Diagnostic Assessment takes place at the very beginning of a lesson or educational activity. It is conducted for the purpose of inquiring about the ability and capacity of students for a particular lesson or educational activity. It is mainly for the guidance of a teacher. It tells the teacher whether his students are capable of learning the intended lesson or activity or not. It assists the teacher in understanding the current learning/skills position of his students. It provides him a starting point for his lesson. It enables him to choose the right instructional strategy for a particular lesson or educational activity. Pretests on skills and contents, brief discussion with the students on the intended topic or activity, short interview of the students by the teacher before the commencement of a lesson or educational activity, are the main forms of diagnostic assessment. Though diagnostic assessment is not a precondition for the promotion and grading of students, yet it helps a teacher a lot in planning his lesson before actually engaging his students in the learning process. In short, the concept of diagnostic assessment, in education, can better be understood by analogy with medical assessment, in which a doctor first examines the patient carefully, takes his necessary tests and then prescribes him medicines accordingly. The other two types of assessment are:
Formative Assessment
Summative Assessment
Formative Assessment
Summative Assessment
