Aparna Vyas

Importance & social role of examinations

Origin of the system in China

Examination preceded teaching

Institutionalization of the system

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First three Indian universities were examining bodies only.

Indian Universities Commission (1902): Teaching is subordinate to examination, not conversely;

Calcutta University Commission (1919): Highlighted effect of choice of questions, grace marks, types of questions and mechanical marking.

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Hartog Committee (1929) & Sargeant Plan

(1944) also highlighted weaknesses

No reforms were proposed and implemented.

Education Commission (1948): condemned the

essay examination as worst feature in terms of

subjectivity, unreliability and invalidity.

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Secondary Education Commission (1952): Suggested cumulative records and internal assessment.

Education Commission (1964): suggested replacement of external examination by formative evaluation via CIE

National Policy on Education – 1986/1992, proposed introduction of Question Banking, Semester System, CIE, and Grading System.

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Low validity, low scorer-reliability, high subjectivity, low comparability, unfairness.

Optional questions, such as 5 out of ten, reduce comparability.

Fail – pass, cut-scores for different divisions/categories are arbitrary.

Combining marks by adding arithmetically is highly unscientific.

Before combining, marks should be scaled or standardized.

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Increased population, large-scale public

exams, need for objective questions and

advancement in ICT

Teachers are not trained in these new things.

This reinforces the need for Question Banks,

Semester System, Continuous Internal

Evaluation, Grading System

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Increased enrolment, knowledge, cut-throat competition led to increased class-size and large-scale public exams.

Objective questions have gained popularity because of their qualitative and statistical features.

OMR sheet, optical scanner, computer technology etc. increased efficiency of large-scale public examinations.

Teachers not trained in item construction technology, hence the need for large collections of statistically appropriate items.

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Hence the need for QBs from which requisite tests

may be sampled

Tests sampled from QBs are likely to be more valid,

reliable and comparable which increase the

efficiency of examination.

It will discourage selective study on the part of

students and selective teaching on the part of

teachers.

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Terminal examination generates stress and strain

Laxity in the beginning of the session and heightened tension at the end,

Hurried coverage of courses, encourages memorization without understanding, No time for introducing innovative practices

In semester system, examinations are held twice a year, involves greater flexibility in the choice of courses,

Internal evaluation as an integral part, formative evaluation by adding more academic and interactive programs.

Some universities adopted it earlier but discontinued. Now again gaining popularity

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An ongoing process of gathering

information about the progress of learners

for providing feedback & making decisions.

Yearly examination measures only cognitive

aspects limited to rote-memorization level.

It evaluates product not the process of

learning.

When CIE based on several different

criteria is combined with the external

examination, it improves validity and

reliability. Shri Gujarati Sam aj B.Ed. College, Indore 11

May vary from subject to subject but generally include class attendance, assignments, periodic tests, classroom observation, practical work, laboratory work, library work, projects, term-papers, and participation in community services.

The weight assigned to CIE in relation to the end-term examination may follow several models such as

25:75, 30:70, 60:40, and 50:50.

An institution may start with the 25:75 - model and gradually move towards adoption of 50:50.

Before combining students scores in CIE and external end-term examination scores should be standardized. Shri Gujarati Sam aj B.Ed. College, Indore 12

The CIE may be affected by socioeconomic factors and value system of the society. Such factors as nepotism, gender, caste, religious affiliation, regionalism, and similar other social factors play significant role in CIE.

Both, teachers and students are sometimes tempted to exploit these factors in their favor. Open-ness of the system may reduce their effect.

These factors may be checked through effective training of teachers. The advantages of CIE overweigh its disadvantages.

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Traditional method of adding scores and placing a student in different performance categories/divisions is arbitrary.

Standard errors in marking vary with subjects, teachers, and time. This is a measure of a chance-variation in marking behavior or subjectivity.

Chance variation justifies grading

A grade is a symbol associated with a score-range indicating more or less the same level of performance providing for random marking errors.

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There are two main approaches to grading – direct grading and converting numerical scores to grades.

In direct grading, the evaluator assigns, by his own judgment, one of the several symbols to a given answer indicating its quality. If there are several answers, their grades are to be combined and GPA is reported.

Sometimes, the number or percentage of students to be placed in each grade is decided in advance.

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For this purpose two approaches are used – absolute grading and relative grading.

In absolute grading, the absolute quality/standard or level of performance (in terms of numerical score-ranges) is attached to each grading category.

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.For example:

Grade Score-range (percent)

A 95 -100

B 85 –94

C 75 – 84

D 65 – 74

E Below 65

This is significantly affected by difficulty level of the test and variability of the test scores.

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In relative grading – also known as norm-referenced grading, relative positions of examinees are considered.

This method is also known as grading on the curve because it assumes a distribution of scores – normal or otherwise

It also has two approaches – pre-decided interval approach and pre-decided number or percentage approach.

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In the first approach, entire scale is divided

into score intervals (not necessarily all

equal) and number of persons to be

assigned each grade is subsequently

determined.

In the other approach, the number or

percentage of persons to be assigned each

grade is fixed in advance and score-range

for each grade is determined subsequently.

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There are chances of misclassification, which increase with variability, specifically in the neighborhood of cut-scores.

Subjects abler students to a disadvantage and poorer ones to an advantage, because of lumping them together.

Has limited utility in making certain crucial decisions such as taking selection decisions.

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