Formative assessment is characterized by

• A. Takes place during learning and is used to plan or modify instruction
• B. Is administered at the end of a course
• C. Measures long-term achievement compared to norms
• D. Predicts future performance on unrelated tasks

Answer: (A)

Ongoing checks of what students know and can do during learning are used to tailor instruction on the fly. This is formative assessment. It provides immediate information about misunderstandings or gaps so you can adjust the teaching, materials, prompts, or supports to help learners move forward. The goal is to guide next steps and improve learning as it happens, not to assign a final grade.

End-of-instruction testing describes summative assessment, standardized norms describe norm-referenced testing, and predicting performance on unrelated tasks isn’t the aim of formative checks.