WRITING EXAMS, THE MENY CONCIDERATIONS

This week I was asked by my co-operating teacher to write the Christmas

exam for my first year classes. At first I considered this to be a relatively
simple task. I have written many formative and summative tests on my
previous teaching placement. The NCCA defines assessment as
Assessment is that part of the learning process where the learner and the
teacher can evaluate progress or achievement in the development of a
particular skill, or in the understanding of a particular area of knowledge
(NCCA, 2016). Thus I did not consider this task to be very strenuous.
Upon sitting down to gather material for the tests I began to reflect on
exactly what this test is and what it represents. I also began to reflect on
the many other considerations that made this different to a class exam.
The first of these considerations was time. In any test I had given before
whether it be formative or summative was conducted in a class
environment. This meant the test could be extended to fill more of the
class or shortened if the students progressed two quickly. Other activates
can be prepared in the class environment to pad the end of a class and
make time less relevant in the writing of the test. When I considered the
Christmas exam I realised it would need to keep the majority of the
students occupied for nearly the entire hour. This was driven home while
discussing exams with another teacher in the school. I was told that
supervising a class that was finished early was extremely difficult,
especially selective subjects as there are multiple exams happening at the
same time. On the other hand, if the exam is too long for the students it
will negatively impact there results. The results of these exams tend to
have a lot more impact on students then class exams. The mission
statement of the state examination commission states To provide a high
quality state examinations and assessment system incorporating the
highest standards of openness, fairness and accountability (state
examonation commision, 2016). I feel this should be the aim of any
teacher designing an exam. A student is lightly to feel betrayed by their
teacher if a student suffers poor marks due to errors in the design of their
exam.
The other aspect of the exams that became apparent to me is that
wording is crucial in these set exams. In an in class exam a student can
ask for clarification on a term or question of the teacher who wrote the
exam. Thus it is not as crucial for the wording to be optimised for
maximum clarity. In an end of term exam where the supervisor of the
exam is not the individual who wrote said exam it can lead to some
students not fully understanding the objectives of the question in hand.
Be more explicit about your expectations than you may think is
necessary. Otherwise, students may make assumptions that run them into
trouble (Carneigh mellon university, 2016). This can lead to an inaccurate
assessment of a students progress and understanding in the subject.
The task of designing an exam taking into account all of these new
constraints was a revelling experience. The format of the exam and the
makeup of the questions had to be overhauled after I had reflected on the
subject. In talking with a range of teachers on the subject I was informed
of several techniques for optimising the charismas test that I was
constructing.

Bibliography
Carneigh mellon university. (2016, 12 17).
/teaching/assessment/assesslearning/creatingexams.html. Retrieved from
www.cmu.edu:
https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/assesslearning/creatingexams.
html
NCCA. (2016, 12 17). /en/Curriculum_and_Assessment/. Retrieved from
http://ncca.ie: http://ncca.ie/en/Curriculum_and_Assessment/
state examonation commision. (2016, 12 17). /?l=en&mc=cv&sc=in. Retrieved
from www.examinations.ie: https://www.examinations.ie/?
l=en&mc=cv&sc=in