Does Changing the Method of Assessment of a Module Improve the Performance of a Student?

This paper assesses the impact of changing the mode of in-course assessment on the performance of a student in the end of semester examination. A comparison was made between the performance of students of a level 1 accounting module in the 1997 and 1998 examination. Different in-course assessments had been provided to each cohort of students. One of these was formative and provided students with feedback prior to the end assessment. This enabled students to remedy any learning deficiencies prior to the examination. The other provided no chance to consolidate knowledge during the learning period, nor did it provide timely feedback to students. The results seem to suggest that changing the mode of assessment can affect the performance of students. However, care must be taken in evaluating the results as other factors such as motivation and academic ability could impinge on this data.