What is

assessment?

Are we

really

teaching,

what

we’re

teaching?

Guidelines for

Constructing

Effective Test

Items-Kimverly Torres

Guidelines for

Constructing Multiple

Choice Items

Advantages

• Multiple-choice

tests measure a

variety of learning

levels.

• • They are easy to

grade.

Disadvantages• Multiple-choice tests

evaluate recognition (choosing an answer) rather than recall

(constructing an answer)

• They allow for guessing

• They are fairly difficult to construct

1. Make the

content

meaningful. Do not

test trivial or

unimportant facts.

Poor: Skinner developed programmed

instruction in _____.

a. 1953

b. 1954 (correct)

c. 1955

d. 1956

Better: Skinner developed

programmed instruction in _____.

a. 1930s

b. 1940s

c. 1950s (correct)

d. 1970s

Poor: What is a claw hammer?

a. a woodworking tool (correct)

b. a musical instrument

c. a gardening tool

d. a shoe repair tool

Better: What is a claw hammer?

a. a woodworking tool (correct)

b. a metalworking tool

c. an autobody tool

d. a sheetmetal tool

2. Make all alternatives

plausible as correct

responses. To make sure

your alternatives are

plausible, define the class

of things to which all of

the answer choices should

belong.

3. Reduce the length of the alternatives by moving as many

words as possible to the stem. The rationale is that

additional words in the alternatives have to be read four or

five times, in the stem only once.

Poor: The mean is _____.

a. a measure of the average (correct)

b. a measure of the midpoint

c. a measure of the most popular score

d. a measure of the dispersion scores.

Better: The mean is a measure of the _____.

a. average (correct)

b. midpoint

c. most popular score

d. dispersion of scores

4. Do not make the correct answer stand out as a

result of its phrasing or length.Poor: A narrow strip of land bordered on both sides of water is called an

_____.

a. isthmus (correct)

b. peninsula

c. bayou

d. continent

Better: A narrow strip of land bordered on both sides by water is called

a(n) _____.

a. isthmus (correct)

b. peninsula

c. bayou

d. continent

(Note: Do you see why

a would be the best

guess given the

phrasing?)

5. Avoid the exact wording of a

source material. This places too

much emphasis on simple

memory and barely tests

cognitive acquisition at the

knowledge level.

In the Mediterranean region, cattle raising is

handicapped by:

a. A hot climate

b. Lack of demand for beef

c. A lack of sufficient productive pasturage

d. High labor costs

The correct choice, "C," may be obvious from its

length and explicitness alone.

6. The length, explicitness, or degree of

technicality of alternatives should not vary

with correctness.

Guidelines for

Constructing

True/False Items

Advantages

• True/false items are fairly easy to

write

• They are very easy to grade

Disadvantages

• True/false items can only test for

factual information

• They allow for a high probability

(50%) of guessing the correct

answer

• They limit assessments to lower

levels of learning (knowledge and

comprehension)

1. Be certain that the

statement is entirely true

or entirely false.

2. Convey only one

thought or idea in a

true/false statement

Poor: Bloom’s cognitive taxonomy of

objectives includes six levels of objectives,

the

lowest being knowledge. (True/False)

Better: Bloom’s cognitive taxonomy

includes six levels of objectives.

(True/False)

Knowledge is the lowest-level objective in

Bloom’s cognitive taxonomy. (True/False)

3. Require learners to write

a short explanation of why

false answers are incorrect.

4. Beware of detectable answer

patterns. Students can pick out

patterns such as (TTTTFFFF)

which might be designed to

make scoring easier.

5. Beware of words denoting

indefinite degree. The use of

words like “more,” “less,”

“important,” “unimportant,”

“large,” “small,” “recent,” “old,”

“tall,” “great,” and so on, can

easily lead to ambiguity.

Guidelines for

Constructing

Matching Items

Advantages

• A large amount of material can be

condensed to fit in less space

• Students have substantially fewer

chances for guessing correct

associations than

on multiple-choice and true/false tests

Disadvantage

• Matching tests cannot effectively test

higher order intellectual skills

1. Limit the number of

items to a maximum of

six or seven. It becomes

very confusing for

learners to try to match

a greater amount.

2. Provide directions. Students

should not have to ask, for

example, whether options may

be used more than once.

4. Limit the length of the items to a word,

phrase, or brief sentence. In general, make

the items as short as possible.

5. Provide one or two extra items

(distractors) in the second column.

Their inclusion reduces the probability

of correct guessing. This also eliminates

the situation that may occur in equal-

sized lists, where if one match is

incorrect, a second match must also be

incorrect.

6. Keep the question to one page

and on the same page. Arrange

items so that students will not

have to turn pages back and

forth as they respond.

Guidelines for

Constructing SHORT-

ANSWER, FILL IN

THE BLANK,

COMPLETION Items

Advantages

• Since the expected

answers are specific,

scoring can be fairly

objective

• These tests can test

a large amount of

content within a

given time period

Disadvantages

• These test items are

limited to testing lower-

level cognitive

objectives, such as the

recall of facts

• Scoring may not be as

straightforward and

objective as anticipated

2. Prepare a scoring

key that contains all

acceptable answers

for each item.

3. Beware of open

questions that invite

unexpected but

reasonable answers.

Poor: The first president of the United

States was _____. (two words)

(Note: The desired answer is George

Washington, but students may write “from

Virginia”, “a general”, and other creative

expressions.)

Better: Give the first and last name of the

first president of the United States: _____.

Guidelines for

Constructing Essay

Items

1. Inform students of the

grading criteria and

conditions.

2. Do not give students a choice

of essays; have all respond to the

same questions.

3. Allow sufficient time to

answer to give the students

to outline first.

Kim

Torr

es

III-

BS

E

Thank You!

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