AN

ASSIGNMENT ON
TEACHER MADE TEST
(OBG)

SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY
Ms. MALAR MS. MANISHA
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR MSc. NURSING 1ST YEAR
HFCON HFCON
NON STANDARDIZED TEST
INRTODUCTION
Carefully constructed teacher-made tests and standardised tests are similar in many ways. Both are
constructed on the basis of carefully planned table of specifications, both have the same type of test items,
and both provide clear directions to the students. Still the two differ. They differ in the quality of test items,
the reliability of test measures, the procedures for administering and scoring and the interpretation of scores.
No doubt, standardised tests are good and better in quality, more reliable and valid. But a classroom teacher
cannot always depend on standardised tests. These may not suit to his local needs, may not be readily
available, may be costly, may have different objectives. In order to fulfil the immediate requirements, the
teacher has to prepare his own tests which are usually objective type in nature .Teacher-made tests are
normally prepared and administered for testing classroom achievement of students, evaluating the method of
teaching adopted by the teacher another curricular programmes of the school. Teacher-made test is one of
the most valuable instrument in the hands of the teacher to solve his purpose. It is designed to solve the
problem or requirements of the class for which it is prepared. It is prepared to measure the outcomes and
content of local curriculum. It is very much flexible so that, it can be adopted to any procedure and material.
It does not require any
sophisticated technique for preparation.
TEACHER MADE TEST
 Basically teacher made tests are used to evaluate the progress of the students in school. However, the
specific use of tests may vary from school to school and teacher or teacher.
 The test results can be used for students, teachers, and for other administrative purposes.
 These tests are very simple to use.
 Easy for the students.
 Teachers can assess the strengths and weaknesses of students.
 Tests are conducted continuously and children get immediate feedback.
 Teachers can understand the need for re- teaching concepts and can decide remedial instruction.
 Teacher made tests devised by the teachers are to meet their various needs and directives.
 Tests are not so carefully and scientifically prepared
 The items of teacher made tests are seldom analysed and edited.
 The types of behavioural changes covered are often limited in scope.
Features of Teacher-Made Tests:
1. The items of the tests are arranged in order of difficulty.
2. These are prepared by the teachers which can be used for prognosis and diagnosis purposes.
3. The test covers the whole content area and includes a large number of items.
4. The preparation of the items conforms to the blueprint.
5. Test construction is not a single man’s business, rather it is a co-operative endeavour.
6. A teacher-made test does not cover all the steps of a standardised test.
7. Teacher-made tests may also be employed as a tool for formative evaluation.
8. Preparation and administration of these tests are economical.
9. The test is developed by the teacher to ascertain the student’s achievement and proficiency in a given
subject.
10. Teacher-made tests are least used for research purposes.
11. They do not have norms whereas providing norms is quite essential for standardised tests.

Uses of Teacher-Made Tests:

1. To help a teacher to know whether the class in normal, average, above average or below average.
2. To help him in formulating new strategies for teaching and learning.
3. A teacher-made test may be used as a full-fledged achievement test which covers the entire course of a
subject.
4. To measure students’ academic achievement in a given course.
5. To assess how far specified instructional objectives have been achieved.
6. To know the efficacy of learning experiences.
7. To diagnose students learning difficulties and to suggest necessary remedial measures.
8. To certify, classify or grade the students on the basis of resulting scores.
9. Skilfully prepared teacher-made tests can serve the purpose of standardised test.
10. Teacher-made tests can help a teacher to render guidance and counselling.
11. Good teacher-made tests can be exchanged among neighbouring schools.
12. These tests can be used as a tool for formative, diagnostic and summative evaluation.
13. To assess pupils’ growth in different areas.
STEPS OF CONSTRUCTION OF TEACHER MADE TEST
A teacher-made test does not require a well-planned preparation. Even then, to make it more efficient and
effective tool of evaluation, careful considerations arc needed to be given while constructing such tests.
