In education, the term Assessment refers to the wide variety of methods or tools that educators use to evaluate the learning progress, skill acquisition, or educational needs of students. Assessment is equally significant for students as it enables them to check their understanding of the subject, to be aware of their progress and use that awareness to adjust and advance their learning. Assessment is an integral part of teaching learning process as it determines whether the goals of education are being achieved or not.
Assessment (either summative or formative) is often categorized as either objective or subjective. Objective Assessment is a way of examining in which questions asked has a single correct answer. Objective question types include true/false, multiple choice and matching questions. Objective Assessment has its own importance as it can measure all levels of student ability from memory to synthesis.
Multiple choice questions (MCQ) is a significant form of Objective Assessment. In this tool of evaluating the learners are asked to choose only correct answer out of the choices from the list. The concept of MCQs was developed by Benjamin D. Wood and its popularity increased in mid 20th century when scanners and data processing concept were developed to check the results. Some of the major features of MCQs test are as follows:
- MCQs notably lower marking time and analysis of individual question is more feasible.
- They have high reliability, validity and manageability.
- They are suitable for use in many different subject matter areas and can be used to measure a great variety of educational objectives.
- MCQs are flexible to various levels of learning outcomes from simple recall of content to more complex levels such as student ability to examine facts, understanding concepts and principles.
- MCQs test extent of understanding across a much wider range of content.
A true and false test consists of a statement that requires a true or false response. These test are factual based rather than opinion-oriented, and are designed to quickly and efficiently test learner knowledge about a particular idea or concept.
The matching test format consists of two columns, including one with a definition or phrase, and another with a word, number, or symbol. These test measure the student’s ability to connect words, complete sentences, or pair words with their definition. As an objective form of evaluation, matching test format tests the student’s knowledge of the subject matter and facilitate teacher to incorporate a little variety into classroom activities.
At we strive to achieve the purpose of Objective Assessment by providing the platform to students to evaluate their progress by taking multiple tests. Students progress, accuracy, attempted and unattempted questions can be tracked under parent and student dashboard. Two levels of practice tests are designed at topic level for incorrectly answered questions, one which focuses on immediate last test given and another which captures all incorrectly answered questions for the same topic. A subject level practice test is also designed which is enabled when the student takes all applicable tests available for a particular subject.
Summing up altogether, Objective Assessment is a more comprehensive evaluation of the student learning outcomes from basic recall to application, analysis and evaluation.