ACADEMIC STUFF

Teachers' assessment tools can be: 

Formative: Are used to evaluate a student at the beginning or middle of a class, semester, or
subject. Are designed to help a teacher understand a student's progress. Are not graded. Some
examples include:
 Placement tests: To determine accurate course placement based on a student's skills,
abilities, and language needs in reading, writing, and mathematics.
 Interviews: Student interviews are discussions with students about their understanding of
the concepts. It can be done with individual students or in small groups, while the rest of
the class does independent work.
 Teacher observation: Describes the practice of sitting in on another teacher's class to
observe, learn and reflect.
 Feedback: Is provided to students during the learning experience. Students then use that
feedback to improve their performance in subsequent activities or assessments.

Summative: Are used to measure the outcome of the learning process. Should be designed to
reveal what already has been learned during a particular educational unit. Only summative
assessment tools should be graded. Some examples include:
 Test: Is used to examine someone’s knowledge of something to determine what that
person knows or has learned.
 Midterm exam: Is a test that a student takes halfway through a school term. Students
have a better idea of whether they’re advancing in a class or whether they need to make
changes to their study habits.
 Final exam: Is to make a final review of the topics covered and assessment of each
student's knowledge of the subject.
 Quiz: Refers to a short test of knowledge, typically around 10 questions in length, with
question formats often including multiple choice, fill in the blanks, true or false and short
answer.
 Feedback: Is provided to students after the learning experience. As well as tells students
how they did but doesn’t usually provide a subsequent opportunity to make use of that
feedback within the context of the course.

Objective: They are used to assess a student's knowledge of particular facts and figures that
are universal. Are the easiest to design and grade and, therefore, are the more common type of
assessment tool. Examples of objective assessment tools are:
 True/false questions: Students are asked to judge whether a factual statement is either
true or false. Are best suited to assessing surface level knowledge but can be crafted to
assess higher order thinking.
 Multiple-choice questions: Can be used to test factual recall, levels of understanding,
and ability to apply learning (analyzing and evaluating).

Subjective: Require a little more creativity and opinion on the part of the student. These rely on
the presentation of arguable material. They can often reveal more than an objective
assessment tool because they allow for more than just memorization on the part of the student.
Examples of subjective assessment tools are:
 Essay questions: An examination question that requires an answer in a sentence,
paragraph, or short composition.
  Research papers: Analyzes a perspective or argues a point. Regardless of the type of
research paper you are writing, your finished research paper should present your own
thinking backed up by others' ideas and information.
 Argumentative speeches: Is a genre of writing that requires the student to investigate a
topic; collect, generate, and evaluate evidence; and establish a position on the topic in a
concise manner.

Difference between exam, quiz, and test, and the kind of them
Purpose and scoring Format Length
Help everyone focus on weak
areas. A quiz covers a small
Q amount of material, such as
one lesson, page, or concept. Typically include Typically
U Is the shortest, most
common, and most
Scores may or may not factor fill-in-the-blank, has 10 or
I casual form of evaluation.
into the student’s overall
course grade. If they do, they
multiple choice,
and true or false.
fewer
questions.
Z typically account for a much
smaller percentage than tests
or exams.
They often include
multiple choice, fill-
in-the-blank, and
true or false
T Covers a larger chunk of the
Is the standard evaluation course material than a quiz
questions, but they
Typically
usually also have
E technique used to — usually a whole unit or
determine grades in both section. Test scores are
open-ended
have 40 to
50
S high school and college usually an important factor in
questions, such as
essays or short-
questions or
classes. determining a student’s final more.
T course grade.
answer questions
that ask the
student to explain
a concept in their
own words.

Is more formal in nature

and often can determine
E whether a student passes
The difference between a test and an exam can be a little blurry,
as some courses combine the two.
or fails a class or course
X (as such, it may be given
Exams typically cover the entire course material. The format and
length of an exam is like a test, but it is generally longer and more
A on a pass/fail basis). If
the student fails the
comprehensive. A mid-term or similar test may be referred to as
an exam, since it occurs at a set interval and is a major factor in
M exam, they usually must
retake the exam or the
the final course grade.
entire course.
References:
Jennifer, K. (2020, 30 junio). List of Formal & Informal Assessment Tools & Methods. Classroom.Synonym.
https://classroom.synonym.com/list-informal-assessment-tools-methods-7742674.html

essay question. (s. f.). The Merriam-Webster.Com Dictionary.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/essay%20question#:%7E:text=Definition%20of
%20essay%20question,sentence%2C%20paragraph%2C%20or%20short%20composition

J. (s. f.). Quiz vs test vs exam: What’s the difference? The Jotform Blog. https://www.jotform.com/blog/quiz-vs-
test/#:%7E:text=Quizzes%20and%20exams%20are%20forms,quiz%20(a%20pop%20quiz).&text=Think
%20of%20a%20pub%20quiz,this%20in%20an%20academic%20setting.

Lab, P. W. (s. f.). Argumentative Essays //. Purdue Writing Lab.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/essay_writing/
argumentative_essays.html#:%7E:text=Argumentative%20Essays,-Summary%3A&text=The
%20argumentative%20essay%20is%20a,topic%20in%20a%20concise%20manner.&text=Expository
%20essays%20are%20often%20used,as%20the%20GED%20or%20GRE.

Research guides: Assessment: Feedback. (2022, 4 febrero). CAMOSUN COLLEGE.

https://camosun.libguides.com/AFL/feedback

Research guides: Assessment: Multiple choice questions. (2022, 4 febrero). CAMOSUN COLLEGE.
https://camosun.libguides.com/c.php?g=711496&p=5070736

Research guides: Assessment: True/false questions. (2022, 4 febrero). CAMOSUN COLLEGE.

https://camosun.libguides.com/c.php?g=711496&p=5109205#:%7E:text=In%20a%20traditional
%20true%2Ffalse,is%20either%20true%20or%20false.&text=Like%20multiple%20choice%2C
%20students%20can,easy%20and%20quick%20to%20mark.

Student Interview Assessments. (2016, 19 noviembre). American Geosciences Institute.

https://www.americangeosciences.org/education/k5geosource/assessments/student-interviews#:
%7E:text=Using%20student%20interviews%20for%20assessment,class%20is%20doing%20independent
%20work.

Top Hat. (2019a, septiembre 16). Mid-term Definition and Meaning. https://tophat.com/glossary/m/mid-
term/#:%7E:text=A%20mid%2Dterm%20is%20a,halfway%20through%20a%20school
%20term.&text=Mid%2Dterms%20are%20a%20type,areas%20in%20which%20students%20struggle.

Top Hat. (2019b, septiembre 16). Quiz Definition and Meaning. https://tophat.com/glossary/q/quiz/#:
%7E:text=A%20quiz%20is%20a%20quick,and%20any%20existing%20knowledge%20gaps.

What is a Research Paper? | Collegewide Writing Center | SUNY Empire State College. (s. f.). SUNY EMPIRE
STATE COLLEGE. https://www.esc.edu/online-writing-center/resources/research/research-paper/