Plain English Meaning

A stored library of ready-to-use test questions that an instructor can pull from when putting a test together.

Full Definition

A collection of reviewed, pre-written test questions, organized by topic and learning objective, from which an instructor selects items to build a specific test.

Context Anchor

Used by aviation instructors when planning training, checking student progress, and building fair evaluations from course material.

Derivation

Bank here means a stored reserve to draw from, the same sense used in 'blood bank' or 'memory bank.' The word came from Old Italian banca, a money-changer's bench, and over time came to mean any held supply. A test item bank is simply a held supply of test items.

Why Pilots Care

Knowing how test banks helps a student understand why two pilots taking the 'same' written exam may see different questions, and why test prep that drills only one set of questions can leave gaps.