Retest
Overview
Retest (재시험; retest/reexamination) is an additional examination conducted to reevaluate achievement for examinees who did not reach a certain standard on the initial examination or for whom special circumstances such as absence or cheating occurred. It is mainly used in educational settings as a supplementary assessment means to address learning deficits and give students an opportunity for reevaluation, and in authorized assessments such as certifications, licenses, and employment, it is operated as a system that gives limited retake opportunities to those who failed or were absent. Retests simultaneously pursue the educational purpose of remedying learners' mistakes or unavoidable circumstances while maintaining fairness and equity in assessment.
Main Content
Concept and Purpose
The core purpose of a retest lies in the remediation of assessment and the guarantee of learning opportunities. It starts from the awareness that it is difficult to conclude learning outcomes from a one-time result on the initial examination, and especially as the formative assessment-centered view of education has spread, retests have increasingly been recognized as an opportunity for growth rather than as a stigma. Through a retest, students secure time to make up for deficient areas, and instructors can diagnose learning deficits and obtain feedback data to improve teaching methods.
Types and Operation
- Supplementary retest: A method of reevaluating those who failed a regular examination (below the passing threshold), commonly found in university course retake/retest systems and high school school-record supplementary tests.
- Absence retest: When an examinee could not take the examination for unavoidable reasons such as illness, accident, or the death of the examinee or a family member, the retest is conducted on a separate schedule.
- Qualification retest: A system that allows failed candidates to retake after a certain period in national technical qualifications, driver's licenses, civil service recruitment, and similar examinations, with differences by examination in the number of attempts or the waiting period.
- Alternative assessment: When a retest is impossible, a widely used method is to substitute assignments, reports, oral assessments, or similar evaluations.
Retests often stipulate eligibility requirements (attendance rate, proof of the reason for absence, etc.) together with grade caps (e.g., recognition only up to a maximum of a B or 80% of full marks). This is a device to prevent abuse of the retest system from causing grade inflation or lowering assessment reliability.
Advantages, Disadvantages, and Issues
Retests are positive in that they provide learning opportunities and prevent academic interruption due to failure. On the other hand, major issues include lack of learning in anticipation of a retest (moral hazard), fairness of difficulty between examinations, increased assessment workload for teachers, and the burden of retest costs. In addition, how retest grades should be calculated (reflecting raw scores, applying caps, reflecting averages, etc.) differs by school or institution, which can raise fairness controversies. Accordingly, many institutions specify retest regulations in school rules or assessment management guidelines and require prior notification to students.
Legal and Institutional Aspects
Retests for authorized qualification examinations are operated according to relevant laws, enforcement decrees, and the internal regulations of examination administering institutions. For example, national technical qualification examinations allow retaking without separate restriction upon failure, while some professional qualification examinations impose limits on the number of attempts or waiting periods. In schools, academic grade management regulations stipulate the subjects, procedures, and grade handling methods for retests, which are directly connected to the reliability of curriculum assessment.
Recent Trends
In 2024–2025, fairness management of retests emerged as a key issue in the remote class and online assessment environments that spread after COVID-19. Some universities and edtech companies are introducing 'adaptive reevaluation' systems that use AI-based learning management systems (LMS) to analyze individual wrong-answer data and automatically generate customized retests for weak areas. In addition, with the advent of generative AI, moves to strengthen cheating detection during examinations and criteria for retest decisions have spread, and cases are increasing in which proof requirements for retest reasons are made stricter or oral and practical alternative assessments are combined. Meanwhile, in the formative assessment-centered education reform trend, the perception that 'a retest is an opportunity for learning, not a punishment' is expanding, and some schools are abolishing grade caps or allowing multiple retest opportunities. In the qualification examination field, along with the expansion of examination opportunities, the year-round operation of annual examination schedules (rolling applications) is progressing.
Related Topics
- [[형성평가|Formative assessment]]
- [[학업성적관리규정|Academic grade management regulations]]
- [[자격증 시험|Qualification examination]]
- [[평가 공정성|Assessment fairness]]
- [[재수강|Course retake]]