IN LEARNING 1

ENGR. REMY REY ALVAREZ ANAVA, ECE, LPT, MAED-MATH (CAR)

 CHAPTER 5
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DEVELOPMENT OF VARIED
ASSESSMENT TOOLS
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 LEARNING OUTCOMES

1. Construct paper-and-pencil tests in accordance with

the guidelines in test construction.
INTRODUCTION
5.1. 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
(e) completion and (f) 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.
5.2. 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 / Remembering. The students must be able to identify
the subject and the verb in a given sentence.
Comprehension / Understanding. The students must be able to
determine the appropriate form of a verb to be used given the
subject of a sentence.
Application / Applying. The students must be able to
write sentences observing rules on subject-verb
agreement.
Analysis / Analyzing. The students must be able to break
down a given sentence into its subject and predicate.
Evaluation / Evaluating. The students must be able to
evaluate whether or not a sentence observes rules on
subject-verb agreement.
Synthesis / Creating. The students must be able to
formulate rules to be followed regarding 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:
LEVEL OBJECTIVE ITEM NO. %
NUMBERS
Knowledge Identify subject-verb 1,3,5,7,9 5 16.67%
Comprehension Forming appropriate 2,4,6,8,10 5 16.67%
verb forms
Application Determining subject and 11,13,15,17,19 5 16.67%
predicate
Analysis Formulating rules on 12,14,16,18,20 5 16.67%
agreement
Synthesis/Evaluation Writing of sentences Part II 10 pts 33.32%
observing rules on
subject-verb agreement
TOTAL 30 pts 100%
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.
5.3. 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% 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: 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.

1. T 6. F 1. T 6. F
2. F 7. F 2. F 7. T
3. F 8. F or 3. T 8. F
4. F 9. F 4. F 9. T
5. F 10. F 5. T 10. F
5.4. 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 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?
(Poor) What does the statement “Development patterns acquired
during the formative years are NOT Unchangeable” imply?
(Better) What does the statement “Development patterns acquired
during the formative years are changeable” imply?
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.
Example: As compared to the autos of the 1960s
autos in the 1980s ____
a. traveling slower
b. bigger interiors
c. to use less fuel
d. contain more safety measures
Rule 8: The length, explicitness, or degree of technicality
of alternatives should not be the determinants of the
correctness of the answer.
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.
Example:
1. Who will most strongly disagree with the progressivist who claims
that the child should be taught only that which interest him and if
he is not interested, wait till the child gets interested?
A. Essentialist C. Progressivist
B. Empiricist D. Rationalist
2. Which group will most strongly focus its teaching on the interest of
the child?
A. Progressivist C. Perrenialist
B. Essentialist D. Reconstructionist
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. If this happens then the item has two answers, which is
not acceptable.
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: Pack the question in the stem. Here is an
example of a 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
Rule 15: Pack the question in the stem. Here is an
example of a 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
Rule 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.

Rule 17: 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 18: Better still use “none of the above” and “all of the
above” sparingly. But best not to use them at all.
Rule 19: Having compound response choices may purposefully increase
difficulty of an item.
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 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
5.5. 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 in 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.
2. The stem (longer in construction than the options) must be
in second column while the options (usually shorter) must be
on 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.

5. Like any other test, the direction of the test must be given.
The examinees must be exactly what to do.
5.6. 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 that the
stems are constructed. These tests allow for one and
only one answer and, hence, often test only the students’
knowledge.
5.6.1. 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.
5.6.2. 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
the attainment of a variety of objectives.
1. Comparing 7.
Classifying
2. Relating cause and effect 8. Applying
3. Justifying 9. Analyzing
4. Summarizing 10. Evaluating
5. Generalizing 11. Creating
6. Inferring
5.6.2.1 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.
Note that all these involve the higher-level skills mentioned in
Bloom’s Taxonomy.
The following are rules of thumbs 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. Specify how the
students should respond.
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.
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.
Rule 6: Evaluate answers to essay questions without
knowing the identity of the writer.
Rule 7: Whenever possible, have two or more persons
grade each answer.
Rule 8: Do not provide optional questions.
Rule 9: Provide information about the value/weight of the
question and how it will be scored.
Rule 10: Emphasize higher level thinking skills.
Thank
You…
ENGR. REMY REY ALVAREZ ANAVA, ECE, LPT, MAED-MATH (CAR)