ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING 1

TEST CONSTRUCTION PART 2

GUIDELINES IN CONSTRUCTING OBJECTIVE TYPE TESTS

Constructing a Multiple Choice Test

1. Do not use unfamiliar words, terms and phrases. The ability of the item to discriminate or
its level of difficulty should stem from the subject matter than the wording of the question.
2. Do not use modifier that are vague and whose meaning can differ from one person to the
next such as much, often, usually, etc.
3. Do not use negatives or double negatives as such as statement tends to be confusing, it is
best to use simpler sentences rather than sentences that would require expertise in
grammatical construction.
4. Each item stem should be as short as possible; otherwise, you risk testing more for
reading and comprehension skills.
5. Distracters should be equally plausible and attractive.
6. All multiple options should be grammatically consistent with the stem.
7. The length, explicitness, or degree of technicality of alternatives should not be
determinants of the correctness of the answer.
8. Avoid stems that reveal the answer to another item.
9. Having compound response choices may purposefully increase difficulty of an item.
10. Avoid alternatives that are synonymous with others or those that, include or overlap
others.
11. Avoid presenting sequenced items in the same order as in the next.
12. Avoid use of assumed qualifiers that many examinees may not be aware of. Avoid
complex or awkward word arrangement. Also avoid use of negatives in the stem as this
may add unnecessary comprehension difficulties.
13. Avoid use of unnecessary words or phrases, which are not relevant to the problem at hand
(unless such discriminating ability is the primary intent of evaluation).
14. Avoid use of non-relevant sources of difficulty such as requiring a complex calculation
when only knowledge of a principle is being tested.
15. Avoid extreme specificity requirements in responses.
16. Include as much of the item as possible in the stem. This allows less repetition and shorter
choice options.
17. Use the “None of the above” option only when the keyed answer is totally correct. When
choice of the “best” responses is intended, “None of the above” is not appropriate, since
the implication already been made that the correct response may be partially inaccurate.
18. Note that use of “All of the above” may allow credit for partial knowledge. In a multiple
option item, (allowing only one option choice) if a student only knew that options were
correct, he could then deduct the correctness of “All of the above”. This assumes you are
allowed only once correct choice.
19. The difficulty of the multiple choices item may be controlled by varying the homogeneity or
degree of similarity of responses. The more homogenous, the more difficult the item
20. Ensure that the stem asks a clear question.
21. Reading level is appropriate to the students
22. The stem is grammatically correct.
 23. Negatively stated stems are discouraged.
24. Use negatively stated stems sparingly and when using negatives such as NOT, underline
or bold the print.
25. Use none of the above and all of the above sparingly, and when you do use them, don't
always make them the right answer.
26. Only one option should be correct or clearly best.
27. All options should be homogenous and nearly equal in length.
28. The stem (question) should contain only one main idea.
29. Keep all options either singular or plural.
30. Have four or five responses per stem (question).
31. When using incomplete statements place the blank space at the end of the stem versus
the beginning.
32. When possible organize the responses.
33. Reduce wordiness.
34. When writing distracters, think of incorrect responses that students might make.

