Are the tests useful? What we know about the usefulness of these tests

Is testing useful in the educational context? Let's look at the criteria for their usefulness.

In any type of formal training, it is usual to have a final evaluation system that involves taking an exam.

However, for years there has been a debate about the usefulness of this type of tool and there are sectors that propose other options. We will analyze this issue in order to know the arguments for and against both positions, in order to have a global perspective of the usefulness of the exams.

Are tests useful?

In order to answer the question of whether examinations are useful, we first have to situate ourselves in the setting in which these items take place, i.e., our educational system. It is clear that all training included in this system needs an evaluation process in which teachers have a way of checking whether the students have achieved the goals set..

This test must also be objective and must accredit the achievement or not of the objectives, so that both the students themselves and their parents, if we are talking about minors, can know the criteria followed for the qualification granted and even present their disagreement, if they consider it.

This is where the issue at hand comes in. But, in order to know if the tests are useful, we must know them in greater depth. To do so, we are going to review the four principles that this test must comply with in order to fulfill its objective.

The first of these is the principle of appropriateness.that is, to know whether the test is suitable for the purpose we are seeking, which is precisely to verify that the student has acquired certain knowledge or skills. Obviously, if a test does not comply with the principle of appropriateness, we would be dealing with a test that would be useless with respect to the objective we are seeking.

The next principle is that of relevance. For an assessment test to be relevant, it must focus on the content that has been previously worked on and on which the students are to be tested.. If the test focuses on subjects that are far removed from them, we could say that it does not comply with the principle of relevance.

We can already imagine that, in order to know if the tests are useful, it is necessary that the principles we are reviewing are fulfilled. The third of these would be the principle of autonomy. This consideration implies that, although the assessment is part of the educational process, it is necessary for the test to have a certain autonomy with respect to it. In any case, it should be designed taking into account the aims it intends to achieve, which are no more than the verification of the knowledge acquired.

Finally, we would arrive at the principle of objectivitywhich was mentioned in a veiled manner at the beginning. Of course, any examination should be objective, in order to avoid any benefit or prejudice that, consciously or unconsciously, could be provided to the student, in comparative aggravation with respect to the rest. Although it may seem obvious, it is not always easy to achieve a totally objective test.

The different types of tests

To continue investigating whether tests are useful, we must now focus on the types of evaluative tests that we can find, since the answer may vary depending on the type.

Aptitude test vs. knowledge test

The first major distinction to be made is that of tests designed to check whether the student has acquired either the aptitude or the knowledge that has been previously taught. In the first case, the aptitude test represents an evaluation of the skill, that is to say, of the ability. Therefore, it will be checked whether the person is capable of executing the technique or not.

This is the case of physical or skill tests such as driving a car, motorcycle or other vehicle.. But so would be mathematical exercises or other disciplines that require practice. In this sense, the answer to whether tests are useful in this case would be yes, since the simplest and most logical way to check whether a person has acquired a skill is to demonstrate it directly.

On the other hand, we would have the knowledge tests, which instead of evaluating a practical skill, are based on check whether the subject has retained and understood the theoretical contents of a discipline.. But such testing can be carried out in very different ways, as we shall see in the following points. Therefore, this distinction is not sufficient to assess the question of whether exams are useful.

2. Oral vs. written test

The first differentiation we can make when faced with a knowledge test is with respect to its format, oral or written. The oral test is less frequent, and generally consists of the development of a topic. The main disadvantage of this format is that other factors come into play, such as the pressure of having to speak in public and feeling evaluated.

Therefore, and speaking of whether exams are useful, these types of tests would be if they were associated with a subsequent activity in which oratory itself or the act of speaking to an audience was a prerequisite. Otherwise, the usefulness would diminish, since such factors could distort the result, causing the person to achieve a lower performance than that which would be achieved by means of a written test.

The written test is, precisely, the most common model of evaluation. But, equally, its formats can be different, so it is necessary to continue advancing in order to conclude whether such tests are useful or, on the contrary, are not the most appropriate format.

3. Open-ended vs. closed-ended answers

Continuing with the written exams, and making a new subdivision, we find one of the most important distinctions, which is that of open-answer and closed-answer tests. Each one offers advantages and disadvantages, so their usefulness will depend on the objectives and needs set by the teacher or by the educational system itself.

In the case of open response exams, they would refer to those known as developmental exams. In this case, the student will be asked a series of questions, either short or long, to write the answer, reflecting the knowledge he/she has on the subject in question.

This type of test is the most common. However, in order to know whether such tests are useful, it is important to know the type of questions asked. In many cases, the student is simply asked to repeat the lesson as he or she has learned it.. This method presents an obvious problem: what is actually being tested is the student's ability to memorize.

However, if what we want to know is whether he has really understood the concepts, he can be asked questions that make him reason about them, not simply repeat them. In fact, some of these tests even allow you to use the material, as we will see below.

The other type of assessment that we anticipated at this point is that of closed responses. These are the The other type of evaluation that we were anticipating at this point is that of closed-answer exams.. In general, the correct answer will add one point to the total, while the incorrect answer will subtract a small percentage, to compensate for the effect of chance.

These tests are useful to evaluate a large number of people in a short time and to correct them quickly thanks to optical reader sheets or other methods. But they have other disadvantages that make us wonder whether such tests are really useful.

Often, these tests are constructed in such a way that what is really being tested is the student's ability to recognize, so that he or she does not even need to understand them, but to memorize the contents in depth. Many students learn to pass this type of test, but do not really acquire the knowledge in the long run.

4. Open book vs. closed book

The last distinction between evaluative tests is between open book and closed book. Examinations, traditionally, have been closed-book tests, meaning that the learner has to take a closed-book test.This means that the student could not use any type of auxiliary material during the test (books, notes, etc.).

However, the open book format presents a clear difference: the student can use any element he/she needs, since the questions he/she will encounter do not imply having memorized a series of concepts.The student will be able to refer to them during the test.

Instead, what is asked of him is that he knows how to handle them and reason about them. This is another of the cases in which, with respect to whether the exams are useful, we could answer in the affirmative, since we would have managed to eliminate the memoristic aspect in which many of the tests fall, and instead we would ensure that the student handles the required concepts correctly.

Bibliographical references:

• Izquierdo, B. (2008). From classical evaluation to pluralistic evaluation. Criteria to classify the different types of assessment. EMPIRIA, Revista de Metodología de las Ciencias Sociales.
• López, M.S.F. (2017). Assessment and learning. MarcoELE: Revista de Didáctica Español Lengua Extranjera.