Self-assessment in Mathematics

Orientation and Coaching for Students (SoC) wishes, as part of its guidance activities, to offer a self-assessment test in mathematics to give those interested in entering a degree programme in Mathematics an idea of the level of expertise expected at ETH Zurich. The project involves the development of an adaptive and discipline-specific test (list of questions), development of targeted feedback (comparison with peers, individual gaps) and an investigation of the test’s diagnostic efficacy (with subsequent adjustments to list and feedback).

A variation of the test will also be implemented as a filter in ETHZ entrance tests, in order to re-duce the large number of candidates without a chance and the associated administrative and personnel investment on the part of the Study Administration Office.

• Tool can be deployed flexibly
• Addresses an oft-heard need
• Relevance of the collected data

The potential to link pretests for ETH entry tests and self-assessment tests for interested per-sons with direct feedback and guidance in this way is new.

In an interactive and personalized form, the test could become even more attractive. In this way, a more targeted data evaluation could also be aimed for.

The feedback was consistently positive.
Basically, the students appreciate instruments for self-assessment. There were isolated requests to offer the test earlier. This is now happening as part of the bridge course.

In the literature, prior knowledge, self-assessment and individual, direct feedback were considered important factors for learning success. Since the project was set up to be quite manageable, no challenges had arisen and no problems had to be solved.