Weekly test
Students stay on track and check their understanding of the current content with a brief weekly (digital) test, which can be formative, pass/fail, or count partly towards the final grade.
Teaching complexity
You monitor ongoing assessment rather than a one-off exam. The main challenge is to set up a reliable testing routine and then use the results flexibly to adjust teaching, while keeping expectations and stakes clear for students.
Why it works
Students often postpone serious studying until just before the final exam, which limits practice and hides problems until it is too late. Weekly tests create a regular study rhythm, give students timely feedback on their progress, and provide you with a clear picture of where the cohort is struggling or advancing quickly. The aim is to keep students engaged with the content throughout the course and to track their progress so you can adjust teaching and support where needed.
Five step plan
- Plan and outline content: Divide your course into clear units (e.g. per week or topic) and decide what each weekly test should cover and at what difficulty level.
- Create weekly tests: For each unit, design a short test that mirrors exam-style questions and level. Consider using digital tools such as Canvas or Sowiso for randomisation and automatic feedback/grading, and have a colleague review your tests. This step takes time and effort that will pay off if the tests can be re-used in the next iterations of our course.
- Pilot the test: Run trial attempts in your chosen system to check timing, question behaviour, and scoring. If you work with TAs, brief them clearly and let them take the tests as a dry run.
- Inform and prepare the students: Publish the tests and explain in the study guide and in class how often they occur, deadlines, format, weighting (formative, pass/fail, graded), and what happens if a test is missed.
- Run, monitor, and adjust: Set a strict availability window and completion time so they function as a true quick-check with a deadline. Track participation and scores during the course so you can identify topics needing more or less attention and adjust your teaching accordingly.
Formative: Tests are optional or mandatory, but not graded. They serve as self-assessment for the students and just-in-time information for the lecturer. For inspiration, also see this best practice story.
Summative pass/fail: No grade, but students have to pass the test with a certain score (or a percentage of them).
Summative graded: All weekly tests together account for a small percentage of the final grade. If a student misses 1 or 2 tests for certain reasons, they score less, but not all is lost. A score can be automatically transferred to Canvas.
At home or any set up.
- Decide whether the tests are mandatory, bonus, homework, or in-class, and align this choice with your intended learning outcomes and cohort size.
- For in-class assessment or use, set a strict availability window and completion time so they function as a true quick-check, not an open-ended homework task.
- Adjust the rhythm (weekly, bi-weekly, per topic, or per lecture) to fit your course structure. It doesn’t have to be weekly.
- When using a pass/fail model, choose clear retake rules and consequences for not meeting requirements.
Key advice
Invest once in building good-quality, parameterised tests (e.g. in Sowiso), and you will have a durable bank of varied questions you can reuse and adapt in future courses.