HOW TO ASSESS?

-OBJECTIVE TESTS

BOOK NAME
Topic -3
HOW TO ASSESS?OBJECTIVE TESTS
1

HOW TO ASSESS?-OBJECTIVE TESTS

HOW TO ASSESS?-OBJECTIVE TESTS

UNIT STRUCTURE

Introduction
3.1 WHAT IS AN OBJECTIVE TEST?
3.2 MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS (MCQs)
3.2.1 What is a Multiple Choice Question?
3.2.2 Construction of MCQs
3.2.3 The use of MCQs
3.2.4 Limitations of MCQs
3.3 TRUE OR FALSE QUESTIONS
3.3.1 What Are True or False Questions?
3.3.2 Construction of true or False Questions
3.3.3 Uses of True or False Questions
3.3.4 Limitations of True or False Questions
3.4 MATCHING QUESTIONS
3.4.1 What are Matching questions?
3.4.2 Uses of Matching questions
3.4.3 Construction of matching questions
3.4.4 Limitations of Matching questions
3.5 PLANNING YOUR TEST
3.5.1 Steps towards developing tests and assessment
3.5.2 Purpose of Classroom Training and Assessment
3.5.3 Developing Specifications for Assessment
3.5.4 Selecting an Appropriate Type of Items and Assessment Tasks
3.6 SUMMARY

HOW TO ASSESS?-OBJECTIVE TESTS

How to Assess?-Objective
TOPIC

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completion of this topic, you should be

able to:
1.Describe what is objective test
2.Illustrate the different types of
objective tests
3.Analyse the advantages, limitations of
each test
4.Identify what are the ways to construct
tests
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3.0

INTRODUCTIO N

Constructing a test is an art as is teaching.

Classroom tests and assessment form a major part of students learning and
teachers teaching as well. It gives you a valid and reliable data of the progress of
the student in order to communicate to their parents and to make the students
realise the gap if any in what is being taught and what is being learnt.

Well-constructed tests aid to analyse the students knowledge, ability and skills.

Let us see the different types of tests based on the characteristics, uses, advantages
and rules for construction.

Selecting appropriate type of tests that are suitable for a particular learning
outcome and constructing the questions is a crucial task for the teacher.

Let us look into these facets in detail.

3.1

WHAT IS AN OBJECTIVE TEST?

What are objective tests?

Objective tests are well structured items and the students are required to
answer the question in a word or two or else by selection of a right (answer)
word from a number of answers.
As the question has only one right answer it is called an objective test.

Performance assessment requires the student to construct an answer,

organise and present it whereas, the task based assessment necessitates the
student to use the equipment, make observations and finally derive some
concept, for example, a project in a chemistry laboratory.

Examples of Objective tests are multiple choice questions.

Examples of Performance assessment tests are essay writing, reading

etc.

Examples of Task based performance are experiments, projects etc.

Basically the classification is based on the ways of constructing a problem

and the response is organised.

Some of the instructional objectives are best assessed with objective

questions while the others by essay type questionnaire.
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The Objective tests are again classified into various types:

a) Short Answer Questions
b) Questions meant for completion E.g. Fill in the blanks
c) Selection Type Questions E.g. Match the pairs
d) Alternative Response type Questions E.g. True or false
e) Multiple choice Questions where four alternatives are provided from
which one has to choose the appropriate answer.

There are several other combinations of these objective tests. Each of

these types has one thing in common, that is, the questions have
structured approach and limit the response that can be made.
It calls for student knowledge and understanding on that particular
subject.
The students are not expected to write the response in an elaborate
manner and hence, these are quick, easy and accurate ways to assess
them.

Table 1.1

All about Objective tests

o Objective type questions are best to test the knowledge and most importantly,
grasping of facts.
o

These prove useless for testing problem solving skills, the ability to ideate, to
organise the ideas and build them.

o Large number of questions, which prove as sampling for the large content,
need to be framed which, is time consuming.
o The responses are limited and hence, are subject to guessing and
approximation.
o It is useful than essay questions which has more of writing exercise and is
ambiguous in nature than an objective answer.
o It implements objective scoring.
o High reliability is possible if the tests are well constructed.
o Students develop comprehensive knowledge of facts and develop an ability
to discriminate among them.

3.2

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS (MCQs)

Let us take a look into what are the different types of objective tests, how
they are constructed and their uses and limitations.
3.2.1

WHAT IS A MCQ?

Multiple choice questions as the name suggests, has a problem defined and
a list of solutions. The statement or question is called stem of the item.
The solution may consist of words, symbols and are called as alternatives
or choices or options.

The correct alternative is the answer and the rest are known as distractors
or foils or decoys.
Example:
The Capital of Malaysia is ________________.
a) Delhi
b) London
c) Singapore
d) Kuala Lumpur
3.2.2

CONSTRUCTION OF MCQs

Let us see the rules of constructing a MCQ:

A) The stem means a problem statement which should be meaningful and

should itself represent a definite problem.
B) The Stem or the item should be relevant to the context of the subject.
C) Restrict the use of negative statements while writing a stem, use them
only when required.
D) All the alternatives should be grammatically in line with the stem.
E) A stem or a question should have only one right or best answer.
F) Novel questions should be to measure understanding, it should not be
overdone.
G) Distractors should seem to be probable answers.

