Summative assessment

Key points

• Assesses a student’s performance at the end of the teaching period.
• Provides a final grade for the that piece of work and that grade is often combined with others to produce a final grade for the student for that course.
• Feedback should be provided to the whole class summarising what was done well and what could be improved.
• Individualised feedback should be provided on request.

Summative assessment usually assesses a student’s performance at the end of the teaching period. It provides a final grade for the that piece of work and that grade is often combined with others to produce a final grade for the student for that course. Summative assessment should come with feedback to the whole class summarising what was done well and what could be improved and individual students should be able to get personalised feedback on their summative assessment if they request it.

Examples of summative assessment include: pieces of written work (essays, research pieces etc.), final exams and completed portfolios.