Types of Objective Tests

We are concerned with developing objective tests for assessing the attainment of educational objectives
based on Bloom’s taxonomy in this Chapter. For this purpose, we restrict our attention to the following
types of objective tests:

(a) true-false items,

(b) multiple-choice type items,

(c) matching items,

(d) enumeration and filling of blanks and

(e) essays.

The first four types of objective tests are used to test the first four to five levels of the hierarchy of
educational objectives while the last (essay) is used for testing higher-order thinking skills.

The development of objective tests requires careful planning and expertise in terms of actual test
construction. The more seasoned teachers can produce true-false items that can test even higher-order
thinking skills and not just rote memory learning. Essays are easier to construct than the other types of
objective tests but the difficulty with which objective grades are derived from essay examinations often
discourage teachers from using this particular form of examination in actual practice.

Planning a Test and Construction of Table of Specifications (TOS)

The important steps in planning for a test are:

 Identifying test objectives

 Deciding on the type of objective test to be prepared

 Preparing a Table of Specifications (TOS)

 Constructing the draft test items

 Try-out and validation

Identifying Test Objectives

An objective test, if it is to be comprehensive, must cover the various levels of Bloom’s
taxonomy. Each objective consists of a statement of what is to be achieved and, preferably, by
how many percent of the students. 

Example. We want to construct a test on the topic: “Subject-Verb Agreement in English” for a
Grade V class. The following are typical objectives:
Knowledge. The students must be able to identify the subject and the verb in a given sentence.
Comprehension. The students must be able to determine the appropriate form of a verb to be
used given the subject of a sentence.
Application. The students must be able to write sentences observing rules on subject-verb
agreement.
Analysis. The students must be able to break down a given sentence into its subject and
predicate.
Synthesis/Evaluation. The students must be able to formulate rules to be followed regarding
the subject-verb agreement

Deciding on the type of objective test

The test objectives guide the kind of objective tests that will be designed and constructed by the
teacher. For instance, for the first four (4) levels, we may want to construct a multiple-choice
type of test while for application and judgment, we may opt to give an essay test or a modified
essay test.

Preparing a Table of Specifications (TOS)

A table of specifications or TOS is a test map that guides the teacher in constructing a test. The
TOS ensures that there is balance between items that test lower level thinking skills and those
which test higher order thinking skills ( or alternatively, a balance between easy and difficult
items) in the test. The simplest TOS consists of four (4) columns: (a) level of objective to be
tested, (b) statement of objective, (c) item numbers where such an objective is being tested, and
(d) Number of items and percentage out of the total for that particular objective. A prototype
table is shown below: 

Table of Specifications Prototype

In the table of specifications we see that there are five items that deal with knowledge and these
items are items 1,3,5,7,9. Similarly, from the same table we see that five items represent
synthesis, namely: 12, 14, 16, 18, 20. The first four levels of Bloom’s taxonomy are equally
represented in the test while application (tested through essay) is weighted equivalent to ten (10)
points or double the weight given to any of the first four levels. The table of specifications guides
the teacher in formulating the test. As we can see, the TOS also ensures that each of the
objectives in the hierarchy of educational objectives is well represented in the test. As such, the
resulting test that will be constructed by the teacher will be more or less comprehensive. Without
the table of specifications, the tendency for the test maker is to focus too much on facts and
concepts at the knowledge level.

Constructing the test items

The actual construction of the test items follows the TOS. As a general rule, it is advised that the
actual number of items to be constructed in the draft should be double the desired number of
items, For instance, if there are five (5) knowledge level items to be included in the final test
form, then at least ten (10) knowledge level items should be included in the draft. The
subsequent test try-out and item analysis will most likely eliminate many of the constructed
items in the draft (either they are too difficult, too easy or non-discriminatory), hence, it will be
necessary to construct more items than will actually be included in the final test form.

Item analysis and try-out

The test draft is tried out to a group of pupils or students. The purpose of this try out is to
determine the : (a.) item characteristics through item analysis, and (b) characteristics of the test
itself-validity, reliability, and practicality.

