Now that you have practiced evaluating multiple-choice items and revising in

order to improve the quality of each item, let us proceed to the presentation of
sample items according to learning targets. Discussions are excerpted mainly from
McMillan (2018). Additional explanations and illustrations are either based on or
taken from Anderson and Krathwohl (2001), Kubiszyn and Borich (2013), and Miller,
Linn, and Gronlund (2009). Some examples have been revised for contextual
relevance.

Assessing Knowledge and Comprehension

Knowledge (remembering) and comprehension (understanding) targets are

important in all subjects. Declarative knowledge of terminology and facts is
effectively assessed with multiple-choice items, as is procedural knowledge. Here
are some examples of good items for measuring terminology:

Which of the following best defines reliability/precision?

A. Consistency of scores
B. Accuracy of scores
C. Fairness of the assessment
D. Test specifications

What is the best definition of validity?

A. The consistency of scores.
B. The reasonableness of the inferences made from test scores.
C. Whether a test measures what it purports to measure.
D. The extent to which the scores are free from errors.

Knowledge of facts builds an important foundation for other kinds of

learning, such as application, deep understanding, and reasoning. We normally
think about facts as the four Ws--what, where, when, and who, but multiple-choice
items designed to measure specific facts can take various forms. The following
items illustrate the assessment of specific facts:

Who was the first president of the Philippines?

A. Jose Laurel
B. Sergio Osmeña
C. Manuel Quezon
D. Emilio Aguinaldo

How many sides does a pentagon have?

A. 4
B. 5
C. 6
D. 7

Multiple-choice items are also useful for measuring knowledge of principles,

for example:

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 Which of the following is the best description of the principle of supply and
demand?
A. As supplies go up, prices go up.
B. As prices go up, supplies go up.
C. As supplies go up, prices go down.
D. As supplies go down, prices go down.

Another common learning outcome readily acceptable to the

multiple-choice format is knowledge of methods and procedures. This includes such
diverse areas as knowledge of laboratory procedures; knowledge of methods
underlying communication, computational, and performance skills; knowledge of
methods used in problem solving; knowledge of governmental procedures; and
knowledge of common social practices.
In some cases, we might want to measure knowledge of procedures before
we allow students to practice in a particular area (e.g., laboratory procedures). The
following test items illustrate a few of these uses in different school subjects.

Which of the following methods of locating a specimen under the

microscopy is most desirable?
A. Start with the coarse adjustment up, and with your eye at the
eyepiece, turn down the coarse adjustment.
B. Start with the coarse adjustment down, and with your eye at the
eyepiece, turn up the coarse adjustment.
C. Start with the coarse adjustment in the center, and with your eye at
the eyepiece, turn up and down until you locate the specimen.

If you were making a scientific study of a problem, your first step should be
to:
A. select scientific equipment.
B. develop hypotheses to be tested.
C. collect information about the problem.
D. design the experiment to be conducted.

To make treaties, the president must have the consent of the

A. Senate
B. Cabinet
C. Supreme Court
D. House of Representatives

Alternating electric current is changed to direct current by means of a

A. transformer.
B. condenser.
C. generator.
D. rectifier.

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 Comprehension is demonstrated when students understand the essential
meaning of a concept, principle, or procedure. They show this by identifying
explanations and examples, by converting and translating, and by interpreting and
predicting.
Test items that assess knowledge can be changed easily to assess
comprehension. For instance, simply change the words used to describe or define
something so that it is not verbatim from the instructional materials. Higher levels
of comprehension require more work. Suppose that as a student you have learned
that “photosynthesis is the process by which plants use light to make glucose.” The
following example shows how to measure this as comprehension.

Which of the following is most consistent with the process of

photosynthesis?
A. Plants that get light do not need to make glucose.
B. Plants that get less light make less glucose.
C. Glucose is produced from plants before photosynthesis.
D. Energy is stored in plants as glucose.

In reviewing items in this module from comprehension (understanding) to

higher levels, it is important to keep in mind that such items measure learning
outcomes beyond factual knowledge only if the applications and interpretations are
new to the students. Any specific applications or interpretations of knowledge can,
of course, be taught directly to students. When this is done, and the test items
contain the same problem situations and solutions used in teaching, assessment is only
on the level of retention of factual knowledge. To measure understanding and higher
levels of learning, an element of novelty must be included in the test items.
Ability to exemplify and classify. A common method of determining
whether students’ learning has gone beyond the mere memorization of a fact or
principle is to ask them to select a specific example/illustration (exemplifying) or
recognizing that an example belongs to a certain category (classifying). Again, it is
important to keep in mind that these examples are ones not encountered during
instruction.

Which of the following is an example of a chemical element?

A. Acid
B. Water
C. Oxygen
D. Sodium chloride

Which of the following best illustrates the law of diminishing returns?

A. A machine decreased in utility as its parts become worn.
B. A factory doubled its labor force and increased production by 50%.
C. The population of a country increased faster than the means of
subsistence.
D. The demand for a farm product increased faster than the supply of
the product.

