The revolution of Computers and the ICT has influenced virtually every sector of our lives; from business to education and development value chain is among the most impacted sectors. Training, learning, and assessments have been significantly influenced by this revolution, birthing and growing new methods and tools for the empowerment of humans.
This revolution, which can be also be referred to as the e-revolution has made everything be done with a computer, and schools shouldn’t be left out, using a Computer-Based Test, also known as CBT, eliminates the inconveniences that come with Paper-Pencil Tests, also known as PPT. For example, activities like preparing and printing exam question papers, evaluating the scores manually, grading the results of each student, and so on.
In this article, we will discuss the differences, challenges and benefits between the PPT and CBT systems and why your school may need to adopt a CBT system for your exams and tests.
PPT Exams Vs CBT Exams
PPT Exams
The Paper-Pencil Test refers to a type of assessment in which students read the questions and respond in writing or shading. Being an exam where students are presented with question papers to be answered on answer sheets by writing or shading the correct answers. Students are expected to be in the exam hall prepared with their writing materials.
Also, it takes place in a physical environment which comes with its own challenges. The chairs, light, and proximity to other students can bring discomfort to students. This may not seem much, but shifting positions because of the chair, a student tapping his/her pen, the presence of the teacher invigilating can take away focus from the students and hinder their creative flow when taking the exam.
Testing and assessment delivery can be a very tedious process especially in terms of administration in the PPT exam system. However, there are test and assessment scenarios, which are more seamless via PPT such as:
- Essay-based tests to assess the writing abilities of the students.
- Verbal tests to assess students’ speech, pronunciation, and reasoning.
CBT Exams
The Computer-Based Test refers to tests and assessments conducted through the use of organized systems on computers. With the ability to automate a time-consuming task like marking and monitoring progress. Students can use computer-based tests to know their progress through self-assessment. It’s a great way of testing lower-order skills like knowledge, understanding, and application of what a student has learned. Also, it can be used to improve students’ analysis and evaluation skills with computer application software.
Why Your Schools Needs a CBT Exam System
From consulting exams to delivering results, CBT has made the examination process much easier than ever. This type of exam offers great benefits to school management and teachers in the areas of administration, grading, and scaling up the process. Therefore, your school will benefit more from a CBT exam system than the PPT exam system.
Let’s consider the benefits of using a CBT exam system:
Saves money, time, and human resources
It offers automated administrative processes making it easy and faster for schools to deliver, mark, release results, and track performance. This creates time for your teachers to focus on more productive work than spend it preparing exam questions. Also, you don’t need to money spend on typing and printing exam questions.
Faster scoring with automatic grading
CBT eliminates human error that can happen and remove the evaluation workload off your teachers. Also, understand that answers to questions can easily be auto-graded, which saves time in evaluating a large number of answer sheets.
Quick and easy access to results
A CBT exam system will help your students assess their grades to know their performance. This can guide them to know where they need to improve and work on it.
What Can You Do With Gradely CBT
As I write this article, Gradely is already preparing to help schools carry out efficient examinations through Computer Based Tests (CBT). Using Gradely offers you the chance to:
- Conduct auto-graded CBT exams in various formats (essay, short answer & objectives) without cheating.
- Create exam questions in minutes with a content pool of over 50k+ curriculum-based questions.
- Give free digital devices to all your students.
- Generate a variety of personalized report cards in one click.
- Access hundreds of practice and video lesson resources for free to support students learning during the holiday.
Your school can save money, time, and precious manpower by adopting CBT on Gradely for as low as N1,000. If you think this is something your school will be interested in, I would love to show you exactly what CBT on Gradely looks like. Let me walk you through it.
Setting Up a CBT Exam on Gradely
I’m also super excited to also show you how a teacher generates their end-of-term report card in one simple click.
If this interests you at all, fill this form to get started.
Share Post:
Eniola Makinde
Get our latest articles in your inbox. Sign up for email alerts.
