- Title: Understanding performance in test taking: The role of question difficulty order
- Authors: Lina Anaya, Nagore Iriberri, Pedro Rey-Biel, Gema Zamarro
- Access the original paper here and a working paper version here
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Summary
This research paper, published in Economics of Education Review, explores the effect of question difficulty order on standardized test performance. The authors conduct a field experiment with over 19,000 participants and analyze data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to investigate how the arrangement of questions by difficulty influences test completion rates and accuracy. Their findings suggest that placing easier questions at the beginning of tests leads to higher completion rates and a greater number of correct answers. The paper argues that the arrangement of questions can have significant policy implications for test design, candidate ranking, and educational evaluation.
What are the implications for teachers in the classroom?
- Teachers should consider ordering questions from easiest to most difficult. This can help students feel more confident and motivated, and may lead to better performance on assessments.
- Teachers should be aware that students may be discouraged if they encounter a difficult question early in a test. They may interpret this as a signal that the rest of the test will be difficult, which could lead to lower performance.
- Teachers should be mindful of the potential impact of test fatigue. Students may perform worse on later questions in a test, especially if the test is long or difficult. Teachers can mitigate this by providing breaks, or by varying the difficulty of questions throughout the test.
- Teachers should consider the purpose of the assessment when deciding how to order questions. If the goal is to accurately measure student knowledge, then ordering questions from easiest to most difficult may be the best approach. However, if the goal is to assess students’ ability to handle challenging questions, then a different order may be more appropriate.
- Teachers should be aware that students may be more optimistic about their performance if they encounter easy questions at the beginning of a test. This could lead to increased motivation and effort.
The sources primarily focus on the effects of question order in standardized assessments, which might not be directly applicable to all classroom settings. However, the findings suggest that question difficulty order can affect student performance and motivation, and that teachers should be mindful of this when designing assessments and structuring classroom activities.
