Standardization

Consistency and objectivity of how tests are administered and scored. In order to compare one person to another on a test, it is important that they take the test under the same conditions and the same scoring procedure is applied to both. For example, suppose one person took a math test in a thunderstorm and the other in a silent proof room. Based on the test scores, could we really say who was better in math? Or is it fairer to say that the thunderstorm condition confounded that person's score? Let us further say that we applied different scoring criteria to each of the test takers. Could we still say who was better in math? This is way standardization is so important in testing.