Abstract: Under the current educational evaluation reform, graduate education shoulders the critical mission of cultivating high-caliber, innovative, and interdisciplinary talents. The conventional summative assessment model, predominantly based on final examinations, inadequately captures graduate students’ true competencies in knowledge depth, research capabilities, and comprehensive qualities. These shortcomings are particularly evident in chemistry courses that emphasize both theoretical and practical dimensions. Using the graduate-level Physical Chemistry course as an exemplar, this study investigates the development of a process-based assessment system guided by educational evaluation reform principles. This system integrates diversified, phased, technology-enhanced, and personalized approaches. Through its “Ability-Task-Evaluation” closed-loop design, it achieves synergistic integration of knowledge delivery, skill development, and competency enhancement. Comparative analysis of grade distributions, core competency metrics, and course evaluation data from pre- and post-reform periods demonstrates the system's effectiveness in motivating students, improving instructional quality, and fostering holistic graduate education. The findings offer transferable insights for STEM graduate education assessment reform.

Key words: Process-based assessment, Graduate education, Physical chemistry, Integration of knowledge-ability-quality, Reform of education assessment