Types of test questions

"Education would be so much
more effective if its purpose were to
ensure that by the time they leave
school every boy and girl should
know how much they don't know,
and be imbued with a lifelong
desire to know it."

DIFFERENT
TYPES OF
TEST
QUESTIONS

Matching Type
• True – false
• Multiple choice
• Completion
• Matching type
• Numerical and algebraic Exercise
• Problem solving
• Essay

Matching Type
• The matching-type item is basically a
multiple choice test in which the
examinee associates an item in one
column with a choice in the second
column.
• Items are usually listed in the first
column and options in the second
column.
• Matching items are useful in
measuring students ability to make
associations, discern relationships,
make interpretations, or measure
knowledge of a series of facts.

Matching Type
The Matching Format
The matching test item format provides a
way for learners to connect a word,
sentence or phrase in one column to a
corresponding word, sentence or phrase
in a second column. The items in the first
column are called premises and the
answers in the second column are the
responses. The convention is for learners
to match the premise on the left with a
given response on the right. By
convention, the items in Column A are
numbered and the items in Column B are
labeled with capital letters.

Guidelines for Writing Matching Items
• Employ a homogeneous list.
• Use relatively brief lists, placing the
shorter words or phrase at the right.
• Employ more responses than premises
.
• Describe the basis for matching and
the number of times responses may be
used.
• Place all premises and responses for
an item on a single page.

Classification Items
• The classification Items consist of a list
of statements or words and a key list of
categories.
• The two lists may be arranged in
parallel columns with the statements
on the left and the categories on the
right.
• The directions should instruct the
students to classify each entry in the
list according to the letter of the
category for classification.

Guidelines for Writing Classification
Items
• Each word or statement must belong
definitely to one class or category.
• A clear explanation of the test and
classification system must be provided.
• The categories in the list of alternatives
should be exhaustive, mutually
exclusive, and yet have a relationship
within the structure.

Completion Items
• The completion test is the most
structured of all constructed –
response items and it offers the least
freedom in giving response.
• The task is presented in a sentence in
which a word, a number, a symbol, or a
series of words has been omitted.
• Students are asked to finish the
sentence by constructing a response
that makes a complete statement.

Guidelines for Writing Completion
Items
• The blank should be placed at or
near the end of the sentence.
• Write each item so that all students
have the same frame or reference.
• All blank spaces should be of the
same size.
• Indicate the unit to be used when
the response requires the unit of
measures.
• Write completion items with only
one blank or a related series of
blanks.
• There should be only one correct
response to each blank.

ACTIVITY
• Group Activity –Each group will
construct/write a sample test
items assigned for them.
• Group I – Matching Type
• Group II – Classification Item
• Group III – Completion Item

Short-Answer Essay Questions
• The short-answer
essay is intended to
elicit a brief response
to a question or
instruction.

Extended-Answer Essay Questions
• This technique is used when the
instructional intent is broadly
focused on a single objective and
the response to a question is
considered the whole
instructional intent.
• This is used in situations where
comprehensive knowledge is to
be tested to ascertain that this is
general and extensive rather
than specific and highly focused.

Criteria for Preparing Test Questions
 Assume that the examinees and examiner
know nothing at all about the objectives tests.
 Use a clear, succinct style and be explicit as
possible, but avoid long drawn-out
explanations.
 Emphasize the more important directions and
key activities through the use of underlining,
italics, or different types or sizes of style.
 Keep the directions for different forms,
subsections, or booklets as uniform as
possible.
 Wherever necessary, give practice items
before each regular section.

The Constructed-response
 Completion
 Short-answer essay
 Extended-answer essay

Constructed-response Items
Constructed –response items
presented tasks that require the
examinee to create response within the
structure provided by each item.

PROBLEM-SOLVING
 Mathematical problems
 Technical problems
 Open-search problems

Open-search Problem
1. Find all primes that are one less than a
fourth power.
2. Let S = (1,2,3,4,5,6,7). How can S be
partitioned so that the sum of the elements
in each subset is constant?
3. Draw plane figure with equal areas.
4. Plan an outing with your friends to a
certain resort and prepare a list of
expenses given that you have only Php
50,000.00
5. Design a basketball court, given the size
of the lot.

