The usual plan is to
have frequent, very brief written examinations. Sometimes the practice
is to correct and return all the papers; sometimes to place them all
on file and correct samples chosen at random for determining the
student's "term mark." A plan that has some psychological merit is to
follow the examination immediately by a statement of the correct
answers, with brief discussion of difficulties that may arise, and to
ask each student to estimate the value of his own paper in the
standard marking system. The papers are then collected and examined,
and returned with the instructor's estimate.

Since an examination is, in effect, a form of psychological test, it
is natural that psychologists should have attempted to introduce some
of the technique of psychological testing into the work of examining
students, in the interest of economy of the student's time as well as
that of the examiner. The teacher prepares blanks which the student
can quickly fill out if he knows the subject, not otherwise. To
discover how far the student has attained a psychological point of
view, written work or examination questions often demand some
independence in the application to new cases of what has been learned.
Far-reaching tests of the later value to the student of a course in
psychology have not as yet been attempted.

=Place of psychology in the college course=

No attempt has yet been made to obtain the consensus of opinion among
psychologists as to whether the introductory course should be required
of all arts students, and probably opinions would differ, without
anything definitive to be said on either side. In quite a number of
colleges psychology forms part of a required general course in
philosophy. Where a separation has occurred between philosophy and
psychology, the latter is seldom absolutely required. As a general
rule, however, the introductory course, even if not required, is taken
by a large share of the arts students. The traditional position for
the course in psychology is late in the college curriculum, originally
in the senior but more recently in the junior year. In many of the
larger colleges it is now open to sophomores or even to freshmen. One
motive for pushing the introductory course back into the earlier years
is naturally to provide for more advanced courses in the subject; and
another is the desire to make psychology prerequisite for courses in
philosophy, education, or sociology. Still another moti