DEVELOPMENT OF

VARIED
ASSESSMENT TOOLS
Learning Outcome:
 Construct paper-and-pencil tests in accordance with the
guidelines sin test construction.
1. Types of Objective Tests
Development of paper-and-pencil 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 paper-and-pencil tests
grades are derived from essay examinations
often discourage teachers from using particular
form of examination in actual practice.
 2. Planning a Test and Construction of Table of Specifications (TOS)
Steps in Planning for a Test
o 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 preferable by the students.
o Deciding on the type of objective test. The test objective guide the kind of objective
tests that will be designed and constructed by a teacher.
o Preparing a Table of Specification (TOS). A TOS is a test map that guides a teacher
in constructing a tests. The TOS ensures that there is balance between items that test
lower level thinking skills and those which test higher order thinking skills in the test.
the simplest TOS consist of four (4) columns: (a) level of objective to be tested, (b)
statement of objective, (c) item number where such an objective is being tested, and
(d) number of items and percentage out of the total for that particular objective.
 LEVEL OBJECTIVE ITEM NO. %
NUMBERS
1)Knowledge Identify subject verb. 1, 3,5,7,9 5 14.29
%
1)Comprehen Form appropriate verb 2,4,6,8,10 5 14.29
sion forms %
1)Application Write sentences 11,13,15,17, 5 14.29
observing rules on 19 %
subject-verb agreement
1)Analysis Determine subject and 12,15,18,21, 5 14.29
predicate 23 %
1)Evaluation Evaluate whether or not a 13,16,19,22, 5 14.29
sentence observes rules 24 %
on subject verb
agreement
1)Synthesis Formulate rules on Part II 10pt 28.57
subject-verb agreement s %
o 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 doubled 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.
Most often, however, the try-out is not done due to lack of time.
o Item analysis and try out
The test draft is tried out to a group of 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.
3. Constructing a 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
(√) or cross out (x) and so on. A student who knows
nothing would have a 50% chance of getting the
correct answer by sheer guess work. Although
correction-for-guessing formula exist, it is best that
the teacher ensure that a true-false item is able to
discriminate properly between those who know and
those who are just guessing. A modified true-false can
offset the effect of guessing by requiring students to
explain their answer and to disregard a correct answer
if the explanation is incorrect.
 Rules of Thumb in Constructing a True-False Items
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 200 but
1998.
2) Avoid using the words “always”, “never”, “often”, and other words 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.
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 the 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 is true.
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 Allan Poe.
Allen is misspelled and the answer would be false!
This is an example of a tricky but utterly useless item.
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.
6) Avoid specific determiners or give-away qualifiers.
Students must 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.
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.
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 the multiple
choice consist of two (2) parts: a) stem, and b) the options.
In the set of options, there is a “correct” or “best” option
while 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 the multiple choice type of tests that
allow the teacher to test higher order thinking skills even if
the options are clearly stated.
 Guidelines in Constructing Multiple Choice Items
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.
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.
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?

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?
5) Each item stem should be as short as possible; otherwise you risk testing more for reading and
comprehension skills.

6) Distracters should be equally plausible and attractive.

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 C. to use less fuel
B. bigger interiors D. contain more safety measures

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!
9) Avoid stems that reveal the answer to another item.

Example:
a. 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

b. Which group will most strongly focus its teaching on the interest of the child?
A. Progressivist B. Essentialist
C. Perrenialist D. Reconstructionist

One may arrive at a correct answer (letter b) by looking at item a, that gives the answer to b.
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.
11. Avoid presenting sequenced items in the same order as in the text.

12. Avoid use of assumed qualifiers that many examinees may not be aware of.

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 item's 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!
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.

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
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

17. Note that 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.

18. Better still use "none of the above" and "all of the above" sparingly. But best
not to use them at all.
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) (More
Thailand is located Homogeneous)
in: Thailand is located
a. Southeast Asia next to:
b. Eastern Europe a. Laos and
C. South America Kampuchea
d. East Africa b. India and China
e. Central America c. China and Malaya
d. Laos and China
e. India and Malaya
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.

