Nordic research on organisation and implementation of exams and final assessments – a systematic scoping review

This article is a systematic scoping review of research literature on organisation and implementation of final assessments or examinations in the Nordic countries. We identified 4,068 research contributions through systematic and strategic literature searches. A total of 58 studies were included in the review, of which 16 were assessed as being of high relevance to our research question. The remaining 42 studies were related to the topic but did not directly address the core research question: organisation or implementation of final assessments as such. This illustrates one of the main findings of the project: that most studies use assessments only as an outcome measure, rather than focusing on how the assessment system is organised. This has led to knowledge gaps linked to a system perspective on examinations and final assessments, particularly those with a comparative approach. Additionally, there has been limited research on how students perceive and experience final assessments.