
Ancient China was the first country in the world that implemented a nationwide standardized test,
which was called the imperial examination. The main purpose of this examination was to select able
candidates for specific governmental positions.[5] The imperial examination was established by
the Sui Dynasty in 605 AD and was later abolished by the Qing Dynasty 1300 years later in 1905.
England had adopted this examination system in 1806 to select specific candidates for positions
in Her Majesty's Civil Service, modeled on the Chinese imperial examination.[6] This examination
system was later applied to education and it started to influence other parts of the world as it
became a prominent standard (e.g. regulations to prevent the markers from knowing the identity of
candidates), of delivering standardized tests.

Modern era[edit]
Civil service[edit]
From the mid 19th century, universities began to institute written examinations to assess the aptitude of the
pupils. This is an excerpt from the 1842 Tripos examination in Cambridge University.

As the profession transitioned to the modern mass-education system, the style of examination
became fixed, with the stress on standardized papers to be sat by large numbers of students.
Leading the way in this regard was the burgeoning civil service that began to move toward
a meritocratic basis for selection in the mid 19th century in England.
British civil service was influenced by the imperial examinations system and meritocratic system of
China. Thomas Taylor Meadows, Britain's consul in Guangzhou, China argued in his Desultory
Notes on the Government and People of China, published in 1847, that "the long duration of the
Chinese empire is solely and altogether owing to the good government which consists in the
advancement of men of talent and merit only," and that the British must reform their civil service by
making the institution meritocratic.[7] As early as in 1806, the Honourable East India
Company established a college near London to train and examine administrators of the Company's
territories in India.[8] Examinations for the Indian 'civil service'- a term coined by the Company - were
introduced in 1829.[9]
In 1853 the Chancellor of the Exchequer William Gladstone, commissioned Sir Stafford
Northcote and Charles Trevelyan to look into the operation and organisation of the Civil Service.
Influenced by the ancient Chinese Imperial Examination, the Northcote-Trevelyan Report of 1854
made four principal recommendations: that recruitment should be on the basis of merit determined
through standardized written examination, that candidates should have a solid general education to
enable inter-departmental transfers, that recruits should be graded into a hierarchy and that
promotion should be through achievement, rather than 'preferment, patronage or purchase'. [10] A Civil
Service Commission was also set up in 1855 to oversee open recruitment and end patronage, and
most of the other Northcote-Trevelyan recommendations were implemented over some years. [11]
The Northcote-Trevelyan model of meritcratic examination remained essentially stable for a hundred
years. This was a tribute to its success in removing corruption, delivering public services (even under
the stress of two world wars), and responding effectively to political change. It also had a great
international influence and was adapted by members of the Commonwealth. The Pendleton Civil
Service Reform Act established a similar system in the United States.
Education[edit]
Students taking a scholarship examination inside a classroom in 1940

Written examinations have been unheard of before 1702 for European education. "The Chinese
examinations were described repeatedly in Western literature on China of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries."[12] Standardized testing began to influence the method of examination in British
universities from the 1850s, where oral examination had been the norm since the Middle Ages. In
the US, the transition happened under the influence of the educational reformer Horace Mann. This
shift decisively helped to move education into the modern era, by standardizing expanding curricula
in the sciences and humanities, creating a rationalized method for the evaluation of teachers and
institutions and creating a basis for the streaming of students according to ability.[13]
Both World War I and World War II demonstrated the necessity of standardized testing and the
benefits associated with these tests. Tests were used to determine the mental aptitude of recruits to
the military. The US Army used the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale to test the IQ of the soldiers.[14]
After the War, industry began using tests to evaluate applicants for various jobs based on
performance. In 1952, the first Advanced Placement (AP) test was administered to begin closing the
gap between high schools and colleges.[15]

Modern-day use of tests[edit]

