What is summative assessment?

The term 'summative assessment' is often used in schools and examination boards. But what exactly is summative assessment? The purpose of a summative assessment is to make a (final) judgement. This type of assessment therefore has consequences, unlike formative assessment. Formative assessment focuses on testing and learning and does not have any (severe) consequences if you fail a test.

Summative assessment – an example

To give you an idea of what a summative assessment is, it is useful to give an example that everyone is familiar with. A good example of a summative assessment is the driving test. You are only allowed to drive a car once you have passed both the theory and practical tests (driving licence B). To obtain your driving licence, you will therefore have to pass two summative tests, a theory test and practical test.

Characteristics of summative tests

Summative assessments aim to arrive at a (final) judgement. There are also a number of characteristics that relate to summative assessments. We discuss five of these below:

Passed or failed (1)

A summative assessment is often a selective assessment. In other words, you must pass the assessment. The driving licence is another clear example of this. You are only allowed to drive a car if you have passed the theory and practical tests.

Formal status (2)

A lot can depend on passing a summative assessment. It can enable you to obtain a diploma or certificate that allows you to practise your profession, for example. Consider, for example, the Wft diploma (Financial Supervision Act), which financial advisers must obtain to demonstrate their professional competence. Doctors and solicitors also take (periodic) tests to be allowed to practise their profession.

Nationally recognised (3)

Summative assessments are often recognised nationally and sometimes even internationally. These are generally examinations based on specific professional and/or industry standards. When international agreements have been made in this regard for a particular industry or professional group, the diplomas are also recognised/usable outside the Netherlands.

Strict confidentiality (4)

The purpose of a summative examination is to assess the candidate's knowledge as accurately as possible. This means that every candidate must meet the same standards without any prior knowledge. Logically, strict confidentiality of the examination questions is therefore of great importance. If examination questions are leaked, this will give a distorted picture of the candidate's knowledge.

Supervision (5)

Given the generally significant interests involved in summative tests, (strict) supervision is a requirement. This can, of course, be done physically, but nowadays it can also be done remotely via online invigilation. The prevention of any form of exam cheating has priority in all cases.

Digital summative testing

Summative assessments are used to identify and recognise knowledge and skills. In the case of digital summative assessments, it is very important to set high standards for the assessment software you use for this purpose. Good testing software enables you to test how you want to do it in a safe manner.

Here are a few aspects that may be important when choosing assessment software:

Offer candidates a secure examination environment

Ensure that you can shield the test using a so-called ‘lockdown browser’. In such a shielded test environment, candidates cannot visit other applications or (web) pages during the examination. This provides the candidate with a secure test environment and at the same time reduces the risk of possible test fraud.

Offer candidates a clear and intuitive user interface

Everyone knows that distractions can be disastrous when taking a test. A simple and user-friendly interface ensures that candidates can concentrate fully on the content of the test. This generally benefits the final result.

Use different types of questions

Despite the fact that the vast majority of exam questions are still multiple-choice questions, digital testing many more possibilities. There are different types of questions that you can use in your examinations. By using different question types, you can optimise the examination. This allows you to use the question type that best suits the question in question and adds variety to the examination, making it much more interesting for the candidate. Suppose you are creating a summative test to assess geographical knowledge. In that case, you could opt for a so-called hotspot question. The candidate then clicks on the relevant location(s) within an image.

Reuse of items (exam questions)

Developing exam questions (also known as items) takes a lot of time and money. Good testing software allows you to rotate exam questions. With a item bank of sufficient size, a test matrix A random exam is compiled for each participant. In addition, you can ‘randomise’ questions, for example by using different names in an otherwise similar question. The questions also remain ‘secure’ in the database and they generally do not end up ‘lying around’, which means you can reuse them time and time again. This saves you a lot of (development) time and costs in the long term.

Set up your own workflow

Many different people are often involved in developing (summative) tests. The right testing software helps you keep everyone informed via built-in notifications. For example, when one person has finished writing the exam questions, another can immediately continue with the assessment process. What's more, the right software allows you to fully customise the digital development environment based on your working methods and development approach.

Improve and optimise your assessment

Tools such as test reports and analyses provide insight into the quality of the items. By continuously measuring and improving, you can take your digital summative test to an even higher level. What's more, you can always see what changes have been made to a particular item over time (item history).

Ensure the security of your test

Another important aspect of digital summative testing is security. Therefore, choose a GDPR-compliant testing system. And make sure you are informed about matters such as secure data exchange and the role of the testing system in the area of fraud detection.

Want to know more about digital summative testing?

Would you like to learn more about summative testing? Our colleagues (testing experts) will be happy to assist you. Do you have any other questions in this area? digital testing? Feel free to contact contact us or view our knowledge base where you can find inspiration. We also have a monthly newsletter full of inspiration in the field of digital testing and examination, and you can of course follow on LinkedIn.