How would you like to be assessed? The correlates of students’ preferences for assessment methods.

This study is concerned with individual correlates of students’ preferences for different examination methods. The aim was to examine the incremental validity of learning approaches, intelligence and personality (Big Five traits) in predicting the preferences for six different assessment methods. Four hundred and ten British students from three British Universities completed a general intelligence test, a personality test, a measure on their Approach to Learning and a university assessment-method preference test that specified six different methods. Students favoured Multiple Choice and Continuous Assessment most, and Oral and Group Work least. Deep learning style and Openness to Experience were the most consistent predictors of assessment preferences. The three sets of measures accounted for between 9% and 29% of the variance in preferences for different methods. Specific learning approaches and personality traits, but not intelligence are clearly linked to preferences for assessment.