Education[edit]
Some countries such as the United Kingdom and France require all their secondary school students
to take a standardized test on individual subjects such as the General Certificate of Secondary
Education (GCSE) (in England) and Baccalaurat respectively as a requirement for graduation.
[16]
These tests are used primarily to assess a student's proficiency in specific subjects such as
mathematics, science, or literature. In contrasts, high school students in other countries such as the
United States may not be required to take a standardized test to graduate. Moreover, students in
these countries usually take standardized tests only to apply for a position in a university program
and are typically given the option of taking different standardized tests such as the ACT or SAT,
which are used primarily to measure a student's reasoning skill.[17][18] High school students in the
United States may also take Advanced Placement tests on specific subjects to fulfill university-level
credit. Depending on the policies of the test maker or country, administration of standardized tests
may be done in a large hall, classroom, or testing center. A proctor or invigilator may also be present
during the testing period to provide instructions, to answer questions, or to prevent cheating.
Grades or test scores from standardized test may also be used by universities to determine if a
student applicant should be admitted into one of its academic or professional programs. For
example, universities in the United Kingdom admit applicants into their undergraduate programs
based primarily or solely on an applicant's grades on pre-university qualifications such as the GCE
A-levels or Cambridge Pre-U.[19][20] In contrast, universities in the United States use an applicant's test
score on the SAT or ACT as just one of their many admission criteria to determine if an applicant
should be admitted into one of its undergraduate programs. The other criteria in this case may
include the applicant's grades from high school, extracurricular activities, personal statement, and
letters of recommendations.[21] Once admitted, undergraduate students in the United Kingdom or
United States may be required by their respective programs to take a comprehensive
examination as a requirement for passing their courses or for graduating from their respective
programs.
Standardized tests are sometimes used by certain countries to manage the quality of their
educational institutions. For example, the No Child Left Behind Act in the United States requires
individual states to develop assessments for students in certain grades. In practice, these
assessments typically appear in the form of standardized tests. Test scores of students in specific
grades of an educational institution are then used to determine the status of that educational
institution, i.e., whether it should be allowed to continue to operate in the same way or to receive
funding.
Finally, standardized tests are sometimes used to compare proficiencies of students from different
institutions or countries. For example, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) uses Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to evaluate certain skills and
knowledge of students from different participating countries.[22]
Licensing and certification[edit]
Standardized tests are sometimes used by certain governing bodies to determine if a test taker is
allowed to practice a profession, to use a specific job title, or to claim competency in a specific set of
skills. For example, a test taker who intends to become a lawyer is usually required by a governing
body such as a governmental bar licensing agency to pass a bar exam.

Immigration and naturalization[edit]

Standardized tests are also used in certain countries to regulate immigration. For example, intended
immigrants to Australia are legally required to pass a citizenship test as part of that country's
naturalization process.[23]
Intelligence quotient[edit]
Main article: Intelligence quotient

Competitions[edit]
Tests are sometimes used as a tool to select for participants that have potential to succeed in a
competition such as a sporting event. For example, serious skaters who wish to participate in figure
skating competitions in the United States must pass official U.S. Figure Skating tests just to qualify.[24]
Group memberships[edit]
Tests are sometimes used by a group to select for certain types of individuals to join the group. For
example, Mensa International is a high I.Q. society that requires individuals to score at the 98th
percentile or higher on a standardized, supervised IQ test. [25]

Types of tests[edit]
Written tests[edit]
Indonesian Students taking a written test

