Ministry of Education

Test Blueprint for National Exit Examination to be held in 2016 E.C

Band: ____________

Program: - Bachelor of Science Degree in Software Engineering

Compiled By:

1. Mr. Abel Adane (MSc in Software Engineering)

2. Mr. Berhanu Sisay (MSc in Software Engineering)
3. Mr. Bikila Alemu (MSc in Computer Science)

January, 2024
Ministry of Education

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 Arbaminch, Ethiopia

Table of Contents
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 2
2. Objective of test blueprint .......................................................................................................... 3
3. Expected profile of the Graduates .............................................................................................. 3
4. General objective ....................................................................................................................... 4
5. Specific objectives ..................................................................................................................... 4
6. Themes and list of courses ......................................................................................................... 5
7. Total credit hour of the selected courses ..................................................................................... 6
8. Formulas used in Test blue print preparation .............................................................................. 6
9. Test Blueprint (Table Specification) for BSC Software Engineering ........................................... 7
10. Conclusion........................................................................................................................... 15

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1. Introduction

The Ministry of Education of Ethiopia has announced the implementation of exit exam
for all undergraduate program students (public and private), beginning with the
2022/2023 academic year, in order to improve the quality of graduates produced by
higher learning institutions. The exit exam aimed at checking whether students have
acquired the required knowledge, skills and attitudes or not. To implement this, it
requires determining competency areas for a specific program, which is already
completed. Based on the competency areas prepared, it needs to plan the construction of
tests.

Planning of a test is a first and vital step in the construction of an achievement test. An
achievement test demands very systematic and careful planning, as a fact that good
planning is a symbol of success.Tests are the tools that provide scores that measure level
of student learning and study program learning outcomes. In order to achieve the valid
and reliable measurement of student learning and program learning outcomes, the
development of valid and reliable test is the mandatory. Test should be able to measure
student performance in all dimensions of knowledge, skill and attitude. The carefully
planned test construction contributes to improve the overall quality of the test in terms of
test content validity, difficulty level, discrimination power and test reliability. Test
preparation is not an easy task; it requires a careful planning and guideline to make the
task simple. Test construction needs the preparation of test blue print. Test blueprint is
defined as a complete plan that explains how to develop a test. The term refers to a map
or specification of assessment to ensure that all aspects of the curriculum and educational
domains are covered by the assessment programs over a specified period of time. It helps
curriculum developers/test constructors to match various competencies with the course
content and the appropriate modality of assessment.

Generally, test blueprint will help to ensure tests: 1) Appropriately assess the achievement
of instructional objectives of the course; 2) Appropriately reflect key course goals,

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 objectives and the material learned or covered during the instruction period; and 3)
Include the appropriate item formats along with the knowledge and skills being assessed.

Keeping this in mind, the team has prepared this test blueprint document in order to help
the test developers or content specialists in their process of valid and reliable test
construction. The major points considered in the process of preparing this test blue print
guideline were the core competencies that have been already identified for the themes of
courses, the course contents, course credit hours, and the learning outcomes with their
corresponding levels of achievement by learning domains. In line with these, the number
of test items that should adequately assess the performance of students in all the content
topics will be determined through discussion with the content specialists who construct
the blueprint and test for their corresponding study program.

Therefore, the main purpose of this manual is to give direction on how to develop
blueprint for content specialists so that they can develop a test blueprint for their
respective program.

2. Objective of test blueprint

Test blueprint preparation is generally opted to assist the preparation of a test that is
representative, broadly sampled, and consisting of complete knowledge domain expected
of the Ethiopian higher education students on completion of their study program. The
specific objectives of test blueprint are to:
 Facilitate the construction of a representative and balanced test items for the
selected courses in accordance with the competencies identified.
 Guide test developers orwriters to write or set appropriate test items.

3. Expected profile of the Graduates

The graduates of the program will be able to acquire:

A) Cognitive skill
 To make rational and justified decisions regarding the selection of methods,
tools and
 techniques for the development of software application.

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  Design, develop and maintain good quality software by applying software
 engineering principles
 Selecting the appropriate software model to develop a software based on the type of
 project.
 Ability to design the test cases for the application and test the application either by
 performing manual testing or automation testing using the appropriate testing tools
 Ability to design and develop advanced web sites using client side scripting and
 server side scripting languages
 Ability to design, develop and maintain database systems.
 Ability to assist in the software industry to produce good quality software by applying
 the software quality techniques.
B) Technical skill
 Use and apply current technical concepts and practice in the core area of Software
Engineering.
 Design effective and usable Software Engineering solutions and integrate them
into the End user environment.
 Assist in the creation of an effective Software Engineering project plan.
 Demonstrate independent critical thinking and problem solving skills in Software
Engineering
 Use current techniques, skills, and tools necessary to maintain and check quality
 of Software Engineering and computer based systems.
C) Attitude skill
 Collaborate in teams to accomplish a common goal by integrating personal
initiatives.
 Communicate effectively and efficiently with clients, users and peers both
verbally and in writing, using appropriate terminology.
 Understand and explain the quantitative dimensions of a problem.
 Manage one’s own learning and development, including time management and
organizational skills in Software Engineering.
 Keep abreast of current developments in the discipline to continue one’s own
Software professional development.
 Recognize and be guided by the social, professional, and ethical issues involved
in the use of Software Engineering technology.

