Examination

An examination is a formal assessment designed to measure a person’s knowledge, skills, or abilities in a particular domain. Examinations are used in education, professional licensing, and credentialing to make decisions about advancement, certification, or remediation. They come in many forms and can test recall, understanding, problem-solving, or practical performance.

Examinations are typically categorized as summative or formative. Summative assessments evaluate learning at the end of a course or program, while formative assessments provide feedback during instruction. Formats vary widely and may include multiple-choice questions, short-answer items, essays, numerical problems, oral exams, or practical demonstrations.

A standard examination process involves item construction, piloting to check clarity and difficulty, secure administration under specified conditions, scoring according to a predefined rubric or answer key, and reporting results. Reliability and validity are central concerns: reliability concerns consistency of scores, while validity concerns whether the test measures the intended constructs. Standard setting determines passing thresholds.

Fairness and accessibility are integral. Examinations should accommodate disabilities, language needs, and cultural diversity, and measures should guard against bias. Security measures aim to prevent cheating and protect the integrity of scores, including proctoring, item banks, and randomization.

In addition to formal exams, many systems use continuous assessment, coursework, portfolios, or performance tasks either alongside or in place of exams. Examinations have a long history, with ancient civil service exams and the modern standardization movement enabling large-scale credentialing and comparison across populations. Licensing exams in law, medicine, engineering, and other fields certify professional competence.

The rise of digital testing has expanded online examinations, remote proctoring, and automated scoring. These developments improve accessibility and scalability but raise concerns about privacy, equity, and item security, prompting ongoing research into fair and robust assessment design.