Backtalk: The emerging science of test-taking disengagement

Abstract

When students take tests, their performance is a result not just of their academic achievement but of their engagement in the actual test. Rapid guessing is a sign that students aren’t fully engaged in the test but are instead rapidly filling in answers without regard to whether they are correct. Steven Wise explains that computer-based testing allows those interpreting test results to see when students engaged in rapid guessing. It’s also possible for testing programs to alert the test proctor or student to rapid guessing. He recommends that these tools become a routine part of student testing.