This paper critically reviews methods of pupil assessment at the beginning, during and at the end of the second cycle of secondary education. It notes a trend towards more global assessment based on a mixture of external and internal, periodic and terminal, subjective and objective tests. (Editor)

The association of anxiety and medical students' performance on the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Part I Examination was investigated. The Debilitating Anxiety Scale was completed by 62 second-year medical students before taking the NBME Examination. Debilitating test anxiety has been described as anxiety that interferes with test…

Recent emphasis on stricter educational accountability measures has resulted in a profusion of educational and psychological tests available in today's market. This ERIC Digest has been prepared to meet educators' needs to find information about tests quickly and easily. Three resources discussed are the Test Collection database, the Mental…

It is essential that testing personnel devise methods to communicate understandable and usable information about the effects of schooling to the public. (Author)

Some of the results of the first-round testing in science of the National Assessment of Educational Progress are mentioned. (DT) Aspect of National Assessment (NAEP) dealt with in this document: Results (Overview).

The study reported here attempted to discover by employing different geographical techniques at which stages certain abilities - generalization and comparability - develop in children. (Author)

This article (in French with no translation) describes the development and evaluation of tests designed for French-speaking students in Ontario. (MBM)

Outlines the purposes of pretests and considerations in their construction. (JR)

For a teacher striving to make the most efficient use of time in math class, this study advocates the use of answer keys by the students as an effective method for facilitating rapid growth in math skills and for aiding in retention of what has been learned. (Editor)

American youngsters don't know as much science as they did three to four years ago, the National Assessment of Educational Progress finds. (Editor) Aspect of National Assessment (NAEP) dealt with in this document: Results (Trends).

Seven forms of a sixty item multiple choice test were administered to 454 college freshmen for the purpose of studying the effects on reliability and performance of keyed response option sequencing that would be unlikely under a random model. (Author)

The effect of humor in the classroom was explored by comparing the performance of third and fifth grade students who worked on a humorous test with that of students who worked on a nonhumorous test. Humor depressed third graders' performance but had positive and negative effects on fifth graders' performance. (Author)

This paper discusses the quality of tests with respect to their different uses. Standardized tests are defined as standardized procedures for eliciting responses from individuals, and these form the basis for some sort of appraisal. They can include intelligence tests, achievement tests, school readiness tests, and self concept measures. Oscar…