Written tests are tests that are administered on paper or on a computer (as an eExam). A test taker
who takes a written test could respond to specific items by writing or typing within a given space of
the test or on a separate form or document.
In some tests; where knowledge of many constants or technical terms is required to effectively
answer questions, like Chemistry or Biology - the test developer may allow every test taker to bring
with them a cheat sheet.
A test developer's choice of which style or format to use when developing a written test is usually
arbitrary given that there is no single invariant standard for testing. Be that as it may, certain test
styles and format have become more widely used than others. Below is a list of those formats of test
items that are widely used by educators and test developers to construct paper or computer-based
tests. As a result, these tests may consist of only one type of test item format (e.g., multiple choice
test, essay test) or may have a combination of different test item formats (e.g., a test that has
multiple choice and essay items).
Multiple choice[edit]
Main article: Multiple choice
In a test that has items formatted as multiple choice questions, a candidate would be given a number
of set answers for each question, and the candidate must choose which answer or group of answers
is correct. There are two families of multiple choice questions.[26] The first family is known as the
True/False question and it requires a test taker to choose all answers that are appropriate. The
second family is known as One-Best-Answer question and it requires a test taker to answer only one
from a list of answers.
There are several reasons to using multiple choice questions in tests. In terms of administration,
multiple choice questions usually requires less time for test takers to answer, are easy to score and
grade, provide greater coverage of material, allows for a wide range of difficulty, and can easily
diagnose a test taker's difficulty with certain concepts.[27] As an educational tool, multiple choice items
test many levels of learning as well as a test taker's ability to integrate information, and it provides
feedback to the test taker about why distractors were wrong and why correct answers were right.
Nevertheless, there are difficulties associated with the use of multiple choice questions. In
administrative terms, multiple choice items that are effective usually take a great time to construct.
[27]
As an educational tool, multiple choice items do not allow test takers to demonstrate knowledge
beyond the choices provided and may even encourage guessing or approximation due to the
presence of at least one correct answer. For instance, a test taker might not work out explicitly that ,
but knowing that , they would choose an answer close to 48. Moreover, test takers may misinterpret
these items and in the process, perceive these items to be tricky or picky. Finally, multiple choice
items do not test a test taker's attitudes towards learning because correct responses can be easily
faked.
Alternative response[edit]
True/False questions present candidates with a binary choice - a statement is either true or false.
This method presents problems, as depending on the number of questions, a significant number of
candidates could get 100% just by guesswork, and should on average get 50%.
Matching type[edit]
A matching item is an item that provides a defined term and requires a test taker to match identifying
characteristics to the correct term.[28]
Completion type[edit]
A fill-in-the-blank item provides a test taker with identifying characteristics and requires the test taker
to recall the correct term.[28] There are two types of fill-in-the-blank tests. The easier version provides
a word bank of possible words that will fill in the blanks. For some exams all words in the word bank
are used exactly once. If a teacher wanted to create a test of medium difficulty, they would provide a
test with a word bank, but some words may be used more than once and others not at all. The
hardest variety of such a test is a fill-in-the-blank test in which no word bank is provided at all. This
generally requires a higher level of understanding and memory than a multiple choice test. Because
of this, fill-in-the-blank tests[with no word bank] are often feared by students.
Essay[edit]
Items such as short answer or essay typically require a test taker to write a response to fulfill the
requirements of the item. In administrative terms, essay items take less time to construct. [27] As an
assessment tool, essay items can test complex learning objectives as well as processes used to
answer the question. The items can also provide a more realistic and generalizable task for test.
Finally, these items make it difficult for test takers to guess the correct answers and require test
takers to demonstrate their writing skills as well as correct spelling and grammar.
The difficulties with essay items is primarily administrative. For one, these items take more time for
test takers to answer.[27] When these questions are answered, the answers themselves are usually
poorly written because test takers may not have time to organize and proofread their answers. In
turn, it takes more time to score or grade these items. When these items are being scored or graded,
the grading process itself becomes subjective as non-test related information may influence the
process. Thus, considerable effort is required to minimize the subjectivity of the grading process.
Finally, as an assessment tool, essay questions may potentially be unreliable in assessing the entire
content of a subject matter.
Mathematical questions[edit]
Most mathematics questions, or calculation questions from subjects such
as chemistry, physics or economics employ a style which does not fall into any of the above
categories, although some papers, notably the Maths Challenge papers in the United
Kingdom employ multiple choice. Instead, most mathematics questions state a mathematical
problem or exercise that requires a student to write a freehand response. Marks are given more for
the steps taken than for the correct answer. If the question has multiple parts, later parts may use
answers from previous sections, and marks may be granted if an earlier incorrect answer was used
but the correct method was followed, and an answer which is correct (given the incorrect input) is
returned.
Higher level mathematical papers may include variations on true/false, where the candidate is given
a statement and asked to verify its validity by direct proof or stating a counterexample.
Oral tests[edit]
Physical fitness tests[edit]
A Minnesota National Guardsman performs pushups during a physical fitness test.

A physical fitness test is a test designed to measure physical strength, agility, and endurance.
They are commonly employed in educational institutions as part of the physical
education curriculum, in medicine as part of diagnostic testing, and as eligibility requirements in
fields that focus on physical ability such as military or police. Throughout the 20th century, scientific
evidence emerged demonstrating the usefulness of strength training and aerobic exercise in
maintaining overall health, and more agencies began to incorporate standardized fitness testing. In
the United States, the President's Council on Youth Fitness was established in 1956 as a way to
encourage and monitor fitness in schoolchildren.
Common tests[29][30][31] include timed running or the multi-stage fitness test (commonly known as the
"beep test), and numbers of push-ups, sit-ups/abdominal crunches and pull-ups that the individual
can perform. More specialised tests may be used to test ability to perform a particular job or role.
Many gyms, private organisations and event organisers have their own fitness tests. Using military
techniques developed by the British Army and modern test like Illinois Agility Run and Cooper Test. [32]