The following steps may be followed for the preparation of teacher-made test:
1. Planning:
Planning of a teacher-made test includes:
 Determining the purpose and objectives of the test, ‘as what to measure and why to
measure’.
 Deciding the length of the test and portion of the syllabus to be covered.
 Specifying the objectives in behavioural terms. If needed, a table can even be prepared for specifications
and weightage given to the objectives to be measured.
 Deciding the number and forms of items (questions) according to blueprint.
 Having a clear knowledge and understanding of the principles of constructing essay type, short answer
type and objective type questions.
 Deciding date of testing much in advance in order to give time to teachers for test preparation and
administration.
 Seeking the co-operation and suggestion of co-teachers, experienced teachers of other schools and test
experts.
2. Preparation of the Test:
Planning is the philosophical aspect and preparation is the practical aspect of test construction. All the
practical aspects to be taken into consideration while one constructs the tests. It is an art, a technique. One is
to have it or to acquire it. It requires much thinking, rethinking and reading before constructing test items.
 Different types of objective test items viz., multiple choice, short-answer type and matching type can be
constructed. After construction, test items should be given lo others for review and for seeking their opinions
on it.
 The suggestions may be sought even from others on languages, modalities of the items, statements given,
correct answers supplied and on other possible errors anticipated. The suggestions and views thus sought
will help a test constructor in modifying and verifying his items afresh to make it more acceptable and
usable.
 After construction of the test, items should be arranged in a simple to complex order. For arranging the
items, a teacher can adopt so many methods viz., group-wise, unitwise, topic wise etc. Scoring key should
also be prepared forthwith to avoid further delay in scoring.
 Direction is an important part of a test construction. Without giving a proper direction or instruction,
there will be a probability of losing the authenticity of the test reliability. It may create a misunderstanding
in the students also.
(i) The time for completion of test,
(ii) The marks allotted to each item,
(iii) Required number of items to be attempted,
(iv) How and where to record the answer? and
(v) The materials, like graph papers or logarithmic table to be used.
ESSAY TYPE QUESTION
An essay test presents one or more questions or other tasks that require extended written
responses form the person being tested.
Essay item is an item that requires the student to structure a rather long written response up to several
paragraphs.
CLASSIFICATION OF ESSAY QUESTION
EXTENDED RESPONSE
 In extended response, no restriction is placed on the student as to the points he or she will discuss and the
organisation of students will use.
 The students may select those point that he/she thinks more important, pertinent and relevant to his/ her
argument and the student may organise the material in whichever way he wishes.
 These are responses to essay questions in which examinee is only restricted by time as no bound is placed
as regards the depth, breadth and the organization of the response.
 This freedom to decide which facts he thinks is most pertinent to select his ownmethod of organization
and to write as much as seems necessary for a comprehensive answer tends to reveal the ability to evaluate
ideas, relate them, coherently and to express then succinctly.
 Most useful in measuring learning outcomes at the higher cognitive level of educational objectives such
as analysis, synthesis and evaluation levels.
RESTRICTED RESPONSE
 The students is more limited or restricted in or as to from and scope of his her answer, because the
student is specifically told the context in which his or her answer is to be made.
 The examinee is limited to the nature length or organization of response to be made. The items are
directional questions and are aimed at the desired responses. This limits the examinee freedom to select,
recall, and synthesize all that he knows and to present them logically as they wish.
 The restricted nature of the expected response in this type of items makes it more efficient for measuring
knowledge of factual material. It reduces to a reasonable extent the difficulty of scoring and encourages
more reliability in scoring
RULES FOR CONSTRUCTION ESSAY ITEMS
 Define the behaviour the student is expected to exhibit before writing the prompt.
ESSAY TYPE QUESTION
EXTENDED RESPONSE RESTRICTED RESPONSE
 Ask the student to use the knowledge in novel situations rather than simply recalling information.
 Ask question that are relatively specific and focused and which will elect relatively brief response.
