PLANNING A TEST AND CONSTRUCTION OF TABLE OF SPECIFICATIONS

The important steps in planning for a test are:

1. Identifying test objectives/lesson outcomes
2. Deciding on the type of objective test to be prepared.
3. Preparing a Table of Specifications
4. Constructing the draft test items.
5. Try-out and validation

Example: “You want to construct a test on the topic: “Subject-Verb Agreement in English” for Grade V
class, the following are the typical objectives:

Knowledge/Remembering. The students must be able to identify the subject and the verb given in the
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.

PROTOTYPE TABLE OF SPECIFICATIONS

ITEM
LEVEL OBJECTIVE NO. PERCENTAGE
NUMBER
1. REMEMBERING Identify subject-verb 1,3,5,7,9 5 14.29%
2. UNDERSTANDING Form appropriate of a verb 2,4,6,8,10 5 14.29%
3. APPLYING Write sentence observing rules on 11,13,15,17,19 5 14.29%
subject-verb agreement
4. ANALYZING Determine subject and predicate 12,14,16,18,20 5 14.29%
5. EVALUATING Evaluate whether or not a sentence 21,22,23,24,25 5 14.29%
observes rules on subject verb-
agreement
6. CREATING Formulate rules on subject-verb PART II 10pts 28.57%
agreement
TOTAL 35 100%

TYPES OF PAPER-AND-PENCIL TEST

Development of paper-and-pencil test 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.

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.

Guidelines for constructing True-False Test (modified)

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 form 1898 is not 2000 but 1998.
2. Avoid using the words “always”, “never”, “often” and other words that tend to be either always true
or always true.
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.

3. 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 Allan Poe”.
Allen is misspelled and the answer would be false. This is an example of a tricky but utterly useless
item.
4. Avoid double negatives. This makes test item unclear and definitely will confuse the student.
Example: “The changes that take place in early childhood are NOT unchangeable.
The test item simply means “The changes in early childhood are changeable.

TASK 1. Give one non- example of each of the following rules of thumb in the construction of a true-false test.
Improve on the non-example for it to become a good example of test.

a. Avoid giving hints in the body of the question.

Non-example item: _________________________________________
Improved item: _____________________________________________

b. Avoid using the words “always”, “never” and other such adverbs which tend to be always true or
always false.
Non-example item: ____________________________________________________
Improved item: _______________________________________________________

c. Avoid double negatives.

Non-example item: ______________________________________________________
Improved item: _________________________________________________________

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 (modified)

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 0.005?”
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. 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): 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?

4. 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 d. 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.

5. 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. Change 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.

6. 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 interests him and if he is not interested, wait till the child gets interested?
a. Essentialist b. Empiricist c. Progressivist d. rationalist

2. Which group will most strongly focus its teaching on the interest of the child?
a. progressivist b. essentialist c. Perennials d. reconstructionist

7. 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.

8. 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

TASK 2. Give one non- example of each of the following rules of thumb in the construction of multiple- choice
test. Improve on the non-example for it to become a good example of test.
1. Do not use unfamiliar words, terms and phrases

Non-example item: _________________________________________________

Improved item: ____________________________________________________

 2. Distracters should be equally plausible and attractive.

Non-example item: _______________________________________________________

Improved item: __________________________________________________________

3. Avoid alternatives that are synonymous with others or those that include or overlap others.

Non-example item: _____________________________________________________

Improved item: _________________________________________________________

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 3. Justifying 5. Generalizing 7. Classifying 9. Analyzing 11. Creating
2. Relating cause-and-effect 4. Summarizing 6. Inferring 8. Applying 10. Evaluating

Types of Essays
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
Example: Sample Short Response Question (10th Grade Reading)
“How are the scrub jay and the mockingbird different? Support your answer with details and
information from the article”.

Non-restricted/Extended Essay – extended responses can be much longer and complex that short
responses, but students are encouraged to remain focused and organized.

Example: Sample Extended Response Question (5th Grade Science)

Robert is designing a demonstration to display at his school’s Science fair. He will show
how changing the position of a fulcrum on a lever changes the amount of force needed to lift an object. To do
this, Robert will use a piece of wood for a lever and a block of wood to act as fulcrum. He plans to move the
fulcrum to different places on the lever to see how its placement affects the force needed to lift an object.
Part A. Identify at least two other actions that would make Robert’s demonstration better.
Part B. Explain why each action would improve the demonstration.
(Source:https://fcit.usf.edu/assessment/constructed/construct.html)
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 the 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 (10 pts) - its interesting features (10 pts)
- why it is a landmark (5 pts)
Non-example:
Using details and information form the article (hundred islands) summarize the main
points of the article.
(Source: https:/fcit.usf.edu/assessment/constructed/construct.html)

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 the students’ answers to one question before proceeding to the next question.
6. Evaluate answers to essay questions without knowing the identity of the writer.
7. Whenever possible, have two or more persons grade each answer.
8. Do not provide optional questions.
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.
Non-example:
Considering the influence of ocean temperatures, explain why inland temperatures vary in summer and
winter to a greater degree than coastal temperatures. List three coastal land masses.

Task 3. Answer briefly but substantially the questions below.

1. Which is better, essay test or objective test? Why? Support your answer.
2. In what sense is a true-false test a variant of a multiple-choice type of test? Justify your answer.