Performance tests[edit]
A performance test is an assessment that requires an examinee to actually perform a task or activity,
rather than simply answering questions referring to specific parts. The purpose is to ensure
greater fidelity to what is being tested.
An example is a behind-the-wheel driving test to obtain a driver's license. Rather than only
answering simple multiple-choice items regarding the driving of an automobile, a student is required
to actually drive one while being evaluated.
Performance tests are commonly used in workplace and professional applications, such as
professional certification and licensure. When used for personnel selection, the tests might be
referred to as a work sample. A licensure example would be cosmetologists being required to
demonstrate a haircut or manicure on a live person. The Group-Bourdon test is one of a number
of psychometric tests which trainee train drivers in the UK are required to pass.[33]
Some performance tests are simulations. For instance, the assessment to become certified as an
ophthalmic technician includes two components, a multiple-choice examination and a computerized
skill simulation. The examinee must demonstrate the ability to complete seven tasks commonly
performed on the job, such as retinoscopy, that are simulated on a computer.
Test preparations[edit]
From the perspective of a test developer, there is great variability with respect to time and effort
needed to prepare a test. Likewise, from the perspective of a test taker, there is also great variability
with respect to the time and needed to obtain a desired grade or score on any given test. When a
test developer constructs a test, the amount of time and effort is dependent upon the significance of
the test itself, the proficiency of the test taker, the format of the test, class size, deadline of test, and
experience of the test developer.
The process of test construction has been greatly aided in several ways. For one, many test
developers were themselves students at one time, and therefore are able to modify or outright adopt
questions from their previous tests. In some countries, book publishers often provide teaching
packages that include test banks to university instructors who adopt their published books for their
courses.[34] These test banks may contain up to four thousand sample test questions that have been
peer-reviewed and time tested. The instructor who chooses to use this testbank would only have to
select a fixed number of test questions from this test bank to construct a test.
As with test constructions, the time needed for a test taker to prepare for a test is dependent upon
the frequency of the test, the test developer, and the significance of the test. In general,
nonstandardized tests that are short, frequent, and do not constitute a major portion of the test
taker's overall course grade or score require do not require the test taker to spend great amounts
preparing for the test.[35] Conversely, nonstandardized tests that are long, infrequent, and do
constitute a major portion of the test taker's overall course grade or score usually require the test
taker to spend great amounts preparing for the test. To prepare for a nonstandardized test, test
takers may rely upon their reference books, class or lecture notes, Internet, and past experience to
prepare for the test. Test takers may also use various learning aids to study for tests such
as flashcards and mnemonics.[36] Test takers may even hire tutors to coach them through the process
so that they may increase the probability of obtaining a desired test grade or score. In countries such
as the United Kingdom, demand for private tuition has increased significantly in recent years.
[37]
Finally, test takers may rely upon past copies of a test from previous years or semesters to study
for a future test. These past tests may be provided by a friend or a group that has copies of previous
tests or by instructors and their institutions, or by the test provider (such as an examination board)
itself.[38][39]
Unlike a nonstandardized test, the time needed by test takers to prepare for standardized tests is
less variable and usually considerable. This is because standardized tests are usually uniform in
scope, format, and difficulty and often have important consequences with respect to a test taker's
future such as a test taker's eligibility to attend a specific university program or to enter a desired
profession. It is not unusual for test takers to prepare for standardized tests by relying upon
commercially available books that provide in-depth coverage of the standardized test or compilations
of previous tests (e.g., 10 year series in Singapore). In many countries, test takers even enroll in test
preparation centers or cram schools that provide extensive or supplementary instructions to test
takers to help them better prepare for a standardized test. In Hong Kong, it has been suggested that
the tutors running such centers are celebrities in their own right.[40] This has led to private tuition
being a popular career choice for new graduates in developed economies. [41][42]Finally, in some
countries, instructors and their institutions have also played a significant role in preparing test takers
for a standardized test.

