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| How to Use Test Results |  Teachers are disposed to misinterpret test results by assuming that high scores indicate good instruction and low scores indicate poor students. Students are disposed to interpret test scores wrongly by assuming their good scores indicate they are intelligent or well-prepared and their law scores indicate bad teaching or insufficient textbooks. Whereas, high scores can be caused by the easiness of test tasks, from only measuring simple instructional objectives, from preconceived scoring procedure and from other factors that influence the result, like cheating or providing unintended hints at the right answer. Low sores can result from a test that is too difficult, that includes tricky questions, from testing that consists of the material not covered in class, insufficient time to complete the task and many other reasons.
It is a kind of a difficult task, to interpret test results correctly. Read the tips that will help you to minimize the likelihood of misinterpreting test scores:
- Avoid assessing minor differences in students’ scores as being indicative of real differences in their level of achievement.
- Give a final grades based on more than 2 or 3 exams. Take into account their performance on projects, lab assignments, research papers and other written works and ideas.
- Do not compare scores on two different exams unless the exams have been mathematically equated.
- Avoid using grading practices that strictly adhere to 90%=A, 80%=B and so on, indifferent to the test difficulty.
It is a good idea to use test results to improve learning. Here are several methods how to do this:
- Hand out the corrected tests to the students and discuss the test with them.
- Carry out regular quizzes to help students keep up on the reading.
- Allow students to retake the test to encourage them to improve their understanding before moving forward. - Assess essay with two scores. One for content and one for grammar, to encourage students to improve their writing skills.
- Review material from previous units in the test.
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