Guidelines to Test Preparation Guidelines to Test Preparation

Guidelines for Writing Essay Questions  Be sure your question really tests the learning outcome of interest  Each item should have  a clear statement of the problem  any restrictions on the answer  Construct a model answer  content of an ideal answer  important organizational features you expect

Essay questions Poor Tell what you know about the Pearl Harbor Incident. Why do you think we dropped 2 bombs on Japan?

Essay questions Better Remembering that the U.S. was attacked at Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941, describe the reactions of Americans, including the actions taken by American officials. Be sure to write one complete paragraph with 4-5 sentences.

Advantages to Essay Questions  Measures higher mental processes, such as the ability to think, to understand large concepts, to organize information, and to express ideas clearly and concisely.  Stimulates creativity and freedom of expression

Disadvantages  Requires a great deal of time to read and score  Unreliable sampling of student achievement  Tends to be vulnerable to unreliable scoring  Handicaps students who write slowly

Guidelines of Writing Multiple Choice Questions 1. Incomplete statements should be meaningful. Poor Example The United States of America a. has more than 200,000 people. b. grows large amounts of rubber. c. has few good harbors. d. produces most of the world’s automobiles.

Better What is the largest state east of the Mississippi River? a)Georgia b)Pennsylvania c)New York d)Florida e)Texas

2. Be precise, not confusing. What is the largest (in square miles) state east of the Mississippi River? a) Georgia b) Pennsylvania c) New York d) Florida e) Texas

Other Guidelines  Length of alternatives should be consistent  Distracters should be plausible  Alternatives should be arranged uniformly  Grammatically consistent  4 -5 alternatives

 Avoid using “all of these” or “none of these”  Have only one correct answer  Stem should mean the same to everyone  for example

Ambiguous 1.Where is the most active volcano? a)Mount Kilimanjaro b)Mount St. Helens c)Mount Rainier d)Kilauea Crater e)Mount Redoubt

Better 1.What is the most active volcano in the U.S.? a)Mt. Redoubt in Alaska b)Mt. Shasta in California c)Mt. St. Helens in Washington d)Kilauea Crater in Hawaii e)Mount Rainier in Washington Bonus Point – Why do you think there are five volcanoes in the western part of the United States?

Guidelines Understanding of definitions is better tested by furnishing the name or word and requiring choices among alternative definitions than by presenting the definition and requiring choices among alternative names or words. -- for example

Faulty A major city in Georgia is a. Macon b. Dalton c. Albany d.Social Circle e.Athens

Advantages to Multiple Choice  Answered quickly  Scored quickly  Test a lot of material in a short time  Questions easy to write once you learn the format  Can be used for motivation, review and evaluation

Disadvantages  Measure at recognition level  Scoring is mechanical  Little way to spot problems of students  Really good questions are hard to develop and require a lot of time to prepare

Matching Items  words and definitions  historical events and dates  novels and their authors  tools and their uses  problems and solutions  elements and symbols  causes and effects

Guidelines  obvious/natural relationship  basis of matching should be made clear to students  one list should be 50% longer  the shorter list should not contain more than 7-8 items

Advantages  Can judge simple relationships between similar ideas, facts, etc.  Relatively easy to score  Range of material tested can be broad  Guessing reduced

Disadvantages  Cannot measure understanding of concepts  Measures memorized content  Difficult to avoid giving clues  Too many items on list make it confusing.