Cheating on tests[edit]
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to
reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2014) (Learn how and
when to remove this template message)

Invigilators may oversee a test to reduce cheating methods such as copying

Cheating on a test is the process of using unauthorized means or methods for the purpose of
obtaining a desired test score or grade. This may range from bringing and using notes during a
closed book examination, to copying another test taker's answer or choice of answers during an
individual test, to sending a paid proxy to take the test.[43]
Several common methods have been employed to combat cheating. They include the use of multiple
proctors or invigilators during a testing period to monitor test takers. Test developers may construct
multiple variants of the same test to be administered to different test takers at the same time, or write
tests with few multiple-choice options, based on the theory that fully worked answers are difficult to
imitate.[44] In some cases, instructors themselves may not administer their own tests but will leave the
task to other instructors or invigilators, which may mean that the invigilators do not know the
candidates, and thus some form of identification may be required. Finally, instructors or test
providers may compare the answers of suspected cheaters on the test themselves to determine if
cheating did occur.

Support and criticisms of tests[edit]

Despite their widespread use, the validity, quality, or use of tests, particularly standardized tests in
education have continued to be widely supported or criticized. Like the tests themselves, supports
and criticisms of tests are often varied and may come from a variety of sources such as parents, test
takers, instructors, business groups, universities, or governmental watchdogs.
Supporters of standardized tests in education often provide the following reasons for promoting
testing in education:

Feedback or diagnosis of test taker's performance[45]

Fair and efficient[46]

Promotes accountability[45][46]

Prediction and selection[45]

Improves performance[45]
Critics of standardized tests in education often provide the following reasons for revising or removing
standardized tests in education:

Narrows curricular format and encourages teaching to the test.[4]

Poor predictive quality.[47]

Grade inflation of test scores or grades.[48][49][50]

Culturally or socioeconomically biased.[51][52]

Other types of tests and other related terms[edit]

This section provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject. Please
help improve the article with a good introductory style. (August 2014) (Learn how and when to remove
this template message)
 This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to
reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2014) (Learn how
and when to remove this template message)

ordinary exam: an exam taken during the corresponding course;

sufficiency exam or examination for credit: an exam which should

be taken as a way of getting official credits from the academic
institution;

revalidation exam or equivalence exam: offering value for an exam

previously taken in another institution;

extraordinary exam: an exam taken after the period of ordinary

exams corresponding to the course.

See also[edit]
Academic dishonesty

Assignment (education)

Bar examination

Blue book exam, used in free response exams

Computerized adaptive testing

Computerized classification test

Concept inventory

Cooper Test, used by Law, Military and Fire

Credential

Driver's license

E-assessment

eExam

E-scape, a technology and approach that looks specifically at the

assessment of creativity and collaboration.

Educational software
 Exam Stress

Examiner (disambiguation)

Final examination

General Educational Development

Grade (education)

Graduate Record Examination

Harvard Step Test, a cardiovascular test

Law

Cross examination

Direct examination

Licensure

List of standardized tests in the United States

Matriculation examination

Medical College Admission Test

Optical mark recognition

Performance testing

Physical examination

Pilot certification in the United States

Progress testing

Project Talent (in the US)

SAT

Vertical Jump, a leg power test

International examinations[edit]

Abitur used in Germany.

 GCSE and A-level Used in the UK except Scotland.

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme International

examination.

International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE)

international examinations

Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate Republic of Ireland.

Matura/Maturita used in Austria, Bosnia and

Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech
Republic, Italy, Liechtenstein, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Po
land, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Ukraine; previously used
in Albania.

Nationella prov used in Sweden.

Standard Grade, Higher Grade, and Advanced Higher used

in Scotland

References[edit]
1. Jump up^ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/test

2. Jump up^ Thissen, D., & Wainer, H. (2001). Test Scoring. Mahwah,
NJ: Erlbaum. Page 1, sentence 1.

3. Jump up^ North Central Regional Educational

Laboratory, NCREL.org

4. ^ Jump up to:a b "Goswami U (1991) Put to the Test: The Effects of

External Testing on Teachers. Educational Researcher 20: 8-11".

5. Jump up^ Advanced Level Examination, Chinese Language and

Culture, Paper 1A

6. Jump up^ Bodde, D., Chinese Ideas in the West

7. Jump up^ Bodde,, Derke. "China: A Teaching Workbook". Columbia

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9. Jump up^ Mark W. Huddleston, William W. Boyer (1996). The Higher

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11. Jump up^ Walker, David (2003-07-09). "Fair game". London: The
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13. Jump up^ David R. Russell (2002). Writing in the Academic

Disciplines: A Curricular History. SIU Press. pp. 158159.

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16. Jump up^ "GCSEs: The official guide to the system" (PDF).

