Frequency of Testing in Criterion-Based Learning

Abstract

174 students completed a criterion-based General Psychology course identical to Cone's 1988 course except for the testing scheme used for each of the four sections. Infrequent (three-chapter) testing was so inferior to daily (one-half chapter) testing that it was abandoned. Daily tests served the dual purpose of formative or summative evaluations in which daily mastery produced free cuts while nonmastery could be redeemed by two- to four-chapter summative examinations. This led to an average performance by A students equal to that for senior psychology majors who score at the 42nd percentile on a nationally standardized senior exit examination in psychology.