BINARY-Choice Items
 Binary choice items which are presented
in declarative form require the student to
decide on the truthfulness of a given
statement.
 The student marks “TRUE” if the
statement is essentially true and
“FALSE” if the statement is essentially
false.
 Alternative True-False
 YES – NO
 RIGHT – WRONG
 CORRECT – INCORRECT
 MODIFIED TRUE - FALSE

Multiple –Choice Items
 Multiple – choice items are presented to
a students who is to select a response
from a set of alternatives or options.
 The student’s task is usually introduced
in a direct questions or incomplete
statement known as STEM.
 The listed responses are known as
OPTIONS or ALTERNATIVES.
 The incorrect options are called
DISTRACTERS.

Guidelines for Writing Binary-choice
Items
 Writing items so that a superficial
analysis by the student suggests a
wrong answer.
 Use negative treatments rarely and
never use double negatives.
 Test only one concept in each statement.
 The number of items representing the
two categories being used should be the
same .
 Keep item length the same for both
categories being tested.

Varieties of Multiple-
Choice Items

The Correct-Answer Variety
1. This variety of the multiple –choice form
consists of an item stem followed by
several responses, one which is
ABSOLUTELY correct.
2. Here, the problem should clearly point to
the theme of the correct alternative
answer.
Example of Correct-Answer Variety
The value of (x+3) when 3x – 5 = 10 is
a. -5 c. 6
b. 5 d. 8

The Best-Answer Variety
This variety consists of a stem
followed by 4 or 5 suggested responses
that are correct or appropriates in varying
degrees. The examinee is instructed to
select the BEST response.

Variations
This is actually one of the great strengths of multiple-
choice items. There are several good variations that make
multiple choice a very flexible item format.
Correct Answer: The key is clearly right and the
distracters are clearly wrong. For example, computation
items often fit this category.
The formula for calculating Work is: a) ½*m*v2 b) 1N*m c)
m*g*h d) F*D*cos q
(Answer is a)

 Best Answer: Here, the key is the best
choice (most complete, most
comprehensive) while distracters, though
"correct", may be incomplete. What are
the key elements that define Work in
physics? a) force and cause b) force and
displacement c) force, cause and
displacement
(Answer is C)

 Interpretive Exercises: These rely on a stimulus material and
consist of a multiple-choice question or series of questions about
the stimulus. Stimulus material can consist of many things: text, a
graph, a picture, a table, etc. This format is particularly useful in
tapping into several different ways of knowing quickly. Based on
the same stimulus material, you can ask a knowledge question, an
application question and a synthesis question, for example.
 Problem A: You are asked to design a hoist system to move
sacks of grain from the entrance to a grain warehouse to a loft five
meters above the entrance. Each grain sack weighs 60 kg, and
the warehouse operator wants to move 20 bags per minute.
NOTE: Refer to Problem A when answering questions 1, 2 & 3.
◦ What formula would you use to compute the amount of work required
to move one bag of grain from the ground floor to the loft?
a) ½*m*v2
b) 1N*m
c) m*g*h
d) F*D*cos q
(Answer is a)

 Analysis
There are essentially two kinds of analysis possible with multiple choice
questions. The first kind of analysis, scoring models, deals with scoring
the test to determine student achievement. The second kind of analysis,
item analysis, deals with analyzing how well each test item functioned.
Scoring Models: With multiple-choice questions, there are several
potential ways to score students' responses. Here are two:
 One is the full credit model where the response is either correct or
incorrect. The student's total score is then the sum of correct responses.
 A second is a partial credit model where some responses receive full
credit and others fractional credit. This works best with “best answer
“questions or ones where students may choose more than one answer.
You can reward students who pick a correct but not best answer, for
example.
 A final issue in scoring is the weighting of items. The easiest approach is
to let each item equal one point so all are equally weighted. However,
based on the Test Blueprint or other considerations, you may decide to
prioritize some items over others and weight them accordingly in
computing the final score for the test.

Types of test questions

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked (9)

Similar to Types of test questions (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Types of test questions