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ERIC Number: EJ1153233
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0260-2938
EISSN: N/A
Resitting or Compensating a Failed Examination: Does It Affect Subsequent Results?
Arnold, Ivo
Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, v42 n7 p1103-1117 2017
Institutions of higher education commonly employ a conjunctive standard setting strategy, which requires students to resit failed examinations until they pass all tests. An alternative strategy allows students to compensate a failing grade with other test results. This paper uses regression discontinuity design to compare the effect of first-year resits and compensations on second-year study results. We select students with a similar level of knowledge in a first-year introductory course and estimate the treatment effect of a resit on the result for a second-year intermediate course in the same subject. We find that the treatment effect is positive, but insignificantly different from zero. Additional results show that students' overall second-year performance is insignificantly related to the number of compensated failing grades in their first year. The number of attempts that students need to complete their first year does not have a significant positive effect on second-year performance. We conclude that the evidence for a positive effect of resits on learning is weak at best.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Netherlands
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A