Assurance of learning
Proof of learning, from the business they ran.
Capsim turns the decisions students make running the simulation into validated, comparable evidence of learning, mapped to the outcomes you already report. It measures the judgment the simulation built, not separate material to memorize.
Validated by I-O psychologists. Used across business schools and Fortune 500 programs.
- Critical thinking & decisions84
- Function integration79
- Analytical & quantitative73
- Communication81
✓Mapped to your program outcomes
Illustrative example, not real data.
Where knowledge stops
A final exam tests what they memorized. The business they ran shows what they can do.
Multiple-choice and written exams reward knowing the right answer, and AI now aces both. What you can't fake is the call a student makes running the business: incomplete information, competing priorities, no key to look up. Capsim captures that call and turns it into evidence you can defend, so the assessment is the work they already did, not a separate exam.
Completion isn't readiness.
Grounded in the simulation
Every assessment starts from the business they ran.
Students run the simulation. Then you turn what they did into evidence: for each student, and for the team. One source of truth, measured three ways.
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Re-run it solo
Comp-XM
Each student runs the simulation again on their own, then answers to the board. The deepest, most defensible measure of business judgment, scored against the Big 7 learning goals.
What It Measures- Function integration
- Critical thinking
- Analytical reasoning
- Leadership
- Global awareness
- Communication
- Business ethics
Completed individually · 4–6 hours
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Interpret the report
CapsimInbox-XM
Students respond to board members' emails about company performance, using their own individualized report.
What It Measures- Strategy
- Marketing
- Finance
- Accounting
- Human Resources
- Operations
- Sustainability
Completed individually · 1–2 hours
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Measure the team
TeamMATE
How the team that ran the simulation actually worked together. Peer and team feedback on collaboration, coordination, and accountability.
What It MeasuresTeam-level
- Confidence
- Cooperation
- Coordination
- Cohesion
- Conflict
Individual-level
- Preparation
- Execution
- Monitoring
- Adjustment
Completed individually · 15–30 min
Looking for the standalone sim-based assessment? Explore CapsimInbox →
Built on research
Measurement you can defend.
A score is only as good as what it measures. Knowledge checks reward recall. Judgment shows up in the call someone makes when the answer isn't handed to them. Capsim scores those calls with the rigor of a standardized instrument, so the number holds up to a dean, a board, or an accreditor.
Built by I-O psychologists
Designed and validated by industrial-organizational psychologists, including DePaul's Erich Dierdorff and Bob Rubin.Decades of research
Grounded in 30+ years of empirical research into business judgment and team effectiveness.Scored, not guessed
Every instrument is scored to a fixed standard: expert keys, objective results, or structured ratings. Scoring is automatic and consistent, never AI-generated.Normed nationally
Benchmarked against a national population of participants, so a score means something beyond your own classroom.
The evidence is public, and specific to each instrument — not one number stretched across the line. The proof differs because the instruments do: Comp-XM is scored on objective simulation results, so its case rests on measurement consistency and faculty-built content; CapsimInbox is a situational-judgment assessment, the kind whose value is proven by predicting real-world performance.
Comp-XM · assurance of learning
- .91–.93Internal-consistency reliability (KR-20), the “excellent” range.
- 26,000+Students in the validation sample, undergraduate and graduate.
Content- and construct-validated by functional-area faculty; authored by DePaul's Erich Dierdorff.
Read the Comp-XM technical synopsis (PDF) →CapsimInbox · situational judgment
- r = .43Correlation with on-the-job performance across a 398-person validation study, above the .37 assessment-center benchmark.
- .86–.93Test–retest reliability across modules.
Built by four PhD industrial-organizational psychologists.
Read the CapsimInbox technical synopsis (PDF) →Trusted by business schools and leadership programs across the globe.
Assurance of learning
Maps to the outcomes you already report.
Every score lands in the framework you already use, so the evidence is ready for accreditation instead of another spreadsheet to reconcile.
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Your program outcomes
Scored against your own competency framework, or the Big 7: Capsim's learning goals, distilled from 280+ objectives across top business schools.
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Comparable over time
Benchmark section against section, cohort against cohort, and against the national population.
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Accreditation-ready
AACSB- and ACBSP-aligned reporting, exportable to your LMS in a click.
Where it fits
Part of the Capsim platform.
Assess & develop leaders
Measuring leaders, not students? Capsim scores readiness through a realistic leadership inbox, mapped to your competency model and talent process.
Leadership Assessment Explore → Where the evidence comes fromBusiness Simulations
The proof starts here. Student teams run a whole company across rounds, and every decision becomes the evidence these assessments measure.
Run the business Explore → No simulation requiredInbox Simulations
No sim running? CapsimInbox measures judgment on its own, role-based decisions in a realistic inbox, in any course or program.
CapsimInbox Explore →Questions
What faculty and administrators ask.
Which Capsim assessment should I use?
It depends on what you're proving. For the deepest individual measure, Comp-XM, where students re-run the simulation on their own and answer to the board. For a faster individual measure, CapsimInbox-XM, where they interpret their simulation's report through a board-meeting inbox. For how a team worked together, TeamMATE. And if you need a customizable standardized exam across the whole curriculum, ask about Modular-XM.
How are Capsim assessments scored? Is it AI?
It depends on the instrument, but none is AI-generated. Comp-XM is scored on objective simulation results plus board-question answers. CapsimInbox-XM is scored against an expert key set by subject-matter experts (the critical-incident method). TeamMATE aggregates structured peer and self ratings. In every case, scoring is automatic and consistent, not AI-guessed.
Are Capsim assessments validated?
Yes. They're designed and validated by industrial-organizational psychologists, scored against an expert key, and normed against a national population. The inbox method is an independently validated situational-judgment test, and TeamMATE is built on more than 30 years of team-effectiveness research.
Does Comp-XM need a simulation?
Yes. In Comp-XM, each student re-runs the simulation on their own, then answers board-level questions. CapsimInbox-XM also draws on the simulation, where students interpret its report, but without re-running it.
What's the difference between CapsimInbox and CapsimInbox-XM?
CapsimInbox is the platform, the role-based inbox simulation used in any course on its own. CapsimInbox-XM is an assessment built on that platform: a post-simulation evaluation where each student interprets their own company's results to show what they learned across subjects like marketing, finance, and operations.
Do you offer a standardized test, like the ETS Major Field Test?
Yes. Modular-XM is a customizable assessment you run across the curriculum. Because you build it around your own learning outcomes, you measure what you actually teach instead of teaching to a fixed test.
Will it support our accreditation reporting?
Yes. Scores map to your program outcomes or the Big 7 learning goals, align with AACSB and ACBSP assurance-of-learning reporting, and export to your LMS.
Can students get through it with AI?
The judgment items have no answer key to look up, and each student works from their own simulation results, so answers can't be copied between students.
Enterprise-ready
Built to meet your standards.
See what your students can actually do.
Book a 30-minute look at the assessment line, and the evidence you'd hand an accreditor.