 If you using many essay questions in a test, ensure reasonable coverage of the course objectives.
 Formulate question that present a clear task to be performed.
 Provide ample time for answering and suggest a time limit for each question.
 Indicate the point value for each question.
 Word question calling for an examinee opinion on controversial matters so that they ask the examinee to
give evidence to support the opinion and evaluate the examinee’s response in term of evidence presented
rather than the opinion or position taken.
 Require all the examinee to answer the same questions, don’t give optional questions.
GUIDELINES FOR CONSTRUCTING ESSAY TYPE QUESTIONS
i. Clearly define the intended learning outcome to be assessed by the item.
ii. Avoid using essay question for intended learning outcomes that are better assessed with other kinds of
assessment.
iii. Define the task and shape the problem situation.
iv. Helpful instruction: specify the relative point value and the approximate time limit
in clear directions.
v. Helpful guidance: state the criteria for grading.
vi. Avoid the use of optional questuons.
vii. Improve the essay question through, preview and review.
a) Predict student response
b) Write model answer
c) Ask a knowledge colleague to critically review the essay question, the model answer and the intended
learning outcome for alignment.
ADVANTAGES
 The main advantage of the essay question is that it measures complex learning outcomes that outcome
that cannot be measured by other means.
 It emphasis on integration and application of thinking and problem solving skills.
 It is relatively easy to prepare and administer a six question extended response essay test than then to
prepare and administer a comparable 60 multiple choice test items.
 It is the only mean that can assess an examinee’s ability, organize and present his ideas in logical and
coherent fashion.
 It takes relatively lesser time to mark an essay type test.
 They are more helpful in valuating quality of teaching process.
 Essay type questions makes students free to communicate their ability for independent thinking.
 Essay type question test the ability to the students to communicate in writing depth of knowledge and
understanding.
DISADVANTAGES
 They possess relative low validity and reliability because of the following factors:
a) Limited content sampling
b) Subjectivity of scoring
c) Contaminated by extraneous factors like spelling, good handwriting, closed inks, neatness, grammar,
lengths of answer.
d) Halo effect based judgement.
 Essay question are not given complete marks as objective type
 They are time consuming-both for the examiner and the examinee.
 Sometimes the mood of examiner also influences marking.
SHORT ANSWER QUESTION
Short-answer questions are open-ended questions that require students to create an answer. They are
commonly used in examinations to assess the basic knowledge and understanding (low cognitive levels) of a
topic before more in-depth assessment questions are asked on the topic.
Short answer items require the examinee to respond the item with a word, short phrase, number or a symbol.
A short answer item aims to test knowledge by asking student to supply a word, phrase or a number that
answer a question to complete a sentence.
FORMS OF SHORT ANSWER QUESTION
 Question form:
Here the item is presented as direct question,
e.g. Who is the founder of Modern Nursing?
 Association form:
Here an incomplete statement is used.
E.g. sphygmomanometer is used to measure ………………..
 Association form:
Here a few item is given outside the bracket. Students are expected to write the exact related response in
bracket
e.g. write the name of common instruments used which measure the following –
temperature (....................………….), Blood pressure (………………….…), heart rate
(……………….).
CONSTRUCTION
i. Design short answer items which are appropriate assessment of the learning objective
ii. Make sure the content of the short answer question measures knowledge appropriateto the desired
learning goal
iii. Express the questions with clear wordings and language which are appropriate to the student population
iv. Ensure there is only one clearly correct answer in each question
v. Ensure that the item clearly specifies how the question should be answered (e.g. Student should answer it
briefly and concisely using a single word or short phrase?