Constructing a True-False Test

1. Do not give a hint (inadvertently) in the body of the question.
2. Avoid using the words “always”, “never”, “often” and other adverbs that tend to be either
always true or always false.
3. Avoid long sentences as these tend to be true. Keep sentences short.
4. Avoid trick statements with some minor misleading words or spelling anomaly, misspelled
phrases, etc. A wise student who does not know the subject matter may detect this
strategy and thus, get the answer correctly.
5. Avoid quoting verbatim from reference materials or textbooks. This practice sends the
wrong signal to student that is necessary to memorize the textbook word for word and
thus, acquisition of higher-level thinking skills is not given due importance.
6. Avoid specific determiners or give-away qualifiers. Students quickly that strongly worded
statement are more likely to be false than true, for examples, statements with “never”,
“no”, “all” or “always”, “moderately”, “generally”, “frequently” or “some” should be avoided.
7. With true or false questions, avoid a grossly disproportionate number of either true or false
statements or even pattern on the occurrence of true and false statements.
8. Each statement is clearly true or clearly false.
9. Trivial details should not make a statement false.
10. Statements are written concisely without more elaboration than necessary.
11. Statements are NOT quoted exactly from text.
12. Give emphasis on the use of quantitative terms than qualitative terms.
13. Avoid using of specific determiners which usually gives a clue to the answer.
False = all, always, never, every, none, only
True = generally, sometimes, usually, maybe, often
14. Discourage the use of negative statements.
15. Whenever a controversial statement is used, the authority should be quoted.
16. Discourage the use of pattern for answers.
Constructing a Completion/Supply Test
1. Word the test item clearly and comprehensively enough to allow a student who is
knowledgeable in the subject area to answer correctly.
2. Make sure the missing segment of the incomplete statement item is important, such as a
key element of a process or a piece of equipment.
3. In incomplete statement items, do not omit too many words or the statement will become
unclear and force student to guess.
4. In incomplete statements, make sure the response position appears near or at the end of
the stem. Items with the response position near the beginning are harder to read and take
longer to answer.
5. Provide sufficient space on the answer sheet for students to enter their response.
6. Use a direct question to test for comprehension of technical terms or knowledge of
definitions.
7. Do not make the correct answer a “giveaway” word that could be guessed by students
who do not really know the information. In addition, avoid giving grammatical cues or other
cues to the correct answer.
8. Avoid using statements taken directly from the curriculum.
9. Develop grading criteria that lists all acceptable answers to the test item. Have subject
matter experts determine the acceptable answers.
10. Only significant words are omitted.
11. When omitting words, enough clues are left so that the student who knows the correct
answer can supply the correct response.
12. Ensure that grammatical clues are avoided.
13. Blanks are at the end of the statement.
14. The length of the responses is limited to single words or short phrases.
15. Questions are not lifted as verbatim quotes from text.

Constructing a Matching Type Test

1. Check your objectives to make sure this type of question is appropriate.
2. Include more responses than premises or allow responses to be used more than once.
3. Put the items with more words in Column A
4. Arrange items in Column B in either a logical, chronological, natural order or alphabetically
if there is no apparent organizational basis.
5. Check your objectives to make sure this type of question is appropriate.
6. Include more responses than premises or allow responses to be used more than once.
7. Put the items with more words in Column A
8. Arrange items in Column B in either a logical, chronological, natural order or alphabetically
if there is no apparent organizational basis.
9. Check your objectives to make sure this type of question is appropriate.
10. Include more responses than premises or allow responses to be used more than once.
11. Put the items with more words in Column A
12. Arrange items in Column B in either a logical, chronological, natural order or alphabetically
if there is no apparent organizational basis.
13. The list of responses should be relatively short.
14. Response options should be arranged alphabetically or numerically.
 15. Directions clearly indicate the basis for matching.
 Can responses be used more than once?
 Where will you place your answer?
 Can students infer relationships or are they based on real world logic?
16. Position of matches should be varied. Avoid using patterns.
17. The choices of each matching set should be on one page
18. There are more responses than premises in a single set if responses cannot be used more
than once.
19. The premises are homogeneous as well as the responses and are grouped as one item.
Example:
Set A: Provinces in Region I
Set B: Provinces in CAR
20. If responses can be used more than once, it should be proportional to the number of
premises (3:5 or 4:10)

Constructing an Essay Test

Extended Response Type

The test may be answered by the examinee in whatever manner he wants
Example: Do you think teachers should be allowed to work abroad as domestic helpers?
Explain your answer.

Restricted Response Type

The test limits the examinees response may be answered by the examinee’s responses in terms
of length, content, style or organization.
Example: Give and explain three reasons why the government should or should not allow
teachers to work abroad as domestic helpers.

1. The task is clearly defined. The students are given an idea on the scope and direction you
intended for the answer to take. The question starts with a description of the required
behavior to put them in the correct mind frame.
E.g. “Compare” or “Analyze”

2. The questions are written in the linguistic level appropriate to the students.
3. Questions require a student to demonstrate command of background information, not
simply repeating information.
4. Questions regarding a student’s opinion on a certain issue should focus not on the opinion
but on the way, it is presented and argued.
5. A larger number of shorter, more specific questions are better, than, one or two longer
questions.
6. Proposed Criteria in Grading Essay Test
 Ideas (20%)
 Weight of Evidence Presented (40%)
 Correct Usage (20%)
 Logical Conclusions drawn from the evidence (20%)