By Anthony R. Zara, Director of Special Projects at the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. Basically, tests are administered to provide a common set of information about examinees that is comparable across examinees and can be used as a basis for decision-making.
Tests obtain data about people in a neutral way.
The objective information about the examinees gained through testing provides a fair and impartial basis for decision-making. The production of accurate objective data depends on the proper design and functioning of an appropriate measurement system which is basic to the testing program. The end product of the measurement system is information which takes the form of test scores. The test score is an indication of the amount of the measured trait that the examinee possesses. Number-correct scores are determined by simply summing the number of questions that examinees answer correctly.