Is the question given a specific number of blanks for students to answer?)
vi. Consider whether the positioning of the item blank promote efficient scoring
vii. Write the instructions clearly so as to specify the desired knowledge and specificity of response
viii. Set the questions explicitly and precisely.
ix. Direct questions are better than those which require completing the sentences.
x. For numerical answers, let the students know if they will receive marks for showing partial work (process
based) or only the results (product based), also indicated the importance of the units.
xi. Let the students know what your marking style is like, is bullet point format acceptable, or does it have to
be an essay format?
xii. Prepare a structured marking sheet; allocate marks or part-marks for acceptable answer(s).
xiii. Be prepared to accept other equally acceptable answers, some of which you may not have predicted.
xiv. The test must be consistent. Do not require fill in gaps and matching in the same question.
xv. As much as possible the question must be set to elict only short answers. Do not construct long answer
question to short answer test.
SUGGESTIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION
 Word the item so that the required answer is both brief and specific.
 A direct question is generally more desirable than an incomplete statement.
 The question should not provide any clue.
 A direct question is generally more desirable than an incomplete statement.
 The question should not picked up exactly form the book.
 If the answer is to be expressed in numerical units, indicate the type of answer wanted.
 Blanks for the answers should be equal in length and in a column to the right of the question.
 If the answer is to expressed in numerical units, indicate the type of the answer wanted.
 The scoring key should be prepared.
 The blank space is to be completed with an important word rather than travail words.
ADVANTAGES
 Short Answer Questions are relatively fast to mark and can be marked by different assessors, as long as
the questions are set in such a way that all alternative answers can be considered by the assessors.
 Short Answer Questions are also relatively easy to set compared to many assessment methods.
 Short Answer Questions can be used as part of a formative and summative assessment, as the structure of
short answer questions are very similar to examination questions, students are more familiar with the
practice and feel less anxious.
 Unlike MCQs, there is no guessing on answers, students must supply an answer.
 A relatively large sample of the content can be covered by the inclusion of a large number of short
answer questions.
 It is useful in evaluating the ability to interpret diagrams, chart and graphs.
 There is little scope for the influence of handwriting.
 Easy to construct.
DISADVANTAGES
 Short Answer Questions (SAQ) are only suitable for questions that can be answered with short responses.
It is very important that the assessor is very clear on the type of answers expected when setting the
questions, because SAQ is an open-ended question, students are free to answer any way they choose, short-
answer questions can lead to difficulties in grading if the question is not worded carefully.
 Short Answer Questions are typically used for assessing knowledge only, students may often memorize
Short Answer Questions with rote learning. If assessors wish to use Short Answer Questions to assess
deeper learning, careful attention (and many practices) on appropriate questions are required.
 Accuracy of assessment may be influenced by handwriting/spelling skills.
 There can be times management issues when answering Short Answer Questions.
 There are not suitable for measuring complex outcomes.
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION
A multiple choice question item consists of a problem and a list of suggested solutions. The problem may be
stated as a direct question or an incomplete statement and is called the stem of the items. The test of
suggested solution may include word, phrases, number or symbols and are called as alternatives.
A multiple-choice question (MCQ) is composed of two parts:
 A stem that identifies the question or problem, and
 a set of alternatives or possible answers that contain a key that is the best answer to the question, and a
number of distractors that are plausible but incorrect answers to the question. Students respond to MCQs by
indicating the alternative that they believe best answers or completes the stem. There are many advantages
to using MCQs for assessment. One key advantage is that the questions are easy to mark and can even be
scored by a computer, which makes them an attractive assessment approach for large classes. Welldesigned
MCQs allow testing for a wide breadth of content and objectives and provide an objective measurement of
student ability.
STEM
 should be in the form of a question or of a stamen to be completed.
 Should be expressed clearly and concisely, avoiding poor grammar, complex
syntax, ambiguity and double negatives
 Should generally present a positive question
 Should generally ask for one answer only
 Should include as many as possible of the words common to all alternatives.
ALTERNATIVES
 Each item should have either four or five alternatives, all of which should be mutually exclusive and not
too long
 All alternatives should follow grammatically form of stem and be parallel in grammatical form
 The alternatives should be expressed simply enough to make clear the essential differences between
them, and must be unambiguous.

