Definition
A method of grading written tests in which student responses are read and scored by an automated device or computer rather than by a human grader. Machine scoring is practical only with selection-type test items (such as multiple-choice, true/false, or matching), where each answer is a fixed choice that can be matched against a key.
Plain English
Letting a machine, instead of a person, mark the test. It works because the answers are pre-set choices, so the machine just checks each one against the correct answer.
Context Anchor
Seen in the Aviation Instructor’s Handbook when discussing written test questions that have fixed answer choices and can be graded automatically.
Why Pilots Care
Enables fast, consistent, and unbiased results on standardized knowledge tests so pilots receive scores without waiting for manual review.
Intuition Check
Machine scoring does not mean the machine decides whether a student’s explanation is good. It means the answer format is fixed enough for a machine to compare the student’s answer with an answer key.
Example Sentence 1
Because the knowledge test uses multiple-choice questions, it is suited to machine scoring.
Example Sentence 2
Selection-type questions work well with machine scoring because each answer is either correct or incorrect with no partial credit.