Constructing a True-False Test

Binomial-choice tests are tests that have only two (2) options such as true or false, right or
wrong, good or better and so on. A student who knows nothing of the content of the examination
would have 50°i chance of getting the correct answer by sheer guess work. Although correction-
for-guessing formulas exist, it is best that the, teacher ensures that a true-false item is able to
discriminate properly between those who know and those who are just guessing. A modified
true-false test can offset the effect of guessing by requiring students to explain their answer and
to disregard a correct answer if the explanation is incorrect. Here are some rules of thumb in
constructing true-false items.

Rule 1: Do not give a hint (inadvertently) in the body of the question.

Example: The Philippines gained its independence in 1898 and therefore celebrated its
centennial year in 2000. ______
Obviously, the answer is FALSE because 100 years from 1898 is not 2000 but 1998.

Rule 2: Avoid using the words “always”, “never” “often” and other adverbs that
tend to be either always true or always false.
Example: Christmas always falls on a Sunday because it is a Sabbath day.
Statements that use the word “always” are almost always false. A test-wise student can easily
guess his way through a test like these and get high scores even if he does not know anything
about the test.

Rule 3: Avoid long sentences as these tend to be “true”. Keep sentences short.
Example: Tests need to be valid, reliable and useful, although, it would require a great
amount of time and effort to ensure that tests possess these test characteristics. _______
Notice that the statement is true. However, we are also not sure which part of the sentence is
deemed true by the student. It is just fortunate that in this case, all parts of the sentence are true
and hence, the entire sentence is true. The following example illustrates what can go wrong in
long sentences:

Example: Tests need to be valid, reliable and useful since it takes very little amount of
time, money and effort to construct tests with these characteristics.
The first part of the sentence is true but the second part is debatable and may, in fact, be false.
Thus, a “true” response is correct and also, a “false” response is correct.
Rule 4. Avoid trick statements with some minor misleading word or spelling
anomaly, misplaced phrases, etc. A wise student who does not know the subject
matter may detect this strategy and thus get the answer correctly.
Example: True or False. The Principle of our school is Mr. Albert P. Panadero.
The Principal’s name may actually be correct but since the word is misspelled and the entire
sentence takes a different meaning, the answer would be false! This is an example of a tricky but
utterly useless item.

Rule 5: Avoid quoting verbatim from reference materials or textbooks. This

practice sends the wrong signal to the students that it is necessary to memorize the
textbook word for word and thus, acquisition of higher level thinking skills is not
given due importance.
Rule 6. Avoid specific determiners or give-away qualifiers. Students quickly learn
that strongly worded statements are more likely to be false than true, for example,
statements with “never” “no” “all” or “always.” Moderately worded statements are
more likely to be true than false. Statements with “many” “often” “sometimes”
“generally” ‘frequently” or “some” should be avoided.
Rule 7. With true or false questions, avoid a grossly disproportionate number of
either true or false statements or even patterns in the occurrence of true and false
statements.
Constructing Multiple Choice Tests
A generalization of the true-false test, the multiple-choice type of test offers the student with
more than two (2) options per item to choose from. Each item in a multiple-choice test consists
of two parts: (a) the stem, and (b) the options. In the set of options, there is a “correct” or
“best” option while all the others are considered “distracters”. The distracters are chosen in such
a way that they are attractive to those who do not know the answer or are guessing but at the
same time, have no appeal to those who actually know the answer. It is this feature of multiple-
choice type tests that allow the teacher to test higher-order thinking skills even if the options are
clearly stated. As in true-false items, there are certain rules of thumb to be followed in
constructing multiple-choice tests.

Guidelines in constructing Multiple Choice Items

Rule 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 rather than from the
wording of the question.
Example: What would be the system reliability of a computer system whose slave and
peripherals are connected in parallel circuits and each one has a known time to failure
probability of 0.05?
A student completely unfamiliar with the terms “slave” and “peripherals”may not be able to
answer correctly even if he knew the subject matter of reliability.

