“Assessments are always tricky business, but one overarching goal of assessments is to test about how well a student may be able to recall content, integrate that content, perhaps do calculations, and think about the material that was discussed in the classroom.”

To that list I’d add assessments should allow students to demonstrate their incomplete knowledge. That is, so you can assess the level of their understanding. A single multiple-choice questions are “all or nothing”, “you’ve got it or you don’t”. That don’t leave any room for students who understand some things but not others. Maybe that’s why we typically see a bunch of multiple-choice questions on an exam.

Questions that require multi-step calculations should not be marked “correct/incorrect” based on the number the students finally write at the bottom of the page. (I know, we always give partial credit for mathy questions – 1 pt for setting up the equations, 3 pts for solving, 1 pt for sense-making, etc.) I think that’s why we create those grading scemes / marking guides, to reward students the knowledge and skills they possess, however complete or incomplete that knowledge.

Peter
@polarisdotca