H) The answer should not be easily guessed from the question, or should
not have any clue to the answer either verbally or by being of the same
length as the question itself.
I) The answer should appear in all the alternatives at least once or else it
makes the responses a guess work.
J) The answers like None of the above and All of the above should be
used only if required.

Moreover the MCQs should be used wherever it suits, not when other
options of assessment are appropriate.
3.2.3

THE USE OF MCQs

The uses of MCQs:

a) To check the knowledge of terminology, specific facts, principles,
methods or procedures.
b) It also helps to measure the outcomes of understanding and application
levels.
c) Ability to identify application of facts and principles.
d) To interpret the cause-effect relationship.
e) To justify the methods and procedures.

3.2.4

LIMITATIONS OF MCQs

Limitations of MCQs:
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A) A student may perform well by ticking the appropriate answer and

perform to the expected level in the exam but he may not give the
same output when he is confronted with the same situation in real
life. So it is not practical.
B) As every other objective test, MCQs are limited to the choices or
alternatives. It cannot judge the problem solving abilities or essay
writing abilities.
C) Teachers have to select the plausible distractors, which in itself is a
taxing work.

3.3

TRUE OR FALSE QUESTIONS

3.3.1

WHAT ARE TRUE-FALSE QUESTIONS?

What are true or false questions ?

This is a type of question where a declarative statement is presented to the
student and the student is asked to provide his response, whether it is correct
or incorrect, true or false.
It is an alternative-response item.
Example:
The sun rises in the East.
a) True
b) False
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3.3.2

CONSTRUCTION OF TRUE-FALSE QUESTIONS

Construction of true or false questions:

a) Narrow down the general statements which are to be judged
whether, true or false.
b) Avoid trivial declarative statements.
c) Avoid the use of statements with negative doubles.
d) No complex sentences to be used.
e) Incorporate an equal number of true and false statements.
f) True and false statements should be equal in length.
g) No two ideas can be combined into one except in cause-effect
relationship.
h) Always lay some factual basis to state an opinion and then ask
the pupils to mark true or false.

3.3.3

USES OF TRUE OR FALSE QUESTIONS

A) To measure the ability to identify whether the statement or
the fact mentioned, the definition provided in the statement,
the principles, are correct or not.
B) It helps to measure the students ability to identify and
distinguish clearly, facts from opinion.
C) It is used to measure some aspects of logical abilities in the
student.
D) It also helps to analyse whether the student is capable of
recognising the cause effect relationship.
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3.3.4

LIMITATIONS OF TRUE-FALSE QUESTIONS

a) Though these are quite efficient tests and have ease of
construction, these tests have utility in measuring limited
outcome. Except for the cause and effect relationship and
some of the fact and opinion based questions, many other
learning outcomes cannot fit into true or false type of
assessment.
b) True or false type answers are susceptible to random
guessing. Hence, the reliability over the scores is very low.

3.4
3.4.1

MATCHING QUESTIONS
WHAT ARE MATCHING QUESTIONS?

Matching questions is a form of test where two columns are juxtaposed to

each other, and the words or numbers or items in one column bear some
relationship with some item in the other column.
One is expected to match the pairs that are associated with each other on
some guidelines mentioned.

3.4.2
USES OF MATCHING QUESTIONS
It measures the ability of finding relationship between two things.
Examples:
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a) Dates and achievements

b) Pictures and words
c) Authors and title of books

3.4.3

CONSTRUCTION OF MATCHING QUESTIONS

1) Keep the content homogenous.
2) Keep unequal number of matches and instruct the
students that there might be two matching pairs for one
item or there will not be any for some other.
3) Always keep the items brief and place the shorter
responses to the right hand side.
4) Arrange the items sequentially, alphabetically or logically.
5) Place all the items for matching exercise on one page.

3.4.4

LIMITATIONS OF MATCHING QUESTIONS

a) Only factual information can be measured through
matching exercises, which are based on rote learning.
Hence, they are susceptible to the irrelevant clues as well.
b) There is difficulty in gathering sufficient homogenous
material from the targeted subject for learning outcomes
and thus constructing matching exercises is difficult.

3.5

PLANNING YOUR TEST

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Tests and assessments are undoubtedly the valid and reliable way to gauge
student achievement and are central to the evolution of learning.

These provide a measure of many important learning outcomes and facilitates

in understanding of what has not been covered in the course, curriculum etc.

There are a few steps to the development of classroom testing and assessment
which are as follows:
3.5.1

STEPS TOWARDS DEVELOPING TESTS AND

ASSESSMENT

Steps to improve the way of teaching, instruction and Assessment:

o First the teacher has to define the purpose of the test/ measurement.
o Be very specific about the areas in the course which has to be assessed so as
to be able to select the tasks related to conduct a test in that area.
o Select the suitable tasks meant to showcase the intended knowledge, skill,
and ability.
o Prepare the appropriate tasks like MCQs or Essay questions and assemble
the tests content.
o Administer the test, for obtaining valid and reliable test scores.
o Finally, appraise the assessment and use the results for a productive learning
experience.