Rule 2: Do not use modifiers that are vague and whose meanings can differ from
one person to the next such as: much, often, usually, etc.
Example: Much of the process of photosynthesis takes place in the:
a. bark
b. leaf
c. stem
The qualifier “much” is vague and could have been replaced by more specific qualifiers like:”
90% of the photosynthetic process” or some similar phrase that would be more precise.

Rule 3: Avoid complex or awkward word arrangements. Also, avoid use of negatives

in the stem as this may add unnecessary comprehension difficulties.
Example:

(Poor) As President of the Republic of the Philippines, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino would
stand next to which President of the Philippine Republic subsequent to the 1986 EDSA
Revolution?
(Better) Who was the President of the Philippines after Corazon C. Aquino?
Rule 5: Do not use negatives or double negatives as such statements tend to be
confusing. It is best to use simpler sentences rather than sentences that would
require expertise in grammatical construction.
Example:

(Poor) Which of the following will not cause inflation in the Philippine economy?
(Better) Which of the following will cause inflation in the Philippine economy?
(Poor) What does the statement “Development patterns acquired during the formative
years are NOT Unchangeable” imply?
A.
B.
C.
D.
(Better) What does the statement “Development patterns acquired during the formative
years are changeable” imply?
A.
B.
C.
D.
 Rule 5: Each item stem should be as short as possible; otherwise you risk testing
more for reading and comprehension skills.
Rule 6: Distracters should be equally plausible and attractive.
Example: The short story: May Day’s Eve, was written by which Filipino author?
a. Jose Garcia Villa
b. Nick Joaquin
c. Genoveva Edrosa Matute
d. Robert Frost
e. Edgar Allan Poe
If distracters had all been Filipino authors, the value of the item would be greatly increased. In
this particular instance, only the first three carry the burden of the entire item since the last two
can be essentially disregarded by the students.

Rule 7: All multiple choice options should be grammatically consistent with the
stem.
Rule 8: The length, explicitness, or degree of technicality of alternatives should not
be the determinants of the correctness of the answer. The following is an example of
this rule:
Example: If the three angles of two triangles are congruent, then the triangles are:
a. congruent whenever one of the sides of the triangles are congruent
b. similar
c. equiangular and therefore. must also be congruent
d. equilateral if they are equiangular
The correct choice, “b,” may be obvious from its length and explicitness alone. The other
choices are long and tend to explain why they must be the correct choices forcing the students to
think that they are, in fact, not the correct answers!
Rule 9: Avoid stems that reveal the answer to another item.
Rule 10: Avoid alternatives that are synonymous with others or those that, include
or overlap others.
Example: What causes ice to transform from solid state to liquid state’?
a. Change in temperature
b. Changes in pressure
c. Change in the chemical composition
d. Change in heat levels
The options a and d are essentially the same. Thus, a student who spots these identical choices
would right away narrow down the field of choices to a, b, and c. The last distracter would play
no significant role in increasing the value of the item.

Rule 11: Avoid presenting sequenced items in the same order as in the text.
Rule 12: Avoid use of assumed qualifiers that many examinees may not be aware of.
Rule 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 the
evaluation). The items value is particularly damaged if the unnecessary material is
designed to distract or mislead. Such items test the student’s reading comprehension
rather than knowledge of the subject matter.
Example: The side opposite the thirty degree angle in a right triangle is equal to half the
length of the hypotenuse. If the sine of a 30-degree is 0.5 and its hypotenuse is 5, what is
the length of the side opposite the 30-degree angle?
a. 2.5
b. 3.5
c. 5.5
d. 1.5
The sine of a 30-degree angle is really quite unnecessary since the first sentence already gives
the method for finding the length of the side opposite the thirty-degree angle. This is a case of a
teacher who wants to make sure that no student in his class gets the wrong answer!
Rule 14:  Avoid use of non-relevant sources of difficulty such as requiring a complex
calculation when only knowledge of a principle is being tested.
Note in the previous example, knowledge of the sine of the 30-degree angle would have led
some students to use the sine formula for calculation even if a simpler approach would have
sufficed.

