Are you the kind of

teacher who asks the

following questions?
The poem “The Raven” ______
a. was written by Edgar Allan Poe
b. was written by Elizabeth Browning
c. was written by Omar Khayyan
d. was written by Jose Garcia Villa
 • Is it NOT true
that Magellan discovered the
Philippines?
When did the People Power
Revolution take in the
Philippines?
A. February 23, 1986
B. after the Snap Election
C. March 1, 1956
D. after Valentines’ Day in 1986
• Who was the author of the
book quoted in the
footnote of Chapter 1 of
the present textbook
If you answered “YES” to
any of the choices
presented then you have
a BIG PROBLEM!
YOUR STUDENTS ARE
NOT LEARNING!!!!
“13% of students who fail
in class are caused by
faulty test questions”
WORLDWATCH
The Philadelphia Trumpet
August 2005
• It is estimated that 90% of
all test questions asked in the
US are of “Low level” -
knowledge and comprehension
(Wilen, W.W., 1992)
• “Low level” doesn’t mean easy:
• Write an essay explaining the decline and
fall of the Roman Empire incorporating at
least five of the seven causes discussed in
class from the writings of Gibbon and
Toynbee
• “High level” doesn’t mean hard:
• Which movie did you like more,
WALL-E or Cars? Why?
 TEST
CONSTRUCTION
Presented by:
Arnel O. Rivera

http://www.slideshare.net/ArnelSSI
Outline:
Part I Part II
 Principles in Test  Review of Part I

Construction  Preparing Matching

 Steps in Preparing
Type Questions
Test Questions  Preparing Sentence
Completion Questions
 Preparing Multiple
 Preparing Essay
Choice Questions
Questions
 Preparing True or
 Other types of Test
False Questions Questions
 Wrap-up/
Things to Remember
“The evaluation of pupils’
progress is a major aspect of
the teacher’s job.“
Evaluating Educational Outcomes
(Oriondo & Antonio)
Explain the message of the comic strip.
The Purpose of Testing
To provide a record for assigning
grades.
To provide a learning experience for
students.
To motivate students to learn.
To serve as a guide for further study.
The Purpose of Testing
To assess how well students are
achieving the stated goals of the lesson.
To provide the instructor with an
opportunity to reinforce the stated
objectives and highlight what is
important for students to remember.
Characteristics of Good Tests
Validity – the extent to which the
test measures what it intends to
measure
Reliability – the consistency with
which a test measures what it is
supposed to measure
Usability – the test can be
administered with ease, clarity
and uniformity
Other Things to Consider
Scorability – easy to score
Interpretability – test results can
be properly interpreted and is a
major basis in making sound
educational decisions
Economical – the test can be
reused without compromising the
validity and reliability
“To be able to prepare a good
test, one has to have a
mastery of the subject
matter, knowledge of the
pupils to be tested, skill in
verbal expression and the
use of the different test
format”
Evaluating Educational Outcomes
(Oriondo & Antonio)
 5 Most Commonly used
Test Format

1. Multiple Choice
2. True or False
3. Matching Type
4. Fill-in the blanks (Sentence Completion)
5. Essay
Source: Turn-out of Test Questions in SSI (2003-2007)
General Steps in Test Construction
DRAFT
OUTLINE

ORDER

PRODUCE A TEST ANALYZE

T.O.S.

SUBMISSION
 OUTLINE:
– the unit learning objectives or
– the unit content or major
concepts to be covered by the
test