4. General objective
Thus, the department aims at preparing students to empower them to face the challenge of the

field in the society and to enable them reap the fruit of globalization through extensive practical

work Train graduates who are equipped with the necessary methodologies and tools to develop

high standard software.

5. Specific objectives
Propose futuristic software designs and solutions to existing infrastructures.

 Enable graduates to work in a team and corporate environments that encompass local and

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 global software industries.
 Prepare graduates for further study and research in software engineering areas where
enhancement needs to be taken.
 To provide software engineering education for the students with at most quality and
thereby to cultivate confidence in the students to serve the country better.
 Assisting Government’s policy of increasing trained manpower, thereby reducing the
shortage of skilled manpower in software engineering areas that are required for different
organizations, to develop the nation.
 Assisting the industrial community and institutions around in the region to achieve
excellence.
 Train software engineering graduates that are globally competent and productive.
 Design, develop and maintain software of an industrial standard for private, nongovernmental
and government clients.
 Create Software Engineers who can conduct research in the ICT discipline and
technologies emerging every day.

6. Themes and list of courses

S/N Themes Courses to be included in the Exit Exam ECTS

1 Problem analysis 1 Computer Programming 7

and programming 2 Fundamental of Data structure 7
and analysis

3 Object Oriented Programming 5

4 Web Design and Programming 7

5 Mobile Application Development 5

6 Fundamentals of Database 5
2 Networking and 7 Fundamentals of Networking 5
Software Security 8 Software and information security 5

3 Software requirement, 9 Fundamentals of Software Engineering 7

Design, and construction 10 Requirement Engineering, Architecture 7
and Design

4 Software project 11 Software Project Management 5

management and quality 12 Software Testing, Verification and Quality 7
assurance Assurance

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5 Operating system and 13 Operating System and System 5
computer organization Programming

6 Miscellaneous 14 Artificial Intelligence 5

15 Big data Modeling 5

7. Total credit hour of the selected courses

8. Formulas used in Test blue print preparation

o Percent share for Theme i = x100

o Percent share for Course i = x Percent share for

Theme i
o Total test items for Theme i = for
the program
 Total of items for course =
ℎ
o

 Learning outcomes in terms of the three domains (Cognitive, Affective and

Psychomotor)

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9. Test Blueprint (Table Specification) for BSC Software Engineering

Learning outcomes
Cognitive
Themes and Name and

Creation/Synthesi
Share of the Share of the E General objective

Understanding
themes in % Courses in % C /Competency Specific objectives /learning outcomes

Remembering

Psychomotor
No. of items
Application
T

Evaluation

Affective
Analysis
S

s
Problem Computer 7 Understand the general structure of a 8
Conduct
Programming 2
analysis and investigation of program
Programmin 0.19 complex problems Analyze the variety of problems and
g
using research- generate appropriate algorithmic 2
41.38 based knowledge solutions
and research Understand data storage and

methods including manipulation

2
design of
experiments,
Create a program using programming 2
analysis and constructs
interpretation of
data, and synthesis
of information to
Data 7 Explain the basic techniques for the 8
Structures and provide valid
design and analysis of efficient 2 1
Algorithm conclusions.
Algorithm
0.19 Apply knowledge
of mathematics, and Develop appropriate algorithmic 2
software solutions to the problems

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 engineering Understand the principles of data storage
specialization to and manipulation by applying data 2 1
address complex structures and algorithms
and large-scale
problems

Object 5 Implement I/O functionality to read 3 6

oriented
from and write to data and text files
programming

0.14 Understand major concepts of object-

oriented programming with the basic
object-oriented principles and its 3
application

Web design 7 Understand web framework using front -end

and and back-end technology 4
programming
Design and develop a web-based 4
0.19
applications
Mobile 5 Describe basic components and lifecycle 6
application
methods of an Android application 2
development

0.14
Describe the basics of event handling,
graphics and multimedia support in 2
Android.
Demonstrate basic skills of using an IDE
(Android Studio) and SDK for 2
implementing Android applications
Fundamentals 5 Explain a Database System, identify its 6
of database characteristics and applications, differentiate
2
0.14 models of database

Design ER models from specifications 2

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 and interpret them into relational tables
and write SQL statements data creation
and manipulation

Describe how to optimize databases and

secure data 2

Networking Fundamentals 5 Apply ethical Describe networking protocols and 6

and of networking principles and 1
standards;
Software 0.5 commit to
Security professional ethics
11.49 Identify reference models and layered
and responsibilities
and norms of architectures in networking; 1
software
engineering
practice. Recognize network topologies, media
types and network components; 1

Identify the network (OSI) layers at

which various network devices operate;
1

Apply basic cabling and network design 2

techniques to connect devices.

