Three Reasons to Stop Using Time-Restricted Tests

By Kather­ine Car­pen­ter, Teach­ing and Learn­ing Fac­ul­ty Devel­op­er, Cen­tre for Teach­ing and Learn­ing Inno­va­tion, North Island Col­lege

“Time pres­sure rewards stu­dents who think fast and shal­low — and pun­ish­es those who think slow and deep,” Adam Grant

Using timed tests as way to assess learn­ing has been under scruti­ny for some time. While sum­ma­tive assess­ments (tests, exams, mid-terms, quizzes) play a cru­cial role in gaug­ing stu­dents’ under­stand­ing and demon­stra­tion of skills and abil­i­ties, the over reliance on time-restrict­ed assess­ments cre­ates three issues that pre­vent them from being reli­able indi­ca­tors of learn­ing. Time restrict­ed assess­ments may not be the most effec­tive or fair method for assess­ing stu­dent learn­ing.

1. Unnecessary Pressure and Anxiety

The pri­ma­ry draw­back of time-restrict­ed tests is the undue cog­ni­tive pres­sure and anx­i­ety they place on stu­dents. Research by Porges (2009) shared insights into the path­ways that con­nect the brain to the body and that dur­ing times of stress learn­ers are less able to access infor­ma­tion they have already learned. The con­straint of time often cre­ates stres­sors which neg­a­tive­ly impact cog­ni­tive func­tion­ing and inhibits the abil­i­ty to recall infor­ma­tion accu­rate­ly. Stress can result in learn­er under­per­for­mance, as stu­dents may strug­gle to show­case their true under­stand­ing of the mate­r­i­al with­in the allot­ted time frame.

2. Focus on Speed over Understanding

Gerns­bach­er et al. (2020) demon­strat­ed that stu­dents’ pace on untimed tests does not pre­dict per­for­mance and as a result, adding time lim­its to tests means that the test is mea­sur­ing speed, in addi­tion to the con­tent knowl­edge. In timed assess­ments, stu­dents may resort to mem­o­riza­tion and regur­gi­ta­tion of infor­ma­tion rather than engag­ing in crit­i­cal think­ing and prob­lem-solv­ing (BCcam­pus, 2021). The empha­sis on com­plet­ing the tasks with­ing a time lim­it can deter learn­ers from explor­ing con­cepts thor­ough­ly, ulti­mate­ly hin­der­ing their abil­i­ty to apply knowl­edge and retrieve it lat­er.

3. Inequities for Learning and Language

Peo­ple have dif­fer­ent learn­ing and cog­ni­tive process­es, as well as dif­fer­ent lev­els of com­fort and expe­ri­ence using the lan­guage in which the test was writ­ten. While some stu­dents thrive under time pres­sure, oth­ers may need more time to process infor­ma­tion and for­mu­late thought­ful respons­es. Time-restrict­ed tests favour those who can quick­ly recall and apply knowl­edge, as well as those who are flu­ent in the test lan­guage. This cre­ates inequities for those who require more pro­cess­ing time, as well as time to trans­late the ques­tion into their pri­ma­ry lan­guage. Gerns­bach­er et al. (2020) research showed that timed tests can result in an inac­cu­rate rep­re­sen­ta­tion of a stu­den­t’s true capa­bil­i­ties.

While time-restrict­ed tests have been a long­stand­ing tra­di­tion in edu­ca­tion, they come with inher­ent lim­i­ta­tions that may impede the accu­rate assess­ment of learn­ing. The pres­sure and anx­i­ety they induce, the focus on speed over under­stand­ing, the inequity in accom­mo­dat­ing dif­fer­ent learn­ing modal­i­ties, the lim­it­ed assess­ment of high­er-order skills, and the poten­tial reduc­tion in moti­va­tion all con­tribute to the argu­ment against their wide­spread use.

Often instruc­tors feel that time-based tests are an align­ment to com­mon expe­ri­ences of employ­ees in the work­place. But rarely in the work world do employ­ees expe­ri­ence timed tests to demon­strate their under­stand­ing and skills. Work­ers are giv­en dead­lines and expec­ta­tions or some­times a spe­cif­ic per­for­mance under pres­sure, but most­ly they will face appli­ca­tion of knowl­edge. Rarely do employ­ees engage in fre­quent recall of knowl­edge under a time restric­tion.

To fos­ter a more com­pre­hen­sive and equi­table assess­ment of learn­ing, instruc­tors should incor­po­rate a vari­ety of eval­u­a­tion meth­ods, includ­ing project-based assess­ments, open-book exams, and con­tin­u­ous assess­ment mod­els. By embrac­ing diverse and authen­tic approach­es, edu­ca­tors can cre­ate an envi­ron­ment that encour­ages true under­stand­ing, crit­i­cal think­ing, and the devel­op­ment of skills that extend far beyond the con­fines of a timed test.

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