TYPES
I. SINGLE CORRECT ANSWER FORM
Single correct answer in items of the single-correct answer variety, all but one of the alternatives is
incorrect, the remaining alternatives is the correct answer. The student is directed to identify the correct
answer.
II. BEST ANSWER FORM
In items of the best answer variety the alternatives differ in their degree of correctness. Some may be
completely incorrect and some correct, but one is clearly more correct than the others. The best alternatives
serve as the answer, while the other alternatives function as distracters. The student is directed to identify the
best answer.
III. MULTIPLE RESPONSE FORM
In items of multiple response variety, two or more of the alternatives are keyed as correct answers, the
remaining alternatives serve as distracters. The student is directly to identify each correct answer.
IV. COMBINED RESPONSE FORM
In items of the combines-response variety, one or more of the alternatives are correct answers. The
remaining alternative serve as distracters. The student is directed to identify the correct answer or answer by
selecting one of the set of letters, each of which represent a combination of alternatives.
V. MULTIPLE TRUE-FALSE
In items the stem is judged for the correctness and incorrectness. The student is directed to identify the
statement as true or false.
VI. NEGATIVE
In items of the negative variety, the student is directed to identify either the alternative that is an incorrect
answer, or the alternative that is the worst answer. Any of the other multiple-choice varieties can be
converted into this negative format.
The following suggestions for designing MCQs are organized into three sections:
i. general strategies,
ii. designing stems, and
iii. designing alternatives.
GENERAL STRATEGIES
 Write questions throughout the term.
Multiple-choice question exams are challenging and time-consuming to create. You will find it easier if you
write a few questions each week, perhaps after a lecture when the course material is still fresh in your mind.
 Instruct students to select the “best answer” rather than the “correct answer”.
By doing this, you acknowledge the fact that the distractors may have an element of truth to them and
discourage arguments from students who may argue that their answer is correct as well.
 Use familiar language.
The question should use the same terminology that was used in the course. Avoid using unfamiliar
expressions or foreign language terms, unless measuring knowledge of such language is one of the goals of
the question. Students are likely to dismiss distractors with unfamiliar terms as incorrect.
 Avoid giving verbal association clues from the stem in the key.
If the key uses words that are very similar to words found in the stem, students are more likely to pick it as
the correct answer.
 Avoid trick questions.
Questions should be designed so that students who know the material can find the correct answer. Questions
designed to lead students to an incorrect answer, through misleading phrasing or by emphasizing an
otherwise unimportant detail of the solution, violate this principle.
 Avoid negative wording.
Students often fail to observe negative wording and it can confuse them. As a result, students who are
familiar with the material often make mistakes on negatively worded questions. In general, avoid having any
negatives in the stem or the options. In the rare cases where you use negatives be sure to emphasize the key
words by putting them in upper case, and bolding or underlining them. For example:
The University of Waterloo does NOT have a building of this name?
a.) B.C. Matthews Hall
b.) Carl A. Pollock Hall
c.) I.L. Neilson Hall
d.) Douglas Wright Engineering Building
DESIGNING STEMS
 Express the full problem in the stem.
When creating the item, ask yourself if the students would be able to answer the question without looking at
the options. This makes the purpose of the question clear.
 Put all relevant material in the stem.
Do not repeat in each of the alternatives information that can be included in the stem. This makes options
easier to read and understand, and makes it easier for students to answer the question quickly.
 Eliminate excessive wording and irrelevant information from the stem.
Irrelevant information in the stem confuses students and leads them to waste time: A number of books have
been published about the University of Waterloo. These books fall into various genres such as photographic
histories, biographies of prominent people involved with the University, and accounts of the history of
individual departments. Among them was a book whose author is known as "Simon the Troll".
What is the title of this book?
a.) Dreaming in Technicolor
b.) Water Under the Bridge
c.) Of Mud and Dreams
d.) Images of Waterloo
Most of the stem is not necessary to answer the question. A better question would be:
What is the title of the book about Waterloo written by “Simon the Troll”?
e.) Dreaming in Technicolor
f.) *Water Under the Bridge
g.) Of Mud and Dreams
h.) Images of Waterloo
DESIGNING ALTERNATIVES
 Limit the number of alternatives.
