Chapter 5 Distinguishing and Constructing Various Paper and Pencil

Tests

Lesson 5.2 Types of Paper and Pencil Test

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Types of Paper and Pencil Test

Development of paper-and-pencil 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 test, but
the difficulty in scoring essay examinations teachers from using this particular form
of examination in actual practice.

5.3. Constructing Selected-Response Type

5.3.1 True-False Test
Binomial-choice or alternate response tests are tests that have only two (2)
options such as true or false, right or wrong, yes or no good or better, check
(4) or cross out (6) and so on. A student who knows nothing of the content of the
examination would have 50% 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.

Guidelines for Constructing Alternate-Response Test

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 words 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.
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.
The Raven was written by Edgar Allen Poe. Allen is misspelled and 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 that are moderately worded use
"many" "often" "sometimes" "generally" "frequently" or "some" usually should be
avoided. e.g. Executives usually suffer from hyperacidity. The statement tends to
be correct. The word "usually" leads to the answer.
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.
Rule 8. Avoid double negatives. This makes test item unclear and definitely will
confuse the student. e.g. The changes that take place in early childhood are NOT
Unchangeable. The test item simply means "The changes in early childhood are
changeable".

5.3.2 Multiple Choice Tests

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 who 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 allows the teacher to test higher
order thinking skills even if the options are clearly stated.
Guidelines for Constructing Multiple Choice Items
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.
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. Be quantitative.
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?
4. 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?
5. Each item stem should be as short as possible; otherwise you risk testing more
for reading and comprehension skills.
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.
7. All multiple choice options should be grammatically consistent with the stem.
Example: As compared to the autos of the 1960s autos in the 1980s
___________.
A. traveling slower
B. to use less fuel
C. bigger interiors
D. contain more safety measures
Option A, B and C are obviously wrong for the language smart because when
added to the stem the sentence is grammatically wrong. D is the only option which
when connected to the stem retains the grammatical accuracy of the sentence,
thus obviously is the correct answer.
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!
9. Avoid stems that reveal the answer to another item.
Example: a. Who will most strongly disagree with the progressivist who claims that
the child should be taught only that which interests him and if he is not interested,
wait till the child gets interested?
A. Essentialist B. Empiricist C. Progressivist D. Rationalist

b. Which group will most strongly focus its teaching on the interest of the child?
A. Progressivist B. Essentialist C. Perrenialist D. Reconstructionist
One may arrive at a correct answer (letter b) by looking at item "a," that gives the
answer to "b."
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.
If this happens then the item has two answers, which is not acceptable.
11. Avoid presenting sequenced items in the same order as in the text.
12. Avoid use of assumed qualifiers that many examinees may not be aware of.
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 item's 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!
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.
15. Pack the question in the stem. Here is an example of question which has no
question. Avoid it by all means.
Example: The Roman Empire _______________.
a. had no central government b. had no definite territory
c. had no heroes d. had no common religion
16. 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.
17. Note that use of "all of the above" may allow credit for partial knowledge. In a
multiple option item, (allowing on one option choice) if a student only knew that
two (2) option were correct, he could then deduce the correctness of "all of the
above." This assumes you are allowed only one correct choice.
18. Better still use "none of the above" and "all of the above" sparingly but best
not to use them at all.
19. Having compound response choices may purposefully increase difficulty of an
item. The difficulty in 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 because they all look like the correct answer.
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

5.3.3 Matching Type

The matching type items may be considered 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.
Guidelines for Constructing Matching Type of Test
1. Match homogeneous not heterogeneous items. The items to match must be
homogeneous. If you want your students to match authors with their literary works,
in one column will be authors and in the second column must be literary works.
Don't insert nationality for instance with names of authors. That will not be a good
item since it is obviously wrong.
Example of homogeneous items. The items are all about the Filipino heroes,
nothing more.
 Perfect Matching Type
Example: Match the items in column A with the items in column B.
A B
1. First President of the Republic a. Magellan
2. National Hero b. Mabini
3. Discovered the Philippines c. Rizal
4. Brain of Katipunan d. Lapu-Lapu
5. The great painter e. Aguinaldo
6. Defended Limasawa island f. Juan Luna
g. Antonio Luna
2. The stem (longer in construction than the options) must be in the first column
while the options (usually shorter) must be in the second column.
3. The options must be more in number than the stems to prevent the student from
arriving at the answer by mere process of elimination.
4. To help the examinee find the answer easier, arrange the options alphabetically
or chronologically, whichever is applicable.
5. Like any other test, the direction of the test must be given. The examinees must
know exactly what to do.

