The bible records an early example of testing in a one-item test that was administered. It had very high stakes, and no validity or reliability studies were reported in support of its conclusions. The author of Judges did not record what proportion of those slain were, in fact, Ephraimites, and how many were unfortunate Gileadites with a speech impediment. Happily the science of testing has advanced considerably in the three thousand odd years since Jephthah's struggle with Ephraim.

Yet, we can see that the idea of a test with associated consequences is a very old one indeed. In the more than three millennia since it is not surprising that there have been modifications in, and improvements to, the practice of testing, the theory of testing, and the ethics of testing. But the soul of the idea has remained the same. In this monograph, we have tried to inch this ancient art a wee bit further forward.