Assessment or Test? by Allison

Assessment or Test? by Allison - June 2015 Scholarship Essay

Assessment. That is a word that makes most students cringe. I believe that is true because the word “assessment” is bigger than the word “test”. In reality, though, they have the same meaning. Students do not want to take tests. They are teenagers. Unfortunately, we as high school students have no choice but to take tests, unless we don’t want to graduate. Therefore, my ideal assessment would definitely be a multiple-choice test.

Some may say that multiple-choice tests are too easy. This is not necessarily true because I have learned from experience that teachers can try to trick students by giving a multiple-choice test. Yes, there are multiple answers to choose from, but two answers may be similar. Therefore, individuals must decipher which answer applies best to the test question. This concept offers students to use the knowledge they have attained and submit it to the task being done.

On the other hand, there are going to be instances where we students do not know the answer at all to a test question. I know, personally, I have had my fair share of that. Multiple-choice tests, if given four choices to select from, offer students a twenty-five percent chance at getting a question correct. Fortunately, scholars have a chance of getting a question right that he or she does not know, if they are lucky. I am not saying that students should not study and just hope to get test questions correct, resulting in a score he or she may not deserve. I do believe, though, that multiple-choice tests propose an opportunity for students to use their brains he or she was blessed with and select the most logical answer, even if that consists of guessing.

Many teachers teach multiple units or sections of a subject and then test the class on all of the material at once. This is where multiple-choice testing comes in handy. Multiple-choice tests are quick, therefore it is easier to use these tests when being tested on multiple chapters. The SAT and ACT tests use multiple-choice questions. Can you imagine how much longer it would take to complete those tests without the test being multiple-choice? Multiple-choice tests save time because students only have to circle a letter or bubble in a letter rather than writing out the answer.

I believe many undergraduates today would agree that multiple-choice tests are the ideal assessments. Multiple-choice tests have advantages not only for students, but also for teachers. Don’t get me wrong, I think students should definitely know their school material. Multiple-choice tests require pupils to think about what is being asked and applying their academic excellence to it. They also have moments where two answers could be correct, but we all know, there is only one right answer. The right answer is the best answer, and this is where scholars have to choose which one that may be, similar to life itself and the choices we individuals have to make daily.