FORMAL ASSESSMENT

The first topic I chose is Formal Assessment. This is a common type of assessment I have experience throughout my school life starting from Primary School up to College.

What is Formal Assessment?

Formal assessment is a more official, organized, systematic and planned method of assessing students on how much they have learned in class. 

What is the purpose of Formal Assessment?

Formal assessment is used to measure the amount of knowledge students gained from what was taught in class.

Besides that, formal assessment is also used to record data and compare the results of students whether in class or even beyond the classroom such among other classes, in school, among schools, or even state and national level.

Characteristics of Formal Assessment

https://jeffreymdelacruz.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/informal-vs-formal-table.jpg

Examples of Formal Assessment

• Standardized tests
• Essay tests
• Class tests

Standardized tests

http://lakeranchor.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/standardized-testing.jpg

Standardized test are done in a higher stake compared to class tests, where the test paper set are used in a wider range such as in school level.

The questions are set the same among the region the test is taken and the scoring is the same.

It is used to compare students skills and knowledge and give a certification of the students' results.

Example: Final Term Examinations

Essay Tests

https://stateimpact.npr.org/florida/files/2014/03/3-21-WritingTest.jpg

Essay tests are conducted not only to test students writing and linguistic skills in languages, but it can also be used in various subjects to test students understandings.

Examples: English MUET exam, language (BM, English, Chinese etc) exams, essay questions in various subjects' test papers.

Class tests:

Class tests are normally done to prepare students for their major exams such as standardized tests. 

Teachers will prepare the test papers similarly to the standardized test to let students prepare and get used to the questions. 

Examples: Mock exams, Mid-term and Final term school exams

My Reflection/Opinion on Formal Assessment

In my opinion, formal assessment is good for students in the sense that it can help motivate students to study for their future. It also helps students to gain knowledge and learn better. Not only that, it also lets students know about their progress.

However, as schools prioritize way too much on the results of students, the students will end up feeling stressed and force themselves to study in order to get excellent results. Besides that, the results that is used to compare students' results will cause students to get too competitive about their performance and feel envy to those who scored well. 

Suggestion to Improve this Assessment

Schools can prioritize formal assessment but they should not focus on results only but instead should focus on the progress of students and what knowledge they gained.

Schools can also carry out other forms of assessment such as informal assessment, formative assessment and observations to assess students as well.

Reference:
http://study.com/academy/lesson/formal-assessments-examples-types-quiz.html