Assessment is a necessary part of instruction and should be

conducted regularly. Assessment is the collection of data to

measure achievement. It is needed to plan instruction,
to monitor progress along the way, and
to assess how well students learned what you taught.
Matthew Haldeman

HOW TO PREPARE AN EXAM PAPER

A. Introduction

Students perform better on tests when:

they understand why they are taking the test

they know the format of the test
they know several days beforehand when the test will be given
they know how the test factors into their grades
they know a variety of test-taking strategies
they know what will be assessed

B. Preparing an exam paper

1. Length and Timing

On a short test, a few wrong answers can have a very bad effect on the result. However, if a
test is long, students can get tired and may not answer accurately. It is advisable to divide in
different parts if the exam is too long.
A. Grammar and Vocabulary
B. Literature (ELL)
C. Intensive Reading
Student should have time to finish the exam and revise. Teachers should pay attention to the
amount of time that each exercise might take to an average student.

2. Clear, Concise Instructions

It is useful to provide an example as this helps the students understand exactly what is
necessary. What seems to be clear to the writer may be unclear to someone else.
Exercises from Cambridge Exams with an example first

3. Variety of exercises

It is often advantageous to mix types of items (multiple choice, true-false, essay) on a written
exam.
Multiple choice cloze Matching
Open cloze True / False
 Transformation Open questions
Gap-filling Error correction

4. Frequency

Frequent testing helps the teacher to give students feedback, and not just evaluate at the end
of the process.
For exam preparation (KET. PET. FCE) it is advisable to have practice tests to understand the
format and anticipate the best way to prepare for the real one. What is more, students can
practise timing!

5. Accuracy. Proofreading.

Teachers should check for accuracy and appropriateness, being cautious about using tests
written by others.
It is important to proofread exams carefully and, when possible, have another person
proofread them. Tiny mistakes, such as misnumbering the responses, can cause big problems
later.

6. Repetition of contents

It is wise to avoid having separate tasks to test the same content. (For example, two exercises
evaluating the use of Present Simple/Continuous. The student will make the same mistake in
both exercises)

7. Special Considerations

It is important to anticipate special considerations that students may need. (Atencin a la

diversidad file)

8. Blooms Taxonomy of Educational Objectives

He lists six levels of intellectual understanding: Knowledge Comprehension Application

Analysis Synthesis Evaluation.

Knowledge Who, what, when, where, how ?

Comprehension Restate in your own words // List three reasons for // Retell
Summarize
Application How is...an example of... ? // How is...related to... ?
Why is...significant?
Analysis Classify ...according to... // Outline/diagram... // How does
compare/contrast with ? // What evidence can you list for ?

Synthesis What would you infer from... ? // What ideas can you add to... ?
How would you create a... ? // What solutions would you suggest
for?
Evaluation Do you agree? // How would you decide about... ?
What priority would you give... ? // What do you think about ?

9. Content Quality

What are the test specifications? What skills do they indicate will be tested. How many
questions and how many areas will be covered? How many sections will there be? What
formats will be used to test?
It is effective to present from easier to more difficult exercises.

10. Meaningfulness

"In my opinion, students should not be forced to guess what will be on a test.Research
shows that the less able students are heavily penalized by a failure to realize what is
required for a test. .The obvious solution to this problem is to give students specific study
questions, then draw the test from the study questions. Sometimes this is criticized as
teaching the test, as if having study questions in itself encourages a superficial approach.
That may be true if there are very few study questions. However, if a teacher offers questions
for all of the most important ideas in an assignment, then teaching the test is teaching the
course."
Russell A. Dewey, PhD

It is a good idea to ask yourself: Why should I include this exercise?, to think about the
objective of the exercise you are including in the test.

C. Assessment and Evaluation at SIL

Balance

Grammar and Vocabulary Literature - Intensive Reading

How many points for each section?

Words vs Sentence, paragraph and longer text writing.

Grading

How many points do we take out for grammar? Is there a scale for amount of mistakes/errors?
Are serious mistakes considered in a different way?

Sources:
https://www.k state.edu/ksde/alp/resources/Handout Module6.pdf
Haldeman Matthew, The New Guide to Teachers Success