THE EFFECTS OF PRE‐TESTS, INTERIM TESTS, AND AGE ON POST‐TEST PERFORMANCE FOLLOWING SELF‐INSTRUCTION

Abstract

In a previous experiment conducted by the authors it was found that doing a pretest had no significantly measurable effect upon post‐test performance following programmed instruction. In this paper two experiments are described which qualify this conclusion. In the first experiment the interim tests contained in the program used in the previous experiment were deleted, and it was found that under these conditions the program was less effective and that there was a measurable pre‐test effect shown in the post‐test (but not the retest) results. In the second experiment older subjects were employed, who studied either the original program or a more condensed presentation method. With these subjects, pre‐test effects were found with both presentation methods, but they were greater in the condensed presentation condition.