Assessment & diagnosis

Before you revise harder, find out what you actually know.

Compare your work to a standard. Simulate a mark scheme. Diagnose the gap instead of guessing which chapter to reread.

Especially useful after a disappointing mark, or the week before an exam when time is scarce.

Diagnostic pre-test

Sit a short test before you study, to find out what you actually need to study.

Learning impact Strong change Learning evidence Strong research tradition When to use this When something feels wrong How often Worth repeating often

Misconception elicitation

Answer questions designed to catch the specific wrong models people hold in your subject, and find out which ones you're carrying.

Learning impact Strong change Learning evidence Strong research tradition When to use this When something feels wrong How often Worth repeating often

Concept-inventory probing

Face questions that separate memorised from understood: the inventory style that catches fluent misconceptions.

Learning impact Strong change Learning evidence Strong research tradition When to use this When something feels wrong How often Worth repeating often

Adaptive difficulty

Have the difficulty adjust to your performance in real time, so you stay at the edge of what you can do.

Learning impact Strong change Learning evidence Credible with caveats When to use this While you practise How often Build and keep as a habit

Mastery threshold checking

Continue until a defined criterion is met, not until time is served, so "I'm done" means evidence, not a clock.

Learning impact Strong change Learning evidence Credible with caveats When to use this When checking yourself How often Build and keep as a habit

H10

Blind self-marking

Mark your own work against the rubric before seeing any feedback: catching gaps while you're still the first examiner.

Learning impact Strong change Learning evidence Credible with caveats When to use this When checking yourself How often Worth repeating often

Grading simulation

Have your work marked the way an examiner would mark it, strictly, against the scheme, with the marks you didn't get explained.

Learning impact Reliable gain Learning evidence Credible with caveats When to use this When checking yourself How often Worth repeating often

Standard-setting comparison

Compare your work against examples at several grades, so you can see what the difference between bands actually is.

Learning impact Reliable gain Learning evidence Credible with caveats When to use this When checking yourself How often Worth repeating often

H11

Comparative exemplar ranking

Rank three anonymised exemplars of differing quality and justify the order: building the evaluative criteria you'll need before you write.

Learning impact Reliable gain Learning evidence Credible with caveats When to use this When checking yourself How often Worth repeating often

H13

H12

Comparative multi-grader

Have one piece marked by harsh, lenient, and rubric-strict graders, then analyse the differences, so you learn where grades are stable vs noise.

Learning impact Clear help, modest gain Learning evidence Thin or mixed evidence When to use this When checking yourself How often Useful once for a topic

Assessment & diagnosis

Diagnostic pre-test

Misconception elicitation

Concept-inventory probing

Adaptive difficulty

Mastery threshold checking

Blind self-marking

Grading simulation

Standard-setting comparison

Comparative exemplar ranking

Grade-then-justify

Rubric generation

Feedback-on-feedback

Comparative multi-grader