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| What to Test? | First of all you should test students on what you taught them and on what you logically suppose them to know. This falls into two areas: Factual content of the unit of study ans skills like reasoning, logical thinking, argument, analysis, and make use of evidence
1. Essays
First, a good written assessment should be just a good piece of writing. It should represent the students' best attempts at spelling, grammar, and punctuation. It should have a strong thesis statement if that is necessary, and it should have a good essay organization, or as a minimum go after the structure that you have defined for them. A good essay assessment should also ask students to show both content knowledge and thinking skills.
Essays let students to express their knowledge to you. Students should be given some choice in at least some essay questions, either in terms of which questions to answer or choice within the question itself. Choice lets students to write in the area most contented to them.
When evaluating an essay take-home exam, it may be helpful to students to have a scoring guide. A scoring guide will help them to distinguish the criteria upon which they are to be evaluated. For instance, their scoring guide should tell them that they will be graded on writing mechanics, essay structure, content mastery, and clearness. They must be conscious that in the end, it is your professional judgment that counts.
Here is a scoring table reflecting the criteria stated above:
| | Excellent | Above Average | Average | Unacceptable
| | Writing Mechanics | Complete, varied, interesting sentences; error-free spelling and grammar | Complete sentences; correct grammar | Variety of sentences; some errors are evident; careless grammar | Repetitious; fragments and run-ons are frequent; grammar mistakes block meaning | | Essay Structure | Paragraphs contribute to an effective argument; reinforce the content | Paragraphs demonstrate a clear plan; functional | Ineffective or inconsistent paragraphs | Random paragraphs | | Content Mastery | Thesis is clearly focused; subject is significant | Thesis is clear; provides direction for essay | Thesis is unclear; formulaic; not creative | Information is incomplete, ineffective, or missing | | Clarity | Detailed; accurate; insightful | Clear and thoughtful | Uneven | Vague or inaccurate |
The corresponding scoring table for the teacher may look like this:
| | Excellent | Above Average | Average | Unacceptable | | Writing Mechanics | | | | | | Essay Structure | | | | | | Content Mastery | | | | | | Clarity | | | | |
Put the points earned in the table. With four grading areas and a 100-point scale, the best a student could do would be to get 25 points in every area. So, a student might get 25s (excellent) in both mechanics and structure, but only 20s (above average) in content and clarity. This would give them a 90/100, or an A–. In addition you can have space for individualized comments on the bottom. This can help students know more particularly what is expected of them and why you graded them so. Rubrics are not for everyone in each situation. A lot of teachers have a preference of a kind of holistic assessment. They are looking at the essay as a whole.
2. Primary Sources
Primary-source documents are important teaching tools for testing. These can be quotations of a variety of sorts, such as speeches or letters, or visual materials, such as posters or political cartoons. You can ask subjective or objective questions. You might want your students to study the documents and come up with some sample questions.
Some tests make use of document-based questions. Basically, these are essay questions in which students must study primary-source documents, bring together information from them, and use that information, frequently together with extra knowledge, to answer the question.
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