With over 150 courses completed, I've likely taken more tests and exams than most. Perhaps I was burnt out on testing because when I first started my teaching career, I made it a point to be anti-test and pro-projects. I considered projects to be more aligned with real-world scenarios, focusing less on memory and more on refining practical skills.

In my industry experience, apart from mandatory corporate education for liability-reduction purposes, I cannot recall being tested on the products or services I’ve worked on. I’ve learned everything through collaborative projects with colleagues and clients.

However, a few years ago, my team collaborated on an educational initiative with a large global company that fundamentally values education. They had a vast portfolio of products and struggled to determine where to begin with their curriculum. During a brainstorming session, we had a breakthrough idea: start with a test to evaluate the salesforce's product knowledge.

After strategically developing the exam in collaboration with product and brand leaders, we deployed it globally, resulting in over 1,000 completions from sales and marketing associates. The outcome was fascinating—the average score was 30%, a solid F.

This humbling experience underscored the need for a comprehensive curriculum and attracted more managers who self-elected to participate in the development process. We analyzed the exam results, identifying connections between associate responsibilities, product attributes, and service features.

This analysis established a baseline understanding of the company, driving the development of our first educational module aimed at correcting major disconnects, misconceptions, and knowledge gaps. We refined this module to take less than 20 minutes to complete.

Upon retesting the associates after their completion of the module, we saw a significant increase in scores from 30% to 80%. This success led us to develop a series of modules progressing from common to specialized training, with scores improving alongside education.

This experience transformed my approach to teaching. While projects remain central to my classes, I now incorporate testing as a critical component of the learning process. Testing offers two major benefits: students immediately understand what they know and what they don't, and as a teacher or team manager, I gain insights into my performance and where to pivot my efforts to ensure my students are positioned to excel.

Today, we are bombarded with artificial intelligence products and services designed to boost productivity and efficiency. While these tools are valuable, they are most effective when there is a strong baseline understanding of your subject matter. It has never been more important to focus on real intelligence—understanding where your team stands and how well you’re performing to ensure that both your team and the clients they educate achieve A-level success.

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