276 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



five questions, with as many alternative sets as possible, 

 of which the high school pupils are expected to answer 

 the first twenty, and the college students the whole num- 

 ber. Not infrequently the self complacency of some care- 

 less collegian has received a severe jolt, when we have 

 shown him that his score on a certain test is less than 

 that of the average high school boy. 



We are now ready to give the test for the first time. 

 It is evident that the usual precautions to prevent copy- 

 ing and communication are more necessary when the 

 answers are as short as in this sort of a test. There 

 should be a printed or mimeographed sheet of the ques- 

 tions for each student. Distribute them face downward, 

 not to be looked at until the signal to begin is given. I 

 have not been able to discover that it makes any differ- 

 ence whether the answers are written on the same or an- 

 other sheet of paper. If the questions are supposed to 

 be of about equal difficulty, note the time of starting, and 

 stop when the first few have finished. This gives an idea 

 of the standard time to be fixed for the test. 



Before scoring, prepare a key on a slip of stiff card- 

 board, with answers so placed that they correspond in 

 position with the answers on the students' papers. If 

 the test is answered by underlining words, or filling in 

 blanks, the key may be made on a sheet of celluloid or 

 transparent paper, or a cardboard with holes at the prop- 

 er places to show the correct answers. With such devices 

 as these, the drudgery of scoring the papers is reduced to 

 a minimum, and it is very evident that more questions 

 per tests, and more tests per year, can be handled with- 

 out adding to the already heavy burden of the conscien- 

 tious teacher. Add to this the moral satisfaction of 

 knowing that you have eliminated from your grade book 

 the influence of the famous "sweet smile and winning 

 way", and you will be willing to take the extra trouble 

 necessary in preparing the tests. 



Although in assigning values to correct answers it is 

 very easy to say that students should be marked as right 

 or wrong only, in practice it is often very difficult to do. 

 Suppose a pupil has worked a problem by the right 

 method, but because of a mistake in arithmetic, or a mis- 



