Formative and summative assessment

Formative assessment: Assessment with a developmental purpose, designed to help learners learn more effectively by giving them feedback on their performance and how it can be improved and/or maintained. Reflective practice by students sometimes contributes to formative assessment.

Summative assessment: Used to indicate the extent of a learner’s success in meeting the assessment criteria to gauge the intended learning outcomes of a module or course. Typically, within summative assessment, the marks awarded count towards the final mark of the course/module/award.

(QAA, 2018,p.1)

Reference

QAA. (2018). UK quality code for higher education – Advice and guidance: Assessment. https://www.qaa.ac.uk//en/the-quality-code/advice-and-guidance/assessment