WRITING OBJECTIVE

ITEMSGENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

1. TEST FOR IMPORTANT FACTS AND KNOWLEDGE.• give tests which are

more on developing the understanding on the material, rather on mere terms and unnecessary phrases

2. TAILOR THE QUESTIONS TO FIT THE EXAMINEES’ AND ABILITY LEVEL AS WELL AS THE PURPOSE OF THE TEST.

3. WRITE THE ITEM AS CLEARLY AS POSSIBLE.•the question as written should ensure that the examinee will understand the task he is to perform.

4. AVOID LIFTING STATEMENTS VERBATIM FROM THE TEXT.•avoid using statements found in the textbook, rephrase as much as possible.

5. AVOID USING INTERRELATED ITEMS.•item number 6 should not be dependent with item number 1.

6. THERE SHOULD ONLY BE ONE CORRECT ANSWER.•having more than one correct answer encourages them to challenge the correctness of their wrong answers.

7. AVOID NEGATIVE QUESTIONS WHENEVER POSSIBLE.•this changes the examinee’s normal thought processes, overlook the negative aspect and answer incorrectly even though he knows the right answer

8. GET AN INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF YOUR TEST ITEMS.

•An independent review makes sure that the items are just the right difficulty, adequate in content sampling, has plausible distracters, adequate scoring key, and technically qualified test items.

9. IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO HAVE AN EQUAL NUMBER OF RESPONSES.•Three options, according to many researches, are as effective as four options.

10. MAKE RESPONSES ROUGHLY EQUAL IN LENGTH.

11. AVOID USING “ALL OF THE ABOVE,” AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, AS AN ALTERNATIVE.

12. DO NOT GIVE THE ANSWER AWAY•a pupil should get the answer only because he has learned the material.

13. INSTRUCT STUDENTS TO SELECT THE “BEST ANSWER,” NOT THE CORRECT ANSWER.•using the “correct answer” invites arguments from students that their answers are correct as well.

14. INCLUDE A FEW EASY ITEMS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TEST.•this can help reduce test anxiety by including a few easy items to start the test.

15. GROUP TEST ITEMS RELATED TO THE SAME TOPICS.•this allows students to think about each topic and section of the material rather than jump from topic to topic.

16. THE ITEM SHOULD NOT PROVIDE CLUES TO ANSWER OF OTHER ITEMS IN THE TEST.

IRRELEVANT CLUES THAT LEAD TO THE RIGHT ANSWER

1. Having information in the stem of one item provide the answer to another item.

IRRELEVANT CLUES THAT LEAD TO THE RIGHT ANSWER2. Lack of parallelism between stem and responses in the multiple-choice item.

IRRELEVANT CLUES THAT LEAD TO THE RIGHT ANSWER

3. The length of the correct response (in multiple choice items)

IRRELEVANT CLUES THAT LEAD TO THE RIGHT ANSWER

4. The position and pattern of the correct answer

IRRELEVANT CLUES THAT LEAD TO THE RIGHT ANSWER5. Grammatical clues preceding a blank in the short answer or at the end of the stem in the multiple choice.

IRRELEVANT CLUES THAT LEAD TO THE RIGHT ANSWER

6. Using textbook language verbatim

IRRELEVANT CLUES THAT LEAD TO THE RIGHT ANSWER

7. Using technical jargon.

Thanks!

REFERENCES

Calmorin, L. Measurement and Evaluation. 2004. 24K Printing Co., Inc.,Valenzuela City.

Oriondo, L.L. (1994). Evaluating Educational Outcomes: Tests, Measurement and Evaluation. Manila: Rex Book Store.

Bill Cerbin: UW La Crosse, Center for Advancing ‐Teaching & Learning

Reporter: Arnie A. Valera