• Choosing a feasible assessment tool is one of the most difficult decisions to make. The success of any assessment depends on finding a suitable balance between validity and reliability and between the ideal and the practical. 
  • Validity is never assumed. It uses theory, logic and scientific methods to collect and assemble data to support or fail to support proposed score interpretations at a given point in time. Though not always practical, one must gather as much relevant evidence as is feasible with the constraints of the situation. We should also look for various types of evidence when evaluating standardized tests 
  • A reliable test result is a prerequisite to a valid test result. One can have a reliable test score that is not valid, but one cannot have a valid test result that is not reliable. 
  • Whether an assessment tool is valid or not depends on the purpose for which it is used. 
  • It is always a challenge to identify the right methods to assess the different levels of competence which are not only able to assess the examinees in all the domains but have good psychometric properties so to say that they are valid and reliable. 
  • Assessment deserves as much attention, patience and thought as any other research