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 Table of Specifications
(TOS)
• A two way chart that relates the
learning outcomes to the course
content
• It enables the teacher to prepare a
test containing a representative
sample of student behavior in each of
the areas tested.
 Tips in Preparing the Table
of Specifications (TOS)
• Don’t make it overly detailed.
• It's best to identify major ideas and skills
rather than specific details.
• Use a cognitive taxonomy that is most
appropriate to your discipline, including
non-specific skills like communication skills
or graphic skills or computational skills if
such are important to your evaluation of
the answer.
 Tips in Preparing the Table
of Specifications (TOS)
• Weigh the appropriateness of the
distribution of checks against the students'
level, the importance of the test, the
amount of time available.
• MATCH the question level appropriate to
the level of thinking skills
 Examples of Student Activities and
Verbs for Bloom’s Cognitive Levels
Table 2.1 in Jacobs & Chase (1992:19)
Bloom’s Cognitive Student Activity Words to Use in Item
Level Stem
Knowledge Remembering facts, Define, list, state,
terms, concepts, identify, label, name,
definitions, principles who?, when?, where?,
what?
Comprehension Explaining/interpreting Explain, predict, interpret,
the meaning of material infer, summarize, convert,
translate, account for,
give example, paraphrase
Application Using a concept or Apply, solve, show, make
principle to solve a use of, modify,
problem demonstrate, compute
 Examples of Student Activities and
Verbs for Bloom’s Cognitive Levels
Table 2.1 in Jacobs & Chase (1992:19)
Bloom’s Cognitive Student Activity Words to Use in Item
Level Stem
Analysis Breaking material down Differentiate,
into its component parts to compare/contrast,
see interrelationships/ distinguish ____from
hierarchy of ideas ____, how does
____relate to ___, why
does ____work
Synthesis Producing something new or Design, construct, develop,
original from component formulate, imagine,
parts create, change, write a
poem or short story
Evaluation Making a judgment based Appraise, evaluate,
on a pre-established set of justify, judge, which would
criteria be better?
 Tips in Preparing the Table
of Specifications (TOS)
• The following array shows the most
common questions types used at various
cognitive levels.
Factual Knowledge Application Analysis and
Evaluation
Multiple Choice Multiple Choice Multiple Choice
True/False Short Answer Essay
Matching Type Problems
S. Completion Essay
Short Answer/RRT
 Activity:

• Prepare a short TOS using the

selection in your activity sheet.

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DRAFT the questions covering
the content in the outline

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 ORDER the selected questions
logically.
 Place simpler items at the beginning
to ease students into the exam.
 Group item types together under
common instructions.
 If desirable, order the questions
logically from a content standpoint
(e.g. chronologically or by conceptual
groups, etc.)
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 Test
• PUT the questions away for one or
two days before rereading them or
have someone else review them for
clarity.
• TEST the questions by actually
taking the test.

