Developing

and Using
Tests
Effectively

Planning a Test
Two Vital Parts
The content, skills or processes
that will be covered on the test
The
cognitive skills to be
measured-Blooms Taxonomy

KNOWLEDGE

COMPREHENSION
APPLICATION
ANALYSIS
SYNTHESIS
EVALUATION

KNOWLEDGE
Emphasis

is on
recall whether of
specifics
or
universals

COMPREHENSIO
N
Emphasis is on grasp of
meaning,
intent
or
relationship in oral,
written, graphic, or nonverbal communication

APPLICATION
Emphasis

is
on
applying appropriate
principles
or
generalizations

ANALYSIS
Emphasis

is on breakdown into
constituent parts and detection
of relationships of the parts and
of the way they are organized.
Analysis is often an aid to
comprehension or prelude to
evaluation

SYNTHESIS
Emphasis

is on putting
together elements or parts
to form a whole not clearly
there before the student
performance

EVALUATION
Emphasis

is on values,
making
qualitative
or
quantitative judgments with
criteria from internal or
external sources and with
standards

Other
Factors
that
Influence what Kind of

Test
toyour
Give
Size of
class
Time availability
Scoring or checking of the test
What has been taught/stressed
The cognitive level of response
expected

How Long Should the Test

Be?
Test

length is mostly
influenced by the time
available

Rule of Thumb
True and false ------- 30 seconds each
Multiple choice ------ one minute each
Completion items ---- one minute each
Short answer items ---- two minutes
each
Multiple choice requiring higher level
thinking -- 90 seconds

 Matching

items -------------- 30
seconds each
Short essays ----------------- 1015
minutes
Extended

essay ------------- 30
minutes (2-3 pages)

Other Time
Considerations

A reasonable number of items for

a fifty-minute multiple choice test
is 50 items, for a true or false test
it would be 80-90 items.
The fastest student will typically
finish a test in about half the time
as the slowest student.

Keep in mind the greater the

number of items the better the
reliability of the test.
However, the test should allow
almost every student to attempt
every question.

What about using an

optional
items
or
Permitting students to choose which of
student
several test choice
questions totest?
answer is not
considered sound measurement practice.
The test actually becomes several
different tests and therefore you are not
evaluating each student on the same
basis. Also, this type of test may cause
students to not study all of the material.

General Guidelines for

Test Item Development
Test

for important ideas and

skillsnot trivial details
continually ask the question,
"What knowledge, ability or
skills are most worthwhile for
students to know?"

Write items as simply as possible,

making certain that the students
know exactly what information is
being requestedIt is easy to be
confusing
because
teachers
know the information so well
that they often do not recognize
what they take for granted or
assume students know

Make items appropriate for

the age and ability levels of
the students. The cognitive
developmental
level
of
students needs to be taken into
account as well as vocabulary,
cultural and other background
information.

 Students

that are dualistic

thinkers will have great
difficulty with questions that
require them to deal with
situations which may have
many possible answers or
solutions.

Make certain that objective

questions have only one correct
or one best answer. Ask
students for the best answer
as some very effective
distracters can have elements of
correctness to them.

Avoid irrelevant clues and

"give away" itemssubject
verb agreement, grammatical
clues, similar words in the
stem of the question as in the
answers, etc.

Have someone else review

the test before giving it to
the studentsthey can
often see the lack of clarity,
or unintended clues.

Developing
Test
Items
Recommendation
is
to use items that 5070% of the students
can answer correctly.

The

items should be
difficult enough that
students that did not
study will get it wrong
but students that did
study will get it right.

few items may be used

to challenge the upper
end of your students,
but the general rule is
that the items should be
of average difficulty.

What makes an item

difficult?
The content it asks about
The

cognitive skill being

measured

The

students
learning experience
The construction of
the item itself

end