Assessment Pitching Workshop Quiz

Which of the following statements best describes a learner-centred and balanced assessment system?

• Focuses only on summative assessments.

• Emphasizes both formative and summative assessments.

• Ignores the purpose of assessments.

• Relies solely on quantitative data.

Answer explanation

Which of the following is NOT a part of the general principles of assessment?

• Ensuring alignment with the curriculum.

• Checking technical quality of items.

• Designing assessments to be as difficult as possible.

• Using appropriate command words in questions

Answer explanation

Assessment provides evidence of how well students are achieving the intended learning objectives.

In order to obtain evidence that is useful for decision making, it is important to ensure that the assessment is valid, reliable and fair.

What is the primary purpose of using a Table of Specifications (TOS) in assessment design?

• To ensure assessments are easy to grade.

• To align assessments with the syllabus and balance content, skills, and cognitive demand.

• To increase the difficulty of assessments.

• To eliminate the need for formative assessments.

Answer explanation

Why Use a TOS

A TOS serves many purposes. It helps teachers to ensure that:

• an assessment focuses on learning objectives that are within the scope of the syllabus.

• there is an appropriate spread, balance or

emphasis across the following:

(a) topics/concepts,

(b) assessment objectives, and

(c) levels of cognitive demand.

• there is clarity and guidance for item-setters to

refer to when drafting assessment items.

What are the assessment objectives (AOs) for the new 2024 H2 Maths Syllabus?

Select all three!

• Use Mathematical Techniques & procedures.

• Formulate and solve problems including those in real-world contexts

• Recall formulas, solve mathematical problems and write proofs.

• Reason and communicate mathematically

Answer explanation

What does cognitive demand refer to in the context of assessment?

• The level of difficulty as perceived by students.

• The amount of time required to complete a task.

• The level of thinking required to complete a task.

• The number of students who fail an assessment.

Answer explanation

Cognitive demand

• - refers to the level of thinking

examiners require students to do in order to complete a task set out in the question item.

• - determined pre-test, especially during the item design stage, requiring the judgement of the question setter.

• - NOT dependent on student performance.

Difficulty

• - a measure of how a group of students

actually scored on an item. Simply put, it is about students’ success in solving the task.

• - measured post-test as it is based on student performance or scores.

Note:

Difficulty level can vary for different groups of students, whereas cognitive demand is fixed.

With practice, students could be more prepared to tackle a question that is of high cognitive demand but this does not mean that the

cognitive demand of the question is lowered as the thinking processes required have not changed.

Which of the following is NOT a benefit of a comprehensive mark scheme?

• Ensures fair and consistent marking.

• Allows markers to award marks based on personal judgment.

• Provides guidance for marking alternative solutions.

• Reflects the demand made on students.

Answer explanation

How to prepare a Comprehensive Mark Scheme?

• Draw up the mark scheme as you design an item, and modify and refine it along the way. It is good practice to finalise the mark scheme after marking a few scripts (from sampling) against the suggested mark scheme, before marking the remaining scripts.

• Allocate the right number of marks in proportion to the demand of the questions.

• Provide guidance or marking instructions to help markers make judgements, especially when they encounter alternative methods/solutions.

• Include the acceptable method/solution and other possible solutions that are worthy of full, partial or no credit. Refer to the mark scheme in the specimen papers to understand how the different types of marks (e.g. M, A and B) are used.

• Indicate the number of marks for sub-parts to a question and the total number of marks for the whole question in the mark scheme. Ensure that the marks tally with the question paper.

What should be the focus when setting a balanced preliminary examination?

• Making the exam as difficult as possible.

• Ensuring the exam closely matches the standards of the national exam.

• Including only the easiest topics.

• Increasing the number of questions to cover as many learning objectives as possible.

Answer explanation

What is a key purpose of formative assessment?

• To rank students based on their performance.

• To monitor progress and help students improve their learning.

• To prepare students for final exams.

• To determine the final grade of students.

Answer explanation

Formative Assessment: to monitor progress, and help students improve their learning and be self-directed in their learning.

• - Information about students’ understanding of the content must be gathered before, during and after the lesson.

• - This information should inform the starting point of teaching, the development of concepts, and remedial actions that may be necessary.

Summative Assessment: to measure the extent to which students have achieved the learning objectives of the syllabus.

• - Usually carried out at the end of a learning episode or a set of topics.

• - The assessment objectives reflect the emphases of the syllabus and describe what students should know and be able to do

with the concepts and skills learned.