Rule 15: Avoid extreme specificity requirements in responses.

Rule 16: Include as much of the item as possible in the stem. This allows for less
repetition and shorter choice options.
Rule 17: Use the “None of the above” option only when the keyed answer is totally
correct. When choice of the “best” response is intended, “none of the above” is not
appropriate, since the implication has already been made that the correct response
may be partially inaccurate.
Rule 18: Note that the 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 two (2) options were correct, he could then deduce the correctness of
“all of the above”. This assumes you are allowed only one correct choice.
Rule 19: Having compound response choices may purposefully increase difficulty of
an item.
Rule 20: The difficulty of a multiple choice item may be controlled by varying the
homogeneity or degree of similarity of responses. The more homogeneous, the more
difficult the item.
Example:

(Less Homogeneous) Thailand is located in:

a. Southeast Asia
b. Eastern Europe
c. South America
d. East Africa
e. Central America 
(More Homogeneous) Thailand is located next to:
a. Laos and Kampuchea
b. India and China
c. China and Malaya
d. Laos and China
e. India and Malaya
Constructing Matching Type and Supply Type Items
The matching type items may be considered as modified multiple-choice type items where the
choices progressively reduce as one successfully matches the items on the left with the items on
the right.
Example: Match the items in column A with the items in column B.

A
_________1. Magellan
_________2. Mabini
_________3. Rizal
_________4. Lapu-Lapu
_________5. Aguinaldo

B
a. First President of the Republic
b. National Hero
c. Discovered the Philippines
d. Brain of Katiputian
e. The great painter
f. Defended Limasawa island 

Normally, column B will contain more items than column A to prevent guessing on the part of
the students. Matching type items, unfortunately, often test lower order thinking skills
(knowledge level) and are unable to test higher order thinking skills such as application and
judgement skills.

A variant of the matching type items is the data sufficiency and comparison type of test
illustrated below:

Example: Write G if the item on the left is greater than the item on the right; L if the item
on the left is less than the item on the right; E if the item on the left equals the item on the
right and D if the relationship cannot be determined.
A
1. Square root of 9 ______
2. Square root of 25 ______
3. 36 inches ______
4. 4 feet ______
5. 1 kilogram ______
B
a. -3
b. 615
c. 3 meters
d. 48 inches
e. 1 pound

The data sufficiency test above can, if properly constructed, test higher-order thinking skills.
Each item goes beyond simple recall of facts and, in fact, requires the students to make
decisions.
Another useful device for testing lower-order thinking skills is the supply type of tests. Like the
multiple-choice test, the items in this kind of test consist of a stem and a blank where the
students would write the correct answer.

Example: The study of life and living organisms is called ____________.

Supply type tests depend heavily on the way that the stems are constructed. These tests allow for
one and only one answer and, hence, often test only the students’ knowledge. It is , however,
possible to construct supply type of tests that will test higher order thinking as the following
example shows:

Example: Write an appropriate synonym for each of the following. Each blank

corresponds to a letter:
Metamorphose: _ _ _ _ _ _
Flourish: _ _ _ _
The appropriate synonym for the first is CHANGE with six(6) letters while the appropriate
synonym for the second is GROW with four (4) letters. Notice that these questions require not
only mere recall of words but also understanding of these words. 

Constructing Essay Tests

Essays, classified as non-objective tests, allow for the assessment of higher-order thinking skills.
Such tests require students to organize their thoughts on a subject matter in coherent sentences in
order to inform an audience. In essay tests, students are required to write one or more paragraphs
on a specific topic.