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 Ability to interpret cause-and-effect relationships. Understanding can
frequently be measured by asking students to interpret various relationships among
facts. One of the most important relationships in this regard, and one common to
most subject-matter areas, is the cause-and-effect relationship. Understanding of
such relationships can be measured by presenting students with a specific
cause-and-effect relationship and asking them to identify the reason that best
accounts for it.

Bread will not become moldy as rapidly if placed in a refrigerator because

A. cooling slows down the growth of fungi.
B. darkness slows down the growth of mold.
C. mold requires both heat and light for best growth.
D. cooling prevents the bread from drying out so rapidly.

Ability to justify methods and procedures. A student might know the correct
method or sequence of steps in carrying out a procedure without being able to
explain why it is the best method or sequence of steps. At the understanding level,
we are interested in the student’s ability to justify the use of a particular method or
procedure. This can be measured by asking the student to select the best of several
possible explanations of a method or procedure.

Why is adequate lighting necessary in a balanced aquarium?

A. Plants expel carbon dioxide in the dark
B. Plants grow too rapidly in the dark.
C. Fish need light to see their food.
D. Fish take in oxygen in the dark.

Why do farmers rotate their crops?

A. To conserve the soil.
B. To make marketing easier.
C. To provide for strip cropping.
D. To remove the brownish yellow color.

Assessing Application

Understanding is demonstrated through application when students are able

to use what they know to solve problems in a new situation or context. This is a
more sophisticated type of understanding than comprehension, and it includes the
ability to interpret new information with what is known and to apply rules,
principles, and strategies.
Obviously, this is a very important type of learning target, because we want
students to apply what they learn in school to new situations outside school.
Knowing something well enough to apply it successfully to new situations is called
learning for transfer. The goal is to have sufficient understanding to transfer what is
known to different situations.
Perhaps the best example of learning for application is mathematics. At one
level, students can memorize the steps for solving certain kinds of math

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problems--that is, what to do first, second, and so forth. They may even show some
comprehension by being able to explain the steps in their own words. But if they
cannot apply the steps to new problems and get the right answer, we conclude that
they really don’t understand the process. That’s why we give math tests with new
problems.
Likewise, much of what we do in language arts instruction is focused on
understanding at the application level. Students learn rules for grammar, sentence
structure, to write drafts before final copy, and reading skills. We conclude that they
actually understand how to read and write by demonstrating their skill with new
material.
Your goal in assessing application is to construct items that contain new data
or information that students work with to obtain the answer, and to create new
problems in which students extend what they know in a novel way. The extent of
newness determines, to some extent, item difficulty and degree of understanding
demonstrated.
Items that contain completely new or unfamiliar material are generally more
difficult than items in which there are only small differences between what was
learned and the content of the question. This is why students may be able to solve
new mathematics computational problems well but have trouble applying the same
procedures to word problems that put the question in a new context.
The key feature of application items, then, is presenting situations that the
students have not previously encountered. There are several strategies for
constructing such items. One approach is to present a fictional problem that can be
solved by applying appropriate procedural knowledge. For example, if students
have learned about electricity and resistance, the following objective questions
would test at the application level.

Sara has decided to make two magnets by wrapping wire around a nail and
attaching the wires to a battery so that the electric current can create a
magnetic force. One magnet (Y) uses thin wire, and one magnet (Z) uses
thick wire. Which magnet will be the strongest?
A. Y
B. Z
C. Y and Z will be the same
D. Cannot be determined

A researcher investigated whether a new type of fertilizer would result in

greater growth of corn plants. What is the independent variable?
A. Growth of corn plants
B. The researcher
C. Type of fertilizer
D. Amount of sunlight

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 Baste saves up P150.00 from his weekly allowance. He needs to buy a new
phone charger which costs P300.00, earphones, and a small present for his
baby sister. The earphones will cost P225.00 and the present will cost P75.00.
How many weeks will Baste have to wait before he can save up enough for
the charger, earphones, and the present?
A. 2
B. 3
C. 4
D. 5

Assessing Reasoning and Deep Understanding

When we assess reasoning, we are often measuring how much students

understand. Single multiple-choice items can be used to assess reasoning in two
ways. One way is to focus on a particular skill to determine whether students are
able to recognize and use that skill. A second use is to assess the extent to which
students can use their knowledge and skills in performing a problem-solving,
decision-making, or other reasoning task. The first use is illustrated with the
following examples:

(Distinguishing fact from opinion) Which of the following statements about

our solar system is a fact rather than an opinion?
A. A star is formed from a white dwarf.
B. The moon is made of attractive white soil.
C. Stars can be grouped into important clusters.
D. Optical telescopes provide the best way to study the stars.

(Recognizing bias) Peter told the group that “the ill-prepared, ridiculous
senator has no business being involved in this important debate.” Which
words make Peter’s statement biased?
A. Important, senator
B. Important, business
C. Ill-prepared, ridiculous
D. Debate, involved

(Comparison) One way in which insects are different from centipedes is that:
A. they are different colors
B. one is an arthropod.
C. centipedes have more legs.
D. insects have two body parts.

