The instructional functions of exams

Tests (i.e., scheduled, weighted, proctored assigned work) serve five functions in the learning process:^4.1

• An inducement to additional pre-test learning effort (study, practice, etc.) on the part of student.
• Instruction -- for the duration of the test, the test-taker exerts during-test effort, and thus the test designer has the student's undivided attention. For many students, that is perhaps the best time to pass along insight and information. Tests are a learning opportunity. They are a particularly good opportunity for proctored drill.
• Feedback to the instructor, to let him/her know what the members of the class have understood and retained. That information enables the instructor to take corrective action to remedy problems during subsequent instruction.
• Feedback to the students to identify misunderstandings and to let them know of discrepancies between their level of skill and knowledge and that of their peers and/or the institutional expectations.
• Assessment/certification of student's level of knowledge and/or skill.

Commonly, there are payoffs associated with test performance, rewards for doing well and punishments for poor performance, in terms of privilege and vanity.^4.2 That is the basis for the motivation to study and that allows the test designer to capture the student's attention. Of course, cheating subverts many of these functions.

Obviously these payoffs, especially the negative ones, cause psychological pressure. When the pressure is too high, students may lose motivation. The same may happen when the pressure is too low.

Also, to maintain motivation the testing needs to be credible, i.e., the outcomes must be related to the acquisition of skills and knowledge, which in turn must be related to effort. By contrast, a true test of aptitude should have no correlation with pre-test effort and, therefore, not be a rational motivation toward such effort.