Types of test items include essay type questions and objective type questions. Essay type questions can be long answer or short answer. Long answer questions allow for free organization and expression but have limitations like subjectivity in scoring. Short answer questions limit the response but have better scoring objectivity. Objective type questions ensure objective scoring and include simple recall questions, completion questions, alternate response questions, and multiple choice questions. These question types test different skills and have guidelines for effective creation and administration.
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Types of Test Items
1. Types of Test Items
Debabrata Giri
Teacher Educator
DIET,Mayurbhanj,Odisha
2. The Teachers and test producers use many
types of test items
Essay Type Test
Objective Type Test
3. Essay Type Questions
Phrasing Essay Type Questions
1. Describe the function of different parts of a flower ?
2. Discuss the role of mass media in national integration ?
3. Explain the procedure of
4. How the virtual images are formed ? Illustrate your answer with a diagram.
5. Compare the animal cell and plant cell ?
6. Outline the main causes of French revolution ?
7. Give a summary of the effect of globalisation ?
8. Examine the relevance of reservation policy of govt for recruitment of diff
posts.
9. “Expansion is life and contraction is death”.Give your own interpretation
about the validity of the statement.
10. Criticise the govt’s policy on taxation ?
11. Comment on the present nuclear policy of India ?
4. Types of Essay Type Question
Long Answer Type or Extended Response Type
Short Answer Type or Restricted Response Type
5. Long Answer Type
Answers are long
Free to organise answer according to own view points or judgements.
Answer reveals the ability to select,organise,integrate and evaluate ideas.
6. Principle of Framing Long Answer Type Questions
Ask questions that require specific answers for objectivity in scoring
Example:Write the administrative system of Shivaji.
Better: Write the revenue policy of Shivaji.
Questions should be based on objectives.
Be conscious of time limit
Test the question by writing a model answer of it
Length of answer must commensurate with the mark allotted
Use of appropriate directional verb to measure different aspect of content
Questions should be worded clearly
Give due direction to specify the answer
7. Limitations of Long Answer type Questions
It is unpsychological
Poor coverage of content
Encourage selective reading and cramming
Chance factor may inflate the score
Scoring is time consuming and rather difficult
Subjectiviy in scoring
Scores may be affected by different factors like , mood of the examiner……………………
Individual difference among the examiner
Scoring may be affected by handwriting,language,spelling errors,Style of expression
Less Valid
Less Reliable
8. Merits of Long Answer Type Questions
Easy to construct and administer
Faking or cheating is minimized
Valuable in testing power of expression and functional knowledge
Pupils’ ability to
compare,analyse,interpret,organise,synthesize,summerise,criticise,evaluate
can be better judged
Helps to develop above abilities in pupils
Creativity and originality can be fostered
Suitable to measure certain aspects of learning related to thought process
,judgement , logical expression and so on
9. Suggestions for Improvement
Questions should be worded properly
Questions should be so framed as to demand specific answer
Questions should aim at assessing different aspects of pupil behaviour ie
objective based
Use of appropriate directional verbs
Pupils should be clarified about the meaning of directional verbs
Examiners must be unanimous regarding meaning of terms used and answer
System of giving overall options should be avoided
Due direction should be given to specify the answer within certain words
Objectivity of scoring should be ensured
10. Short Answer Type Question
It requires pupils to give a brief answer to the question
It tends to limit both content and form of pupils response
Examples
List three main factor responsible for……….
Name four personalities who played vital role in formation of Odisha state.
Write the three difference between……
Give three reasons in support of your ……………
What happens when……………..
“………………….” Give scientific reason
Write two similarities between…………….
Write four different use of………………
11. Merits of Short Answer Type Questions
Discourage the students to write irrelevant answers
Little time to answer and hence avoids boring
Less time for scoring
Objectivity of scoring is better ensured
Greater coverage of content
More reliable
12. Limitations
Score is affected by
Handwriting
Language
Expression
Way of Organisation of answer
Lacks objectivity in scoring
13. Suggestions
Simply limiting the answer to words cannot be a short answer type ,rather the
expected answer should be specific
Avoid the questions like , “Write short notes on ……..”, “Give a brief account
of ………….”
These should be worded to demand specific answers
14. Objective Type Question
These are pin pointed,definite answer is expected
They ensure perfect objectivity in scoring
15. 1.Simple Recall Type
Pupil has to recall the answer from memory
Otherwise called as free response type
Examples
Who is the father of computer ? Ans……………………
When did Sahjahan ascend the throne ? Ans…………………...
16. Merits
It is a natural type test and pupils are familiar with it
Easy to construct
Guessing is eliminated
17. Limitations
Test only factual things or memory
Powers of understanding,reasoning,application,interpretation cannot be
tested
18. Guidelines
Questions must be carefully prepared and simply worded
Question should not contain any clue
The answer must be pin pointed,definite and be in a word,a number,a symbol
or a phrase
Space should be given at the right hand side in a column to write answer
19. 2.Completion Type
In this type of test important words or phrases or numbers or date is omitted in a sentence.
The pupil is asked to insert the missing elements
This is another form of Recall Test
A free response type
Example
1. The concept of IQ was given by ………………….
2. The battle of Panipath was fought in the year …………..
3. Jawaharlal Nehru was born in the year ………………
4. Water reacts with ……………… to give carbonic acid
20. Merits
Easy to construct
Popular and Widely Used
Guessing is avoided
More Reliable
Can assess both knowledge and undestanding
21. Limitations
Fails to measure higher levels of objective like application,analysis,synthesis
Fails to test reasoning power,power to explain,discriminate,illustrate or
estimate
Scoring is a bit more labourious due to scattering of blanks
22. Guidelines
Avoid vague statements
Ex Mahatma Gandhi was born in ………………….
