Conducting the Performance Test

DOE-STD-1012-92

Use the references and tools correctly and in the proper sequence?

Observe applicable facility safety rules when performing the task?

Manipulate the equipment in a deliberate and timely manner?

Recognize equipment status (such as, does he/she recognize when a valve is open or a

pump is running)?

Usually it is not enough for employees to only possess the skills to operate a tool, a

component, or a system. Knowledge of the underlying theory/principles of operation,

interactions with other systems, and what to do if the equipment or system doesn't operate

properly should also be required. To assess a trainees knowledge, the instructor must ask

questions to verify the trainee's understanding of the task; however, the instructor should not

ask questions to distract the trainee. All questions asked during a performance test should be

related to the task's terminal and enabling learning objectives. The instructor should start

with the easier questions that are associated with the task. This technique tends to build

confidence and puts the trainee at ease. The instructor may then progress to more

thought-provoking questions. The instructor may also ask the trainee to "talk through" the

task as he/she performs it. This technique significantly reduces the number of questions the

instructor needs to ask and has the added benefit of allowing the instructor to stop the trainee

before he/she makes a serious mistake. The questions used to assess a trainee's knowledge

may be written in the evaluation standard (preferred method) or generated by the instructor

during the performance test. If required by facility procedures or if compromise of the

questions written into the evaluation standard is a concern, approved questions may be

maintained in a question and answer bank and inserted into appropriate sections of the

evaluation standard prior to conducting a performance test.

Benefits of developing written questions for the instructor to ask as a part of the

performance test include standardizing the knowledge assessment portion of the performance

test, and minimizing the diversion of the instructors attention from the trainee's answer (the

instructor may be thinking about what to ask next while the trainee is answering the current

question). Wrong responses may then go unnoticed, thus reinforcing in the trainee's mind

that what he/she said was correct when, in fact, it was not. The questions asked during the

performance test should test understanding and judgment as well as factual knowledge.

If the evaluation standard was developed with detailed questions and answers built into

it, the instructor should be able to select appropriate questions to spot-check the trainee's

knowledge. Questions asked by the instructor during the performance test need not be

restricted to those stated verbatim in the evaluation standard. The instructor may rephrase or

expand them as appropriate. The instructor should also keep in mind that the trainee's

answer will usually not be a verbatim answer. The instructor should record on the