Abstract
A common part of the graduation exam in chemistry at high schools had been planned for many years in the Czech Republic. As part of this there was an extensive testing of high school students in all areas of high school chemistry.
In 2011 and 2012 the only two years of the common part of the graduation exam in chemistry were carried out. Testing was limited to graduates of students, who were intensely devoted to chemistry and mostly needed it for further studies.
Based on these two years, the results of graduates were evaluated in various fields of high school chemistry, in different types of test items and in complexes of test items focusing on the knowledge of chemistry, the application of knowledge of chemistry and work with information in test items. After 2012 the state graduation exam in chemistry was cancelled.
We decided to continue with testing of chemistry education at high schools. We created an achievement test of 25 test items.
The distribution of the number of test items was based on an analysis of the educational curriculum for high schools according to the number of lessons in each field of chemistry. The test items were created according to the basic principles of testology or selected from various publications.
The test was designed to allow a comparison of success rate in various fields of chemistry and complexes of test items focusing on knowledge obtained in chemistry. The whole achievement test is designed for students who have already completed their studies in all fields of chemistry and for high school graduates.
Based on this testing procedure we can easily compare how students retain the knowledge acquired in the previous studies. The results of this research could us help determine: specific educational tasks in chemistry on which it is good to focus, which competence in chemistry education should be strengthened or which types of test items in chemistry require more work.