In essays, students often take longer to compose a five paragraph essay than they would take to compose five one paragraph answers to short answer questions. This increased workload limits the number of essay questions that can be posed on a single exam and thus can restrict the overall scope of an exam to a few topics or areas. To ensure that this doesn’t cause students to panic or blank out, teachers sould consider giving the option of answering one of two or more questions and not jus one.

Preparing a marking scheme or ahead of time will allow you to review your questions, to verify that they are really testing the material you want to test, and to think about possible alternative answers that might come up.

Clearly communicate with students about what your goals are for any test or exam. Don't assume that students know what the pedagogical purpose of the test or exam is. Have a discussion about your goals and desired outcomes, and help students understand how specific aspects of the test or exam fit these goals. Be open to making some changes if students have ideas to offer

Match the following descriptions with the purpose they are related with

Placement tests and needs analysis are both considered to be a test

Match each of the following concepts with the corresponding language assessment principle it is related with

The FCE or First Certificate of English is now called B2 and it corresponds to an upper intermediate exam

Match each description with the corresponding type of test

Having students construct their own tests and using them in groups can be a very great for revision

The Cambridge exams cover 5 different levels:

1. KET or Key English Test
2. PET or English Test
3. FCE or First Certificate English
4. CAE or Cambridge Advanced English
5. CPE or Cambridge Proficiency English