5.4 Constructing Supply Type or Constructed Response Type

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 the stems are constructed. These
tests allow for one and only one answer and, hence, often test only the students'
recall of knowledge.
5.4.1 Completion Type of Test
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.
Guidelines for the Formulation of a Completion Type of Test
The following guidelines can help you formulate a completion type of test, the fill-
in-the blank type.
1. Avoid overmutilated sentences like this test item. Give enough clue to the
student.
The _____produced by the ______is used by the green _____to change the
______and _____into ____. This process is called _____.
2. Avoid open-ended item. There should be only one acceptable answer. This item
is open-ended, hence no good test item.
Ernest Hemingway wrote _____.
3. The blank should be at the end or near the end of the sentence. The question
must first be asked before an answer is expected. Like the matching type of test,
the stem (where the question is packed) must be in the first column.
4. Ask question on more significant item not on trivial matter.
Jose Rizal was born on June ____,1861.
There are other more significant items to ask other than specific birthdates.
5. The length of the blanks must not suggest the answer. So better to make the
blanks uniform in size.
A part of speech that names persons, places or things is ______.
A word used to connect clauses or sentences or to coordinate words in the same
clause is called _______.

5.4.2 Essays
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 attainment of a variety of objectives.
1. Comparing - Describe the similarities and differences between...
- Compare the following methods for ...
2. Relating cause-and- effect
- What are the major causes of ....
- What would be the most likely effects of ...
3. Justifying
- Which of the following alternatives would you favor and why?
- Explain why you agree or disagree with the following statement.
4. Summarizing
- State the points included in ...
- Briefly summarize the contents of ...
5. Generalizing
- Formulate several valid generalizations from the following data.
- State a set of principles that can explain the following events.
6. Inferring
- In the light of the facts presented, what is most likely to happen when...
- How would Senator X be most likely to react to the bomb explosion after the bar
examination last September?
7. Classifying
- Group the following items according to ...
- What do the following items have in common?
8. Applying
- Using the principles of as guide, describe how you would solve the following
problem situation.
- Describe a situation that illustrates the principle of
9. Analyzing
- Describe the reasoning errors in the following paragraphs.
- List and describe the main characteristics of ...
10. Evaluating
- Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the following ...
- Using the criteria developed in class, write an evaluation of ...
11. Creating
- Make up a story describing what would happen if ...
- Design a plan to prove that ...
- Write a well-organized report that shows ...
54.2.1 Types of Essay
Restricted Essay
It is also referred to as short focused response. Examples are asking students to
"write an example," "list three reasons" or "compare and contrast two techniques."
Non-restricted /Extended Essay
Extended responses can be much longer and complex than short responses, but
students are encouraged to remain focused and organized.

Guidelines for the Formulation and Scoring of Essay Tests

1. Phrase the direction in such a way that students are guided on the key concepts
to be included. Specify how students should respond.
Example: Using details and information from the article Hundred Islands),
summarize the main points of the article. For a complete and correct response,
consider these points.
-its history (10pts)
-its interesting features (10 pts)
-why it is a landmark (5pts)
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.
3. Put a time limit on the essay test.
4. Decide on your essay grading system prior to getting the essays of your
students.
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.
6. Evaluate answers to essay questions without knowing the identity of the writer.
This is another attempt to control personal bias during scoring. Answers to essay,
questions should be evaluated in terms of what is written, not in 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.
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.
8. Do not provide optional questions. It is difficult to construct questions of equal
difficulty and so teacher cannot have valid comparison of students' achievement.
9. Provide information about the value/weight of the question and how it will be
scored.
10. Emphasize higher level thinking skills
Example: Scientists have found that oceans can influence the temperature of
nearby landmasses. Coastal landmasses tend to have more moderate
temperatures in summer and winter than inland landmasses of the same latitude.
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 decior
grading while others use the reverse. In the latter method, each difficult to construct
questions of equal difficulty and so teacher cannot have valid comparison of students'
achievement. n 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. Rule 8: Do not provide optional questions. It is difficult to construct
questions of equal difficulty and so teacher cannot have valid comparison of students'
achievement. Rule 9: Provide information about the value/weight of the question and
how it will be scored. Rule 10: Emphasize higher level thinking skills. Example:
Scientists have found that oceans can influence the temperature of nearby
landmasses. Coastal landmasses tend to have more moderate temperatures in
summer and winter than inland landmasses of the same latitude. Non Example: Mental
Ex Formul to the class 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 to control personal bias during scoring. Answers to essay, questions
should be evaluated in terms of what is written, not in 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 etha noner