17. Jump up^ "About the SAT".

18. Jump up^ "About ACT: History". Retrieved October 31, 2006.Name
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19. Jump up^ "Cambridge Pre-U".

20. Jump up^ "International Qualifications - University of Oxford".

21. Jump up^ "Harvard College Admissions".

22. Jump up^ "PISA".

23. Jump up^ "Australian Citizenship - Australian Citizenship test".

24. Jump up^ "Welcome to U.S. Figure Skating".

25. Jump up^ "What is Mensa?".

26. Jump up^ "Constructing Written Test Questions For the Basic and
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28. ^ Jump up to:a b "MFO Topic C5: Developing Test Questions".

29. Jump up^ "Army Fitness Standards".

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33. Jump up^ "Group-Bourdon tool". Digital Reality. Retrieved 2
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Biochemistry" (PDF).

36. Jump up^ "Study strategies".

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private tuition". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-12-
09.

38. Jump up^ "Past Exam Papers".

39. Jump up^ "Past papers and mark schemes". www.aqa.org.uk. AQA.
Retrieved 2016-12-09.

40. Jump up^ Sharma, Yojana (2012-11-27). "Meet the 'tutor kings and
queens'". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-12-09.

41. Jump up^ Lomax, Robert. "How to become a private tutor".

Retrieved 2016-12-09.

42. Jump up^ Cohen, Daniel H. (2013-10-25). "The new boom in home
tuition if you can pay 40 an hour". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
Retrieved 2016-12-09.

43. Jump up^ "Proxy test takers, item harvesters and cheaters... be very
afraid". ccie-in-3-months.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-12-09.

44. Jump up^ "Easy Ways to Prevent Cheating". TeachHUB.

Retrieved 2016-12-09.

45. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Phelps, Richard (2005). Defending standardized

testing. London: Psychology Press. ISBN 0-8058-4912-2.

46. ^ Jump up to:a b Hirsch Jr., Eric (1999). The Schools We Need: And
Why We Don't Have Them. New York: Anchor. ISBN 0-385-49524-2.

47. Jump up^ "FairTest criticism of the SAT". fairtest.org.

48. Jump up^ Paton, Graeme (July 6, 2010). "Universities criticise exam
'grade inflation'". The Daily Telegraph. London.

49. Jump up^ Vasagar, Jeevan (August 2, 2010). "Fears for state pupils
as top universities insist on A* at A-level". The Guardian. London.

50. Jump up^ Finch, Julia (March 10, 2010). "They can't read, can't write,
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 51. Jump up^ "Hedges LV (1994) An Exchange: Part I*: Does Money
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52. Jump up^ Coughlan, Sean. Bright poor 'held back for decades', BBC,
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Further reading[edit]
Wikisource has the text of
the 1911 Encyclopdia
Britannica article Examination
s.

Airasian, P. (1994) "Classroom Assessment," Second Edition, NY"

McGraw-Hill.

Cangelosi, J. (1990) "Designing Tests for Evaluating Student

Achievement." NY: Addison-Wesley.

Gronlund, N. (1993) "How to make achievement tests and

assessments," 5th edition, NY: Allyn and Bacon.

Haladyna, T.M. & Downing, S.M. (1989) Validity of a Taxonomy of

Multiple-Choice Item-Writing Rules. "Applied Measurement in
Education," 2(1), 51-78.

Monahan, T. (1998) The Rise of Standardized Educational Testing

in the U.S. A Bibliographic Overview.

Ravitch, Diane, "The Uses and Misuses of Tests", in The Schools

We Deserve (New York: Basic Books, 1985), pp. 172181.

Wilson, N. (1997) Educational standards and the problem of

error. Education Policy Analysis Archives, Vol 6 No 10

External links[edit]
"About the Joint Committee on Testing
Practices". http://www.apa.org: American Psychological
Association. Retrieved 2 Aug 2011. The Joint Committee on Testing
Practices (JCTP) was established in 1985 by the American
Educational Research Association (AERA), the American
Psychological Association (APA), and the National Council on
Measurement in Education (NCME). In 2007 the JCTP disbanded,
but JCTP publications are still available and may be obtained by
contacting any of the groups listed in the product descriptions
shown below.
 How the traditional Chinese system of exams worked
Categories:
School examinations
Tests
Standardized tests
Educational psychology
Psychometrics
Sports science
Physical exercise
Health sciences

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