Self-Assessment Method Checklist

The problem with testing yourself is that you are also the examiner, and the examiner wants to pass. Every item here guards against a specific way people flatter themselves.

Subject: _______________ Date: _______

1. Before#

• [ ] I will answer before reading the answer. Out loud or written, not "in my head"
• [ ] I am not looking anything up mid-question
• [ ] I have accepted in advance that a low score is useful information

Reading a question and then reading its answer feels like learning and produces almost none. The retrieval effort is the mechanism: the moment of struggling to recall is what strengthens recall.

2. Answering#

• [ ] Answer stated before revealing the answer, every time
• [ ] Written or spoken, not merely recognised
• [ ] Where uncertain, I noted the uncertainty before checking
• [ ] I did not skip questions I felt I "basically knew"

The questions you feel you basically know are exactly where the gap between recognition and recall lives. Answer them properly.

3. Scoring honestly#

• [ ] The hesitations count as gaps, not as passes
• [ ] I did not upgrade a partially-right answer to correct
• [ ] I noted why each wrong answer was wrong

Hesitation is the single most useful signal in a self-test. A fact you recall slowly under no pressure is a fact you will not recall at all during an incident.

4. What to do with the result#

• [ ] For each gap, I read the underlying material rather than memorising the answer
• [ ] I identified whether the gap was a fact or a misconception
• [ ] Misconceptions get priority, a wrong belief is worse than a missing fact
• [ ] I noted anything to practise rather than read

Facts to review: _______________ Misconceptions to correct: _______________ Things to practise rather than read: _______________

5. Spacing#

• [ ] I will re-test in about a week, not tomorrow
• [ ] The re-test is on the gaps, plus a sample of what I got right
• [ ] I am not re-testing immediately after reading the answers

Re-testing immediately measures short-term memory. Leaving a gap of days and then failing is the honest result, and it is the one worth acting on.

Include some questions you got right: a "correct" answer that has decayed in a week is the most common surprise.

6. What this cannot tell you#

Be clear about the boundary:

• [ ] I understand this measures recall of things somebody wrote down
• [ ] It does not measure whether I can build a working system
• [ ] It does not measure design judgement, or holding a position in an argument
• [ ] It does not measure operating something under pressure

A high score is evidence of careful reading and nothing more. Capability is measured by Projects and by having shipped things.

7. Close#

The last row is the important one. If a self-test does not send you to build or read something specific, it was a quiz rather than an assessment.

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