How to define a “good test”?
Tests come in many different shapes and forms. They have different
purposes. Before discussing what a good test is,
let us ask ourselves why we want good tests? There are many reasons… Tests act
as the guarantor for the production system that guarantees that it delivers the
value the customer is paying for. It is therefore important to remember that
the tests are at least as important as the production code. A good test can be
defined with the consideration of validity; reliability; practicality; wash
back; authenticity and equity.
A good test is valid and reliable, but a valid and reliable test doesn't necessarily mean a good test. It is really hard to set or develop a good test with all the consideration
mentioned above. For example, a test can be reliable not valid when the items that
students can choose in MC questions are objective enough but students may use
deduction as exam skill to eliminate answers; besides, a test can be valid but not reliable when examiners
and topics are different such as speaking and listening tests. In short, reliability and validity are important in good test development as reliability is a measure of the test's consistency, while validity is a measure of usefulness.
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