Test Difficulty as a Factor In Achievement

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of two testing approaches on informational achievement in a technical industrial education course. Two equated groups of students were administered either a high difficulty or low difficulty form of unit achievement examinations which served as the experimental factor. Informational achievement was measured by pretest-posttest gain of each testing approach. Comparisons were made (1) between the total populations of the treatment groups, (2) of the ability levels between the treatments, and (3) of the ability levels within each treatment. The findings revealed that while significant gains were found in the informational achievement of both groups, the gains associated with the “low difficulty testing approach” were significantly higher than those of the “high difficulty testing approach.”