Ans may be India,Gujrat,Porbandar,1869
Better: Mahatma Gandhi was born in the year………………….
Omit the key words or phrases.Donot omit trivial details as
Ex: The first battle of Panipah ………. Fought between Babur …………..Ibrahim Lodi
Do not omit too many key words
Ex: The battle of …………….. Was fought between ………………….. And ………………..
Avoid giving a gap at the starting of an item
Items should not contain any clue.
Ex: Paper boats are made up of …………………….
Ex:Steam engines work on the pressure of the …………………
Ex: An ………………is a word which modifies a verb
Make the blanks uniform in length.
23. Contd…
Avoid using statements directly from the text.It would encourage rote
memory
Prepare a scoring key containing answer
Each blank be given equal credit
Omit the item which would serve our purpose.
Ex:Goutam Budha was the son of ……………, a king of ……………dynasty. (History)
The Early life of Goutam ……that he had no interest ……pleasure.(Language)
24. 3.Alternate Response Type
This is a fixed response type item in which a testee is asked to write or to check either of the
two probable answers provided ,out of which only one is correct.
The testee is to record his response by marking true or false,right or wrong,yes or no or agree
or disagree
Ex: IQ =(CA/MA)*100 True or False
Shivaji died in the year 1680 Yes or No
25. Merits
Easy to construct
Easy to administer and score
A large no of area can be covered
It measure the understanding of concept ,ability to identify the correct statement,
Pupils are familiar with such items and popular among them.
26. Limitations
This encourages guessing
Probability of finding correct answer is 50 % with guessing
Low reliability
Unsuitable for diagnosing weakness of pupils
27. Guidelines
Avoid broad general statements using words like all,generally,nothing,never
Double negative should not be used
Tricky statement shouldn’t be used ( clue)
Avoid using ornamental language
Text book language should be avoided
The items should not be unnecessarily long
Appox 50% right and 50% wrong statements should be used
Provide space to the right side of the question for answer
See that true statements are true enough and false statements are false enough
To minimise the guessing , rectification of the item can be directed
28. 4.Multiple choice
The first part is stem which may be in the form of question or incomplete sentence.
The second part consists of the alternatives which are plausible suggested answers.
The alternatives include nos , symbols , words
The correct alternative is answer
Others are called distracters
Such tests require the testee to discriminate among the alternatives
It measure the degree of understanding,inference,judgement,application
29. Merits
This type of questions provoke thinking and create interest
Higher learning outcomes like understanding ,applications,analysis,judgement
are better tested
More reliable and valid
This type is superior to alternate response or simple recall type
This can be used to diagnose the difficulty area of the learner
30. Limitations
Difficult to prepare as the distracter
Such items can test the learning outcomes at verbal level
Scope for guess work
Difficult to prepare for lower primary level as the they have limited vocabulary
31. Guidelines
1-Items should be simple,short and clear
Ex-India
a-has a larger population than China
b-lies in south hemisphere
c-produces more wheat thanUSA
d-is much benefited by Himalayas
2-Donot give any clue in the stem.
Ex-The box is heavy.The word “heavy” is an
A-Noun , B- Verb , C- Adjective , D- Preposition
3- Avoid text book language
4- The distracters should be plausible.
5-Alternates should be homogeneous in content,nearly equal length
6-The alternatives shouldn’t overlap.There should be only one correct answer or best answer.
7.Use four or more alternatives to minimise guessing
32. Contd.
8-Correction of Guessing is to be made after scoring
True Score = R -
𝑊
𝑛−1
R = Number of items answered correctly
W = Number of items answered incorrectly
n = Number of alternatives given
9-”None of these” , “All of these “ can be use as alternative
33. 5.Matching Test
It consists of two series
The items of the column for which a match is required are called “ premises”
The items of the column from which matching is selected are known as “ responses”
Ex- Series A :Bangla Desh,Bhutan, Nepal , Burma , Ceylone
Series B: Thimpu , Colombo ,Dhaka , Kathmandu , Rangoon
In simple matching type the no of responses are same as that of premises. To minimise
guessing the no of responses should be more than premises
34. Merits
Easy to construct
Helps to measure the ability to identify the relationship between two things
Little scope for guessing.
More reliable
35. Limitations
Matching tests are limited to measurement of factual memory
Fails to measure the higher learning outcomes.
In matching tests there is likelihood of presence of irrelevant cues
36. Guidelines
Prepare the items cautiously
Homogeneous material should be placed in each column
The no of matching items should be at best ten to fifteen
To minimise guessing the no of items in resposes should be more than premises
Both the column should appear in one page
If the responses are numerical than they should odered in chronological order.
The longer phrases can be used as premises and that of shorter as responses
Phrasing-These are phrased by directional verbs like;Describe,Discuss,coment,Justify,List,Arrange,Illustrate,compare,Criticise,Elaborate,Interpret,coment
Certain words or points
1-time consuming,feels tired n bored,2-personal bias for a particular point of view,his way of understanding the questn,weitage to diff aspect of answer,favouritism,nepotism
They assume importance as they have certain special advantages
1-Internal option measuring same objective may be different in content.2-objectivity:a)scheme of assessment,b)coding of answer books,c)answer of all pupils to q no 1 may be scored first then qno2.d) answer scored by three examiners and the average is given
The short answer type questions have more or less same merits and limitations but these are preferred as they have a few advantages
40-60 may also included
Provoke=evoke,arouse produce
1-the stem by itself not invite a specific answer.4-plausible-resonable