difference between evaluation and examination
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Definition of Evaluation
The term ‘evaluation’ is derived from the word ‘value’ which refers to ‘usefulness of something’. Therefore, evaluation is an examination of something to measure its utility.
Simply put, evaluation is a systematic and objective process of measuring or observing someone or something, with an aim of drawing conclusions, using criteria, usually governed by set standards or by making a comparison. It gauges the performance of a person, completed project, process or product, to determine its worth or significance.
Definition of Assessment
Assessment is defined as a methodical way of acquiring, reviewing and using information about someone or something, so as to make improvement where necessary. The term is interpreted in a variety of ways, i.e. educational, psychological, financial, taxation, human resource and so on.
The process aims at determining the effectiveness of the overall performance of the assessee and the areas of improvement. The process involves, setting up goals, collecting information (qualitative and quantitative) and using the information for increasing quality.
Examination vs Evaluation – What’s the difference?
As nouns the difference between examination and evaluation
is that examination is the act of examining while evaluation is an assessment, such as an annual personnel performance review used as the basis for a salary increase or bonus, or a summary of a particular situation.


Examination:
Noun
(en noun)
- The act of examining.
- * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Welcome to the plastisphere
, passage=[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, […].}}
- Particularly, an inspection by a medical professional to establish the extent and nature of any sickness or injury.
- A formal test involving answering written or oral questions with no or limited access to text books or the like.
Derived terms
* * bar examination * clinical examination * cross-examination * cross examination * direct examination * exam * examination-in-chief * final examination * physical examination * re-examination * self-examination
Related terms
* examine
Noun
(wikipedia evaluation) (en noun)
- An assessment, such as an annual personnel performance review used as the basis for a salary increase or bonus, or a summary of a particular situation.
- (mathematics) A completion of a mathematical operation; a valuation.
- (computing, programming) Determination of the value of a variable or expression.
Derived terms
also
Assessment
In the last sharing session on 13 November 2020, ACER Indonesia with the Indonesian Educational Evaluation Association (HEPI) and Indonesian Psychometric Association (APSIMETRI) raise the phenomena where the term of examination, evaluation, testing, and assessment are used interchangeably not only by the public but even among educators and practitioners. And once the answer is clear on whether they really are interchangeable or not, a no less important question is; why does it matter for us to know the difference?
Some important points discussed in the session were the terminology of the words themselves, their characteristics, purpose, shared similarities, and differences. The first speaker, Bahrul Hayat, PhD commenced the session by giving a background about how these words are not exclusively used in the education sector only, but also in a lot of other contexts, such as how the medical sector was using the word ‘examination’ for their need. He continued after, stating that in his session in this online event, he will talk based on his view on the many kinds of literature about assessments, examination, and evaluation from the last couple of decades and that any discussion will revolve only around the words in its educational term.
Evaluation
Mr Bahrul chronologically describes the emergence and development of the three terms, starts with evaluation, which crops up along with the birth of science at the end of the 19th century. From the formalisation of the term evaluation by Edward Thorndike to John Dewey’s need for evaluation towards formal education in America and Ralph Taylor’s thoughts on educational objectives and educational evaluation in his book, Curriculum and Instruction (1949).
. And to collect the data that can back up the fulfilment of those objectives, (educational) evaluation is the term that is used. Throughout the 50s—80s, the term evaluation refers to two meanings, both within an individual’s or student’s learning outcomes and within an educational program.
Examination
Up until now, evaluation stays as the measurement of program/policy in the level of division to national/systematic, and only in the 90s did assessment become used in Indonesia, particularly for collecting data about individual learning outcomes, although in itself it carries a far wider meaning than that. Lastly, examination serves a very specific meaning or objective, which in itself is a subset of today’s understanding about assessment; with condition that in an examination, the result of the assessment is utilised to create decisive output such as promotion, admission, or certification.
=A passed/failed decision is an integral part when one talks about the examination. Nowadays, “assessment” is widely used to map the progress and competence of an individual or system towards a (learning) program. PISA is the most famous example of an assessment at a systemic level.
Talking from the viewpoint of a government official, Profesor Ali Saukah noted how the usage of these terms throughout the regulations in the paper is not yet consistent and how he wishes for a widely accepted and attested set of terms and its proper definition for everyone, especially those who are working in the education sector or academics, to always refer to.


Evaluation:
Professor Ali suggested an easy way to differ the terms assessment and evaluation is how each of them treats and use their result summary. Both use data collection and get the result through a process of analysis.
So are they interchangeable? Both speakers agree that looking at their differences in characteristics, they are not substitutable. There is a need to create a glossary where each term can be further explained formally, for each term serves a contrastingly different purpose and is equally vital to inform us about the suitability of the effort we put in any work and the outcome we gain from it.
Difference Between Assessment and Evaluation
Assessment is defined as a process of appraising something or someone, i.e. the act of gauging the quality, value or importance. As against, evaluation focuses on making a judgment about values, numbers or performance of someone or something. Assessment is made to identify the level of performance of an individual, whereas evaluation is performed to determine the degree to which goals are attained.
The basic difference between assessment and evaluation lies in the orientation, i.e. while the assessment is process oriented, evaluation is product oriented. The article presented to you describes all the distinguishing points between these two.
The similarities between examinations and assessments
- Over the course of a person’s life, different forms of formal and informal assessments and examinations have been conducted.
- Taking exams and assessing students helps measure their knowledge, skills, and competence.
- Tests and evaluations of candidates are carried out by examinations and assessments, respectively.
Conclusion
A main difference between an examination and an assessment is that an examination is an evaluation that educators or examiners conduct at the end of a given teaching and learning process, while educators conduct assessments throughout the teaching and learning process as well as at the end. As a result, grading and scoring in assessments are more useful to educators than grades and scores given in examinations.
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