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• ANALYZE the items to give you
an idea whether the questions
were well-written or poorly
written as well as if there were
problems in understanding
instruction.
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General Rules in Writing Test
Questions
Number test questions continuously.
Keep your test question in each test group
uniform.
Make your layout presentable.
Do not put too many test questions in one
test group.
 T or F: 10 – 15 questions
 Multiple Choice: max. of 30 questions
 Matching type: 5 questions per test group
 Others: 5 – 10 questions
Some additional guidelines to consider
when writing items are described below:
1. Avoid humorous items. Classroom testing is
very important and humorous items may
cause students to either not take the exam
seriously or become confused or anxious.
2. Items should measure only the construct of
interest, not one’s knowledge of the item
context.
3. Write items to measure what students know,
not what they do not know. (Cohen & Wallack)
Multiple Choice Test
What to Look for on
Multiple Choice Tests
When checking the stems for correctness:
Ensure that the stem asks a clear
question.
Reading level is appropriate to the
students
The stem is grammatically correct.
Negatively stated stems are
discouraged.
 What to Look for on
Multiple Choice Tests
Example:
What is the effect of releasing a ball in
positive gravity?
a) It will fall “down.” correct
b) It will retain its mass. true but unrelated
c) It will rise. false but related
d) Its shape will change. false and unrelated
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Use negatively stated stems sparingly and
when using negatives such as NOT,
underline or bold the print.
2. Use none of the above and all of the above
sparingly, and when you do use them, don't
always make them the right answer.
3. Only one option should be correct or clearly
best.
Multiple Choice Questions:
4. All options should be homogenous and
nearly equal in length.
5. The stem (question) should contain only
one main idea.
6. Keep all options either singular or plural.
7. Have four or five responses per stem
(question).
Multiple Choice Questions:
7. When using incomplete statements place
the blank space at the end of the stem
versus the beginning.
8. When possible organize the responses.
9. Reduce wordiness.
10. When writing distracters, think of incorrect
responses that students might make.
Examples
1. Sheldon developed a highly controversial
theory of personality based on body type and
temperament of the individual. Which of the
following is a criticism of Sheldon's work?
a. He was influenced too much by the
Freudian psychoanalysis.
b. His rating of physique and temperament
were not independent.
c. He failed to use empirical approach.
d. His research sample was improperly
selected.
Examples
Better: (Eliminate excessive wording and
irrelevant information)
1. Which of the following is a criticism of
Sheldon's theory of personality?
Examples
1. The receptors for the vestibular sense
are located
a. in the fovea.
b. in the brain.
c. in the middle ear.
d. in the inner ear.
Examples
Better: (Include in the stem any word(s) that
might otherwise be repeated in each
option.)
1. The receptors for the vestibular senses are
located in the _______.
a. fovea
b. brain
c. middle ear
d. inner ear
Examples
1. Which is not a major technique for
studying brain function?
a. Accident and injury
b. Cutting and removing
c. Electrical stimulation
d. Direct phrenology
Examples
Better: (Use negatively stated stems
sparingly. When used, underline
and/or capitalize the negative word.)
1. Which is NOT a major technique for
studying brain function?
Examples
4. ________________ is the least form of
behavior disorder.
a. Psychosis
b. Panic disorder
c. Neurasthenia
d. Neurosis
Examples
Better: (When using incomplete
statements avoid beginning with the
blank space.)
1. The least severe form of behavior
disorder is __________________.
Examples
1. The number of photoreceptors in the
retina of each human is about
a. 115 million
b. 5 million
c. 65 million
d. 35 billion
Examples
Better: (When possible, present
alternatives in some logical order.)
1. The number of photo receptors in the
retina of each human is about
a. 5 million
b. 35 million
c. 65 million
d. 115 million
Examples
6. Latane and Darley's smoke-filled room
experiment suggested that people are
less likely to help in groups than
alone, because people
a. in groups talk to one another.
b. who are alone are more attentive.
c. in groups do not display pluralistic
ignorance.
d. in groups allow others to define the
situation as a non-emergency
Examples
Better: (All alternatives should be approximately
equal in length.)
6. Latane and Darley's smoke-filled room
experiment suggested that people are less
likely to help in groups than alone, because
people in groups
a. talk to one another
b. are less attentive than people who are
alone
c. do not display pluralistic ignorance
d. allow other to define non-emergencies
 Activity:

• Prepare two multiple choice questions

based on the selection in your activity
sheet.
True or False
What to Look for on
True/False Tests
Each statement is clearly true or
clearly false.
Trivial details should not make a
statement false.
Statements are written concisely
without more elaboration than
necessary.
Statements are NOT quoted exactly
from text.
Tips in Making True/False Tests
Give emphasis on the use of quantitative
terms than qualitative terms.
Avoid using of specific determiners which
usually gives a clue to the answer.
 False = all, always, never, every, none,
only
 True = generally, sometimes, usually,
maybe, often
Discourage the use of negative
statements.
Whenever a controversial statement is
used, the authority should be quoted.
Discourage the use of pattern for answers.
Examples:
Find the errors, and/or problems with the
following true-false tests.
____ 1. Repetition always strengthens the
tendency for a response to occur.
(Using "always" usually means the answer
is false.)
Examples:
_____ 2. The process of extinction is
seldom immediate but extends
over a number of trials.

(Words like "seldom" usually indicate a

true statement.)
Examples:
_____ 3. The mean, median, and mode are
measures of central tendency,
whereas the standard deviation and
range are measures of variability.

(Express a single idea in each statement.)

e.g.“The mean and standard
deviation are measures of central
tendency.”
 Activity:

• Prepare two true or false questions

based on the selection in your activity
sheet.