Abstract: Highly theoretical and ideological, basic university liberal art subjects usually test the students in the form of summative assessment, i.e. the students are evaluated through final examinations. Due to emergence of the concept of processive learning, an increasing number of teachers now adopt the form of formative assessment instead. Practical effect shows, however, a combination of both forms can better suit characteristics of liberal art subjects. In carrying out concrete assessment, it is desirable that the points to test and the question types to use be designed to correspond with the curriculum objectives, allocate the evaluation weight to each examination module in a reasonable manner, and standardize the grading criteria to make sure that the assessment results are objective and fair.

Key words: university liberal art subject, basic course, formative assessment, summative assessment