Essay questions can be used to measure the attainment of a variety of objectives. Stecklein
(1955) has listed 14 types of abilities that can be measured by essay items:

1. Comparisons between two or more things

2. The development and defense of an opinion
3. Questions of cause and effect
4. Explanations of meanings
5. Summarizing of information in a designated area
6. Analysis
7. Knowledge of relationships
8. Illustrations of rules, principles, procedures, and applications
9. Applications of rules, laws, and principles to new situations
10. Criticisms of the adequacy, relevance, or correctness of a concept, idea, or information
11. Formulation of new questions and problems
12. Reorganization of facts
13. Discriminations between objects, concepts, or events
14. Inferential thinking
Note that all these involve the higher-level skills mentioned in Bloom’s Taxonomy.
The following are rules of thumb which facilitate the scoring of essays:

Rule 1: Phrase the direction in such a way that students are guided on the key
concepts to be included.
Example: Write an essay on the topic: “Plant Photosynthesis” using the following
keywords and phrases: chlorophyll, sunlight, water, carbon dioxide, oxygen, by-product,
stomata.
Note that the students are properly guided in terms of the keywords that the teacher is looking for
in this essay examination. An essay such as the one given below will get a score of zero (0).
Why?

Plant Photosynthesis
Nature has its own way of ensuring the balance between food producers and consumers.
Plants are considered producers of food for animals. Plants produce food _for animals
through a process called photosynthesis. It is a complex process that combines various
natural elements on earth into the final product which animals can consume in order to
survive. Naturally, we all need to protect plants so that we will continue to have food on
our table. We should discourage the burning of grasses, cutting trees, and illegal
logging. If the leaves of plants are destroyed, they cannot perform photosynthesis and
animals will also perish.
Rule 2: Inform the students on the criteria to be used for grading their essays. This
rule allows the students to focus on relevant and substantive materials rather than
on peripheral and unnecessary facts and bits of information.
Example: Write an essay on the topic: “Plant Photosynthesis” using the keywords
indicated. You will be graded according to the following criteria: (a) coherence, (b)
accuracy of statements, (c) use of keywords, (d) clarity and (e) extra points for innovative
presentation of ideas.
Rule 3: Put a time limit on the essay test.
Rule 4: Decide on your essay grading system prior to getting the essays of your
students.
Rule 5: Evaluate all of the students’ answers to one question before proceeding to
the next question. Scoring or grading essay tests question by question, rather than student by
student, makes it possible to maintain a more uniform standard for judging the answers to each
question. This procedure also helps offset the halo effect in grading. When all of the answers on
one paper are read together, the grader’s impression of the paper as a whole is apt to influence
the grades he assigns to the individual answers. Grading question by question, of course.
prevents the formation of this overall impression of a student’s paper. Each answer is more apt to
be judged on its own merits when it is read and compared with other answers to the same
question. than when it is read and compared with other answers by the same student.
Rule 6: Evaluate answers to essay questions without knowing the identity of the
writer. This is another attempt is control personal bias during scoring. Answers to essay
questions should be evaluated in terms of what is written, not it terms of what is known about the
writers from other contacts with them. The best way to prevent our prior knowledge from
influencing our judgment is to evaluate each answer without knowing the identity of the writer.
This can be done by having the students write their names on the back of the paper or by using
code numbers in place of names. 
Rule 7: Whenever possible, have two or more persons grade each answer. The best
way to check on the reliability of the scoring of essay answers is to obtain two or
more independent judgments. Although this may not be a feasible practice for routine
classroom testing, it might be done periodically with a fellow teacher (one who is equally
competent in the area). Obtaining two or more independent ratings becomes especially vital
where the results are to be used for important and irreversible decisions, such as in the selection
of students for further training or for special awards. Here the pooled ratings of several
competent persons may be needed to attain level of reliability that is commensurate with the
significance of the decision being made.
Some teachers use the cumulative criteria i.e. adding the weights given to each criterion, as basis
for grading while others use the reverse. In the latter method, each student begins with a score of
100. Points are then deducted every time a teacher encounters a mistake or when a criterion is
missed by the student in his essay.