Assessment tools are the documents you use to assess a person's competence. They include:

• instructions you give to the candidate
  
  
• the set of questions you ask, either verbally, or in the form of a written test
  
  
• a checklist of the performance criteria, or demonstration requirements
  
  
• assignments or projects you set
  
  
• a description of what a competent performance should show.

Using good quality written assessment tools helps you to ensure that nothing important is left out of the assessment activity. It also allows different assessors to use the same tools, which makes the assessment process more consistent between assessors and the outcomes more reliable.

We'll talk more about the structure of assessment tools, and the difference between assessment 'tools' and assessment 'instruments' in the next chapter - Developing assessment tools.