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3.5.2

PURPOSE OF CLASSROOM TRAINING AND

ASSESSMENT

There are three stages in which the tests and assessments are conducted in the classroom
training which are used for instructional purposes:
a) Pre Instructional Tests
b) Tests During the Instruction
c) Post Instructional Tests
Pre Instructional tests help the teacher to know whether the student has the knowledge
and the skills required for the course and it also helps to choose the method of teaching to be
adapted to help the students achieve the learning outcome.
Tests during the instructions are the basis of formative assessment as already discussed in
Unit-1. The purpose of these tests are to monitor the progress in learning periodically and
to give feedback to the students and parents .
Post Instructional tests form the base for summative assessment.
Let us tabulate the differences between the three types of tests.
Table 1.2 Types of Tests
Pre Instructional Tests

Tests during the instructions

Post Instructional tests

It tests the pre- requisite entry

level skills and knowledge, so
conducted at the beginning of
a topic

These tests are helpful to check

the progress of a student while
conducting and delivering
lectures

These help to test whether the

learning objectives have been
achieved, at the end of the
course

These are of low difficulty These tests begin at a low level

level
of difficulty and then varies as
the chapter moves further
The area to be tested is very The area tested is again sample
limited
of learning tasks

It has the highest level of

difficulty
All the objectives are to be
tested hence a broader sample

Usage is to devise a remedial Usage is to improve the The tests is useful to grade the
action for the students
learning through feedback
students and certify and
evaluate the teaching
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These are the differences based on the difficulty level, the contents of each test,
the timings at which these are conducted and the purpose for which these are
conducted.
The Pre Instructional test finds utility in designing the placement type
assessment and the tests during the instructions are an example of diagnostic
type of assessment mentioned in unit 1.
The Pre Instructional test aids the teacher for adapting to the new method of
teaching. It is the placement type of assessment, whereas the tests during the
learning yield a diagnostic assessment of the learning difficulties.

3.5.3

DEVELOPING SPECIFICATIONS FOR ASSESSMENT

After determining the purpose of tests, it is essential to develop the

specifications that guide the selection of assessment tasks relevant to the
instructional objectives.
This is done by two methods:
A) Building a two way chart/ table of specifications.
B) A one way chart.
Let us understand what it is to build a two way chart.
A two way chart constitutes of a listing of instructional objectives and outline
of the course content.

A one way chart does not necessitate the need of outlining content.
Instructional objectives can be described in the best way as stated in Unit 2.

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Here instructional objectives lists the performance which is expected to be

achieved by the students, whereas outlining of the content specifies the area
which is to be tested.
Sometimes there is no requirement of outlining the content.
For example, for a reading test, the specific listing of instructional objectives is
quite sufficient to assess a student as in this case content outlining is not
possible on account of its varying nature.

3.5.4

SELECTING APPROPRIATE TYPE OF ITEMS AND

ASSESSMENT TASKS

The students can be assessed through a number of ways, but more importantly
these are classified into:
1) Objective tests
2) Performance Assessment
3) Task based or project based Assessment
A teacher should use the objective tests if the knowledge about the facts is
being assessed. In case, the teacher wishes to assess the writing ability or
problem solving abilities, the preferred mode is through performance
based assessment.

While selecting between the objective tests, the teacher should analyse
whether the ability to understand or recognise a relationship is to be
measured, or the factual knowledge needs to be measured. After analysing,

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the teacher should construct a matching pair test and the true or false test
respectively.

In case the need is to determine the overall development of a student, a

more reliable quick and easy way is to frame multiple choice questions
which is the order of the day.

DID YOU KNOW

There are two types of performance assessment
questions a) Extended Response Essay Questions
b)Restricted Response Essay
Questions

ACTIVITY
Compare the advantages of objective tests and
performance assessment.
F
Construct 5 true-false questions, 5 multiple
choice questions and 1 matching pair question
on any general subject.

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CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Tabulate the differences between the
various types of testing/ assessment.

KEY TERMS
Objective tests
MCQ's or Multiple choice Questions
Matching Pairs
One way assessment
Two way form of assessment

3.6

SUMMARY
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Objective tests are those where a student has to choose an answer from the
given alternatives.

There are many types of objective tests, but we studied multiple choice
questions, True False questions and matching pair questions in this unit.

In this unit we also learned to distinguish between the tests depending on the
uses, characteristics, limitations and advantages.

Construction of a test is a crucial task for a teacher as the performance of a

student in that test determines whether the learning objective has been
achieved.

We learnt how to determine the best suitable tests depending on the learning
outcome by one way process and also two way process.

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EXERCISES
SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
1. Distinguish between objective tests and performance tests.
2. Recall what are multiple choice questions, and true or false questions.
3. Review the various types of testing methods.
LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS
1. List differences between the various methods of objective tests.
2. Discuss the steps involved in planning a test.
3. Describe the advantages of multiple choice questions over other objective tests.

NOTES

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