A: There is not a way for students to see the correct answer and rationale on the Computer Adaptive Testing when they finish a test. There are two reasons why we do not allow students to have access to this feedback. The first is that the CAT draws from the same question bank as the linear test generator does. If they were allowed to review their CAT results they would know the answer to every question you could ever give them in class without having to actually study the material.

The second reason is that we feel a student benefits more from knowing the objectives of questions they’re answering incorrectly, than from knowing the question and the correct answer. This makes the student have to go back over the material, study their textbooks/notes, and figure out what areas they may be lacking competency in. Although giving the students the correct answers would help them perform better on their CATs, the questions they get in the CAT are not the same questions they will be seeing on the National Registry. We do not want any student to try and memorize answers to questions they won’t be tested on.

Far better that they know the objective that their question was based on, as this will help them get any questions relating to it correct on their next CAT, as well as, answering questions in similar areas when taking the National Registry itself.

Now, with that being said, there is a way for students to see the questions they were asked on a Computer Adaptive Test as well as the possible answers, the correct answer, and the annotation, but it requires the involvement of their instructor.

When a student is answering CAT questions, below the question there is a button called “Submit Feedback”. If a student clicks that button, enters their feedback, and then selects “Send Feedback”, it will send a message in the system, and an email to the instructor as well as the author of the question. The email will include the question the student submitted feedback on, the possible answers, the correct answer, the annotation for the question, as well as whatever feedback the student left.

As the instructor, you now have the ability to share that information with the student, and hopefully discover the areas where the student was having difficulties.

WARNING: Some instructors in the past have mentioned this feature to students, and suggested that they “Submit Feedback” for any questions that they are not sure of. Depending on the class, on occasion the instructor will find that each student will just “Submit Feedback” for every single question. This action can result in an instructor coming into class the next day to 500 new emails from students, with each student expecting an individual response.