Opportunity Makes a Cheat? - The Effect of Invigilation on the Results of a Mathematics Basic Skills Test

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to examine how non-invigilated and invigilatedtesting conditions affect the results of a basic mathematics skills test of first-yearengineering students in the Finnish education system. We also examine which subjectareas of invigilated testing particularly affect the results. The data used in the studyconsists of tests organised at two Finnish universities in 2023 and 2024.The mean test result is significantly higher in the non-invigilated test than in theinvigilated test, both done electronically. The difference in points between the testswas statistically significant in all other questions except for the tasks related todifferentiation, and the conceptual understanding of inverse and reciprocal. The mostsignificant decrease in invigilated test points was in the most difficult but easilycheatable tasks related to solving equations, especially trigonometric and exponentialequations, and in a task that required calculating a definite integral.