Are Exams Useful? What We Know About The Usefulness Of These Tests
In any type of regulated 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 tools and there are sectors that propose other options. We will analyze this issue to know the arguments for and against both positions, to have a global perspective of the usefulness of exams
In order to answer the question of whether exams are useful, we first have to situate ourselves in the scenario in which these elements take place, that is, our educational system. It is evident that All training included in this system requires an evaluation process in which teachers have a way to check whether students have achieved the planned goals
This test must also be objective and must prove that the objectives have been achieved or not, so that both the students themselves and their parents, if we are talking about minors, can know the criteria followed for the grade awarded and even present their disagreement. if they consider it.
This is where the topic at hand comes in. But, to know if the exams are useful, we must know them in greater depth. To do this, we are going to review the four principles that this test must comply with to achieve its objective.
The first of them is the principle of suitability, that is, knowing if the exam is suitable for the purpose we seek, which is precisely to verify that the student has acquired certain knowledge or skills. Obviously, if an exam does not comply with the principle of suitability, we would be faced with a test that would be useless with respect to the objective we seek.
The next principle is that of relevance. For an evaluation test to be relevant, it must focus on the contents that have been previously worked on and on which the students will be examined If the test focuses on topics that are far from them, we could say that it does not comply with the principle of belonging.
We can already imagine that, to know if the exams are useful, it is necessary that the principles we are reviewing be met. The third of them would be the principle of autonomy. This consideration implies that, although the evaluation is part of the educational process, it is necessary that the test has a certain autonomy with respect to it. In any case, it must be designed taking into account the purposes it aims to achieve, which are nothing more than the verification of the knowledge acquired.
Finally we would arrive at principle of objectivity, which had already been veiledly mentioned at the beginning. Of course, every exam should be objective, in order to avoid any benefit or harm that, consciously or unconsciously, could be provided to the student, to the comparative detriment of the rest. Although it may seem obvious, it is not always easy to carry out a completely objective test.
The different types of tests
To continue investigating whether exams are useful, we must now focus on the types of evaluative tests that we can find, since the answer may vary depending on the typology.
1. Aptitude test vs knowledge test
The first major distinction that we must make is that of the tests designed to verify whether the student has acquired either the aptitude or the knowledge that we have previously tried to teach him. In the first case, the aptitude test represents an evaluation of skill, that is, ability. Therefore, it will be checked whether the person is capable of executing the technique or not.
It is the case of physical or skill tests such as driving a car, motorcycle or other vehicle But so would mathematical exercises or other disciplines that require practice. In that sense, the answer to whether exams are useful, in this case, would be affirmative, since the simplest and most logical way to check if a person has acquired a skill is to demonstrate it directly.
On the other hand, we would have knowledge tests, which instead of evaluating a practical skill, are based on check if the subject has retained and understood the theoretical contents of a discipline But this verification can be carried out in a very different way, as we will see in the following points. Therefore, this distinction is not sufficient to assess the question of whether exams are useful.
2. Oral test vs written test
The first differentiation that we can make when faced with a knowledge test is regarding its format, oral or written. The oral exam is less frequent, and generally consists of the development of a topic. The main drawback of this format is that other factors come into play, such as the pressure of having to speak in public and feeling evaluated.
For this reason, and speaking of whether exams are useful, this type of tests would be useful. if they were associated with a subsequent activity in which oratory itself or the act of speaking before an audience was an essential requirement Otherwise, the utility would decrease, since these factors could distort the result, causing the person to achieve a lower performance than he would achieve through a written test.
The written test is, precisely, the most common evaluation model. But, equally, their formats may be different, so it is necessary to continue advancing to be able to conclude whether exams of this type are useful or, on the contrary, they are not the most appropriate format.
3. Open responses vs closed responses
Continuing with the written exams, and making a new subdivision, we find one of the most important distinctions, which is that of open-response tests and closed-response tests. Each one offers advantages and disadvantages, so its 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, whether short or long, so that they can write the answer, expressing the knowledge they have about the topic in question.
This type of test is the most common. However, to know if tests of this type are useful, it is important to know the type of questions asked. On many occasions, the student is simply asked to repeat the lesson, just as he has learned it This method presents an obvious problem: what is actually being evaluated is the student’s memory ability.
However, if what we want is to know if he has really understood the concepts, we can ask him questions that make him reason about them, not simply repeat them. In fact, some of these tests even allow the material to be used, as we will see later.
The other type of evaluation that we anticipated at this point is that of closed responses. Are the multiple choice exams, where questions and several answer options are asked, from which the student must choose the correct one Generally, 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 for evaluating a large number of people in a short time and correcting them quickly thanks to optical reading sheets or other methods. But they have other disadvantages that make us wonder if tests of this kind are really useful.
And the thing is that, many times, these tests are constructed in such a way that what is really tested is the student’s recognition capacity, so they do not even need to understand them, but rather memorize the contents in depth. Many students learn to pass this type of test, but do not actually acquire the knowledge in the long term.
4. Open book vs closed book
The last distinction between evaluative tests is that between open-book and closed-book tests. Exams have traditionally been closed book which 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 needs, since the questions he will encounter do not imply having memorized a series of concepts since you will be able to consult them during the test.
Instead, what is asked of you is that you know how to handle them and reason about them. This is another case in which, regarding whether exams are useful, we could answer in the affirmative, since it would have been possible to eliminate the rote nature in which many of the tests fall, and instead we would ensure that the student handles them correctly. the required concepts.