Use between three and five alternatives per question. Research shows that three-choice items are about as
effective as four or five-choice items, mainly because it is difficult to come up with plausible distractors.
 Make sure there is only one best answer.
Avoid having two or more options that are correct, but where one is “more” correct than the others. The
distractors should be incorrect answers to the question posed in the stem.
 Make the distractors appealing and plausible.
If the distractors are farfetched, students will too easily locate the correct answer, even if they have little
knowledge. When testing for recognition of key terms and ideas keep the distractors similar in length and
type of language as the correct solution. When testing conceptual understanding, distractors should represent
common mistakes made by students.
Waterloo Counselling Services provides workshops about:
a.) cooking skills
b.) hockey refereeing
c.) *study skills
d.) fire safety and prevention
It is unlikely that students would choose options a, b, or d, even if they didn’t know the answer. A better
question would have plausible links between the stem and the distractors:
Waterloo Counselling Services provides workshops about:
a.) preparing for marriage
b.) presentation skills
c.) * study skills
d.) psychotherapy research
 Make the choices gramatically consistent with the stem.
Read the stem and each of the choices aloud to make sure that they are grammatically correct.
 Place the choices in some meaningful order.
When possible, place the choices in numerical, chronological or conceptual order. A better structured
question is easier to read and respond to:
During what period was James Downey the president of Waterloo?
a.) 1990-1996
b.) 1991-1997
c.) 1992-1998
d.) *1993-1999
 Randomly distribute the correct response.
The exam should have roughly the same number of correct answers that are a's, b's, c's, and d's (assuming
there are four choices per question).
 Avoid using “all of the above”.
If “all of the above” is an option and students know two of the options are correct, the answer must be “all of
the above”. If they know one is incorrect, the answer must not be “all of the above”. A student may also read
the first option, determine that it is correct, and be misled into choosing it without reading all of the options.
 Avoid using “none of the above”.
The option “none of the above” does not test whether the student knows the correct answer, but only that
he/she knows the distractors aren’t correct.
 Refrain from using words such as always, never, all, or none.
Most students know that few things are universally true or false, so distractors with these words in them can
often be easily dismissed.
 Avoid overlapping choices.
Make the alternatives mutually exclusive. It should never be the case that if one of the distractors is true,
another distractor must be true as well.
 Avoid questions of the form “Which of the following statements is correct?”
There is no clear question being asked, and the choices are often heterogeneous. Such questions are better
presented in the form of True/False questions.
ADVANTAGES
 Versatility: multiple-choice test items are appropriate for use in many different subjects-matters areas,
and can be used to measure a great variety of educational
objectives.
 Validity: in general, it takes much longer to respond to an essay test question than it does to respond to a
multiple choice-question test item, since the composing and recording of an essay answer is such slow
process. A student is therefore able to answer many multiple-choice items in the time it would take to
answer a single essay question. Consequently, the test scores will likely to be more representative of the
student’s overall achievement in the course.
 Reliability: well written multiple-choice test items compare favourably with other test items on the issue
of reliability. They are less susceptible to guessing than are true-false test items, and therefore are capable of
producing more reliable scores. Their scoring is more clear cut than short-answer test item as there are no
misspelled or partial answer to deal with.
 Efficiency: multiple choice items are amendable to rapid scoring which is often done by scoring
machines. This expedites the reporting of the test results to the student so that any follow-up clarification of
instruments may be done before the course has preceded much enough.

DISADVANTAGES
 They are difficult to construct. The teacher cannot think of possible distractors.
 More time required to construct such items.
 It is difficult to find out four choices for each item
 They do not permit the examinee to express their own views.
 They cannot measure attitude and motor skills.
 An element of guess work is not entirely eliminated.