Example of homogeneous items. The items are

all about the Filipino heroes, nothing more.

Match the items in Column A with the items in Column B.

2. The stem (longer in construction than the options) must be in the
second column while the options (usually shorter) must be in 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 know exactly what to do.
Another type of a matching type of test is the imperfect type.
Below is an example of an imperfect matching type of test. Imperfect because an answer
may be repeated and so like an unfaithful husband or wife can pair With one other than his
wife/her husband.
In column 1 are works and writings in American literature and in Column 2 are their authors.
Write the letter of the author which corresponds to his work on the blank provided before each
author. In some cases, an answer may be repeated.
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
1.Completion Type of Test
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.
GUIDELINES IN THE FORMULATION OF A
COMPLETION TYPE OF TEST
1. Avoid over mutilated sentences like item # 1 below. Give enough clue to the
student.
The __________produced by the __________ is used by the green
______to change the _______ and _______ into ________. This process is
called __________.
2. Avoid open-ended item. There should be only one acceptable answer. This
item is open-ended hence, no good test item.
Ernest Hemingway wrote ___________.
3. The blank should be at the end or near the end of the sentence. The
question must first be asked before an answer is expected. Like the
matching type of test, the stem (where the question is packed) must be in the
first column.
4. Ask question on more significant item not on trivial matter.
Jose Rizal was born on June _____, 1861.
There are other more significant items to ask other than specific
birthdates.

5. The length of the blanks must not suggest the answer. So better
to make the blanks uniform in size.
A part of speech that names persons, places or things is
___________.
A Word used to connect clauses or sentences or to coordinate
words in the same clause is called __________.
ESSAYS
1. Comparing
Essays, classified as non- - Describe the similarities and
objective tests, allow for the differences between…
- Compare the following methods
assessment of higher order for…
thinking skills. Such tests 2. Relating cause-and- effect
require students to organize - What are the major causes of…
- What would be the most likely effects
their thoughts on a subject of …
matter in coherent sentences in 3. Justifying
- Which of the following alternatives
order to inform an audience. In would you favor and why?
essay tests, students are - Explain why you agree or disagree
required to write one or more with the ff. statement
4. Summarizing
paragraphs on a specific topic. - State the points included in…
- Briefly summarize the contents of…
5. Generalizing
- Formulate several valid generalizations from the following data.
- State a set of principles that can explain the following events.
6. Inferring
- In the light of the facts presented, what is most likely to happen when…
- How would Senator X be most likely to react to the bomb explosion after the bar examination last
September?
7. Classifying
- Group the following items according to…
- What do the following items have in common?

8. Applying
- Using the principles of as guide, describe how you would solve the following problem situation.
- Describe a situation that illustrates the principle of _______.
9. Analyzing
- Describe the reasoning errors in the following paragraphs.
- List and describe the main characteristics of…
10. Evaluating
- Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the following…
- Using the criteria developed in class, write an evaluation of…
11. Creating
- Make up a story describing what would happen if…
- Design a plan to prove that…
- Write a well-organized report that shows…
TYPES OF
ESSAY
Restricted Essay Non-restricted /Extended Essay
It is also referred Extended responses can be much longer
to as short focused and complex than short responses, but
response. students are encouraged to remain focused
Examples are asking and organized.
students to "write an
example," "list three
reasons," or "compare
and contrast two
techniques."
 Sample Extended Response Question
(5th Grade Science)
Sample Short Response Question
(10th Grade Reading) Robert is designing a demonstration to display at his school's
science fair. He will show how changing the position of a fulcrum
How are the scrub jay and the on a lever changes the amount of force needed to lift an object. To
mockingbird different? do this, Robert will use a piece of wood for a lever and a block of
Support your answer with details and wood to act as a fulcrum. He plans to move the fulcrum to
information from the article. 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/constructb.html
GUIDELINES
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.