With greater variety in the U.S. population, tests are only going to grow in importance as ways of making potentially better decisions. In my opinion you might as well understand how to judge the quality of the evaluations you will be experiencing. We cover the statistics in the first part of the course. I generally try to cover early in the term the things that many students find stressful and save what is generally perceived as the most fun for last. Yes, no, and it depends.
Tests are very common.
This class should help you improve your use of the ordinary ones, or at least know when they are fluff. I'll give you examples of those when the time comes. Administration of those requires graduate training. Following are their answers, unedited, but arranged by topic. Each bullet indicates a separate student.