title: Impression formation of tests: retrospective judgments of performance are higher when easier questions come first.
abstract: Four experiments are reported on the importance of retrospective judgments of performance (postdictions) on tests. Participants answered general knowledge questions and estimated how many questions they answered correctly. They gave higher postdictions when easy questions preceded difficult questions. This was true when time to answer each question was equalized and constrained, when participants were instructed not to write answers, and when questions were presented in a multiple-choice format. Results are consistent with the notion that first impressions predominate in overall perception of test difficulty.
authors: Department of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA, abigail.jackson@case.edu.
authors: Abigail
authors: A
authors: Jackson
authors: Robert L
authors: RL
authors: Greene
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult