How do I design exams?

Examinations should generally be designed to assess the competencies (learning outcomes) acquired by students. This requires the competencies to be formulated in a way that makes them observable, measurable, and verifiable. Depending on the competency acquired by students, some examination formats are better suited than others, as shown in the figure below. For example, it is only rarely, and only in well-justified cases, possible to assess and verify social and communicative competencies in a written examination.

This list of possible examination formats according to the competencies imparted can also be found in the appendix to the Constructive Alignments guide. An overview of different examination formats and suggestions for designing examinations can be found inHTW Berlin's examination finder.