Processing of Tests

Now let's consider the processing of entire tests, after the individual items have been scored. This is carried out during Outcome Processing, as described in the lesson with that name in the last chapter.

During Outcome Processing, Melanie’s answers to all of the items in the assessment are processed. This takes place using the Outcome Declarations, which specify, amongst other information, the scoring method to be used, in the form of the Outcome Processing Rules. The values for the (Test) Outcome Variables will be computed using these rules. Again, you can find more information on scoring rules in the User Guide, but for now it is sufficient to say that George has opted for a simple test scoring method for his assessment which tallies the marks of all items to produce a test score. To trigger this method, the name specified in the Outcome Declaration of the Outcome Variable needs to be SCORE_TOTAL.

In terms of Melanie’s test, the item scores from all the items in the ‘Capital Cities‘ assessment will now be used to compute outcomes for the test. These are taken from the (Item) Outcome Variables, which are the variables which carry forward the information from item processing to this next stage: test processing. These contain, for example, the SCORE values for each of the items in the ‘Capital Cities’ test (e.g. the value 0 from Melanie’s incorrect response to the Myanmar question).

Let’s assume that of the ten items in George’s assessment, Melanie answered six of them correctly. The (Test) Outcome Variable would have the value ‘6’, as shown below.

This information will be presented in the Test Variables (i.e. Test Outcomes) in the results table of the delivery, as shown in the image below. Under the heading Test Variables are outcomes are shown: Melanie Potts answered 6 (Outcome Variable 'SCORE_TOTAL') of the 10 questions in the Capital Cities assessment correctly. 

Test (Outcome) Variables