Software and Understand Principles, methods & 6

Information technologies to make software more
security secure 2
0.5

Identify the typical threats &

vulnerabilities that make software 1

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 less secure, and how to avoid them

Know how to prevent threats

,mitigate their effects, by improving
the software's design and
implementation. 1

Understand the tools and techniques

for testing and verifying that
software is secure.
2

Software Fundamentals 7 Adopt, innovate, Understand the basic principles of 8

requirement, of Software select, and apply Software Engineering 2
Design, and Engineering appropriate state of
construction 0.42 the art software Assess software process and state-of-
16.09 design and the-arts software process models
development tools, 2
methodologies,
resources, and
emerging
technologies Demonstrate various type of
including requirements 2
simulation,
prediction and

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 modelling for Create a system, component, or process 2
complex business to meet desired needs.
process with
understanding of
their potential
capabilities,
limitations and
associated risks.
Requirement 7 Communicate Understand the importance of 8
engineering, effectively on requirement engineering 1
Architecture complex business
and Design and system activities
0.58 with the software Apply the techniques of requirement
1
engineering elicitation
community and with
Assess the requirement documents 1
a society at large;
such as being able to Understand requirements management 1
comprehend and and tools
write effective
reports, articles and Understand software design principles
design
1
documentations
using various tools,
make effective Apply the design patterns in software
development
presentations and 1
give and receive
clear instructions. Understand Architectural styles and
Design integrated Quality Attributes. 1
and efficient

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 software solutions, 1
component, or Constructing and evaluate architectures
processes to address
complex problems
and implement them
to meet the specified
needs with
appropriate
consideration for
public health and
safety, cultural,
societal (local and
international) and
environmental
considerations
Software Demonstrate Understand Software project 1 6
project Software 5 knowledge and skill management and the factors that affect
management Project on software project Software quality
and quality Management management
assurance 0.42 principles and apply Apply standards, techniques and tools to 2
these to manage support Software project management
13.79 software
development Develop software project plans and risk 2
processes and its management plans.
resource
requirements, costs Apply project management concepts to 1
manage a software development project
in multidisciplinary
projects

Software 5 Identify, formulate, Analyze software requirements. 2 8

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 Testing, research literature,
Verification and analyze complex Apply the appropriate testing 1
and Quality problems, reaching methodologies
Assurance substantiated
0.58 (justifiable, Develop comprehensive test plans 2
validated)
conclusions using Implement the test case with appropriate 1
tools
software
development Compute test coverage 1
principles,
methodologies, and
tools. 1
Use statistical techniques to evaluate the
defect and faults
Operating Operating Describe the functions of modern 1 6
System System operating systems
and and System Explain conditions that lead to deadlock. 1
computer Programming Assess various algorithms system
organization 1.00 process and scheduling
5.75 Apply the concepts of virtual memory 1
Identify the basic components of an 1
operating system and purpose.
Know the fundamental system 1
programming and its capability
Describe the functions of modern 1
operating systems
Miscellaneou Artificial 5 Apply logical Understand reasoning, knowledge 1 6
s Intelligence reasoning and representation and learning techniques
0.5 informed decision to of artificial intelligence
11.49 assess societal, Demonstrate solving problems by 1
health, safety, searching
privacy, security, Understand intelligent agents and types 1
legal and cultural Know the fundamentals of artificial 1
intelligence programming techniques

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 issues, and the Reflect ideas and issues associated with 1
consequent social technical and ethical uses of
responsibilities machines with AI.
relevant to software Understand reasoning, knowledge 1
engineering representation and learning techniques
application of artificial intelligence

Big data Describe big data and use cases from 2 6

0.5 selected business domains
Explain NoSQL big data 2
management
Understand the concept and 2
applications of Data mining and
warehousing

Total Number of Items 90

Key: In the cells/boxes there are numbers that indicate the number of items that correspond to the levels of domains.

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10.Conclusion

Exit examination can have a vital role in producing knowledgeable, skillful and attitudinally matured
graduates.It contributes to prepare competent graduates as it can serve as a quality check for
effectiveness. It also helps in improving academic programs quality and effectiveness. Furthermore, it
can create the platform for cooperation among academic programs at different universities to work
jointly to improve the programs quality.

In view of this, this document is produced to assist the setting of the exit examinations for Software
Engineering program, which is being delivered by Ministry of Education. To meet the graduation
profile, competency and learning outcome, exit exam competency selection and identifying core course
was done for 2015 EC graduating students. As a result, preparing test blueprint is necessary to prepare
fairly distributed items based on the above criteria.

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