(Analysis) Reginald decided to go boating with a friend. He took supplies

with him so he could eat, repair anything that might be broken, and find
where on the lake he could go. Which of the following supplies would best
meet his needs?
A. Bread, hammer, map
B. Water, bread, screwdriver

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 C. Screwdriver, hammer, pliers
D. Map, hammer, pliers, screwdriver

Read the teacher's comment below before answering the questions that
follow. “Students go to school to learn, not to take tests. In addition, tests
cannot be used to indicate a student’s absolute level of learning. All tests can
do is rank students in order of achievement, and this relative ranking is
influenced by guessing, bluffing, and the subjective opinions of the teacher
doing the scoring. The teaching-learning process would benefit if we did away
with tests and depended on student self-evaluation.”

(Identifying assumptions) Based on the comment, what unstated assumption is the

teacher making?
A. Students go to school to learn.
B. Teachers use essay tests primarily.
C. Tests make no contribution to learning.
D. Tests don’t indicate absolute level of learning.

(Analysis) Which of the following types of tests is this teacher primarily talking
about?
A. Diagnostic
B. Formative
C. Placement
D. Summative

(Synthesis) Which of the following statements is most essential to the final

conclusion?
A. Tests place students in rank order only.
B. Students do not go to school to take tests.
C. Effective self-evaluation does not require the use of tests.
D. Test scores are influenced by factors other than achievement.

The next few examples show how multiple-choice items can be used to
assess the students’ ability to perform a reasoning task.

(Hypothesizing) What would most likely happen if there were a significant increase
in hawks (lawin) in a given area?
A. The number of plants would increase.
B. The number of rats would increase.
C. There would be fewer hawk nests.
D. The number of mice would decrease.

(Problem solving) Farmers want to be able to make more money for the crops they
grow, but too many farmers are growing too many crops. What can the farmers do
to make more money?
A. Try to convince the public to pay higher prices
B. Work on legislation to turn farmlands into parks
C. Reduce the number of farmers
D. Agree to produce fewer crops

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 (Critical thinking) Mr. Magsaysay is deciding which car to buy. He is
impressed with the sales representative for the Boondock Motors, and he
likes the color of Wagon Queen. The Boondock Motors is smaller and gets
more kilometers to the liter. The Wagon Queen takes larger tires and has a
smaller trunk. More people can ride in the Boondock Motors. Which should
Mr. Magsaysay buy if he wants a car that is eco-friendly?
A. Boondock Motors
B. Wagon Queen
C. Either car
D. Can’t decide from the information given

(Predicting) Suppose that there was a drought for several years and rice
production was much less than usual, what would happen to the price of
rice?
A. The price would rise.
B. The price would fall.
C. The price would stay the same.
D. People would eat less rice.

Good multiple-choice items are the most time-consuming kind of objective

test items to write. Unfortunately, most multiple-choice items are also written at
the knowledge level of the taxonomy of educational objectives. As mentioned
previously, one reason for constructing a test blueprint is to ensure that our test
measures higher-level thinking skills. To do this, the first step is to write at least
some objectives that measure understanding, application, and other higher levels of
thinking.
In addition to the suggestions in writing higher-level multiple-choice
questions earlier presented in this section, the item writer can also use pictorial,
graphical, or tabular stimuli. Pictures, drawings, graphs, tables, and so on require
the student to think at the application level and may involve even higher levels of
cognitive processes.
The item writer can also use analogies that demonstrate relationships
among terms. To answer analogies correctly, students must not only be familiar
with the terms, but must also be able to understand how the terms relate to one
another, as the following examples show:

Man is to woman as boy is to

A. father.
B. mother.
C. girl.
D. boy.

Physician is to humans as veterinarian is to

A. fruits.
B. animals.
C. minerals.
D. vegetables.

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 The examples presented are intended to stimulate your creativity--they are
by no means exhaustive of the many approaches to measuring higher-level
cognitive skills with multiple-choice items.
In all your item-writing, remember the main point: Be sure your items match
your objectives. Do not write higher-level items if your objectives are at the
knowledge level. In the same way, do not write knowledge-level items if your
objectives target high-level thinking skills. Doing so will impair your test’s content
validity.
For more sample items, refer to the following document: Revised Bloom's
Taxonomy.

Activity 5C

Task Description: This activity is designed to test your ability to construct

multiple-choice items measuring different levels of thinking, particularly (I)
Remember, (II) Understand, (III) Apply/Analyze/Evaluate. Apply good item writing
practices presented in the guidelines.

Task Instructions:
1. Based on the test blueprint constructed for Activity 5A, select one or two
learning outcomes that measure each of the following levels: (I) Remember,
(II) Understand, and (III) Apply/Analyze/Evaluate.
2. Write a total of fifteen multiple-choice items, five items each for every level
specified in this task.
3. Indicate the level of thinking and learning outcome for every set of items.
Use the following format:
REMEMBER
Learning outcome:
Test item 1
Test item 2

4. Review the test items using the same checklist used in Activity 5B.
5. Make necessary revisions.

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