STANDARD TEST AND TEACHER-MADE TEST

A standard or standardized test is one for which content has been selected and checked
empirically, for which norms have been established, for which uniform methods of administering
and scoring have been developed, and which may be scored with a relatively high degree of
objectivity. Teacher-made tests are those tests made by teachers and administered to their
students to determine the achievement of the latter in the subjects they are taking for purposes
of marking and promotion.

Standardized tests and teacher-made test are very similar in the function. However, they
differ in many respects. Among the differences are:

Standardized Tests Teacher-made Tests

Generally prepared by specialist who know
very well the principle of test construction
Prepare very carefully following accepted
principles of test construction
Give to the large portion of the population for
which they are intended for the computation of
norms
Generally correlated with other tests of known
validity and reliability or with measures such as
school marks to determine their validity and
reliability
Generally highly objective
Have their norms computed for the purposes of
comparison and interpretation
Measures innate capacities and characteristic
as well as achievement
Intended to be used for a long period of time,
and for all people of the same class in the
culture where they are validated
Accompanied by manual of instructions on how
to administer and score the test and how to
interpret the results
Generally copyrighted
Made by teachers who may not know very
well the principles of test construction
Often prepared hurriedly and haphazardly to
be able to meet the deadline for the
administration
Usually given to the class or classes for which
the tests are intended.
Not subject to any statistical procedures
determined their validity and reliability
May be objective and maybe essay, in which
case, scoring is subjective
Have no norms, unless the teacher computes
the median, the mean, and other measures
for comparison and interpretation.
Generally measure subject achievement only
Intended to be used only once or twice to
measure achievement of students in a subject
matter studied during a certain period
Do not have the manual of instructions, only
the directions for the different types of tests,
which may be given orally or writing
Not copyrighted
 GUIDELINES FOR WRITING MULTIPLE CHOICE ITEMS

1. Design each item to measure an important learning outcome.

2. When the incomplete statement format is used, the options should come at the

end.

3. Present a single clearly formulated problem in the stem of the item in simple and

clear language. Use diagrams, whenever this is likely to result in better

communication.

4. Put much of the wording as possible in the stem of the item.

5. State the stem of the item in the positive form. Use negatives sparingly and

emphasize negatives whenever used.

6. Make creation that key is correct or clearly the best.

7. Make all the options grammatically consistent with the stem of the item and

parallel in form.

8. Avoid verbal clues which might enable the students to select the correct answer

or to eliminate an incorrect option.

9. Vary the relative length of the correct answer to eliminate length as a clue.

10. Make the distractors plausible and homogenous.

11. Avoid the use of option all of the above and none of the above with extreme

caution.

12. If the options are figures, they should be arranged in ascending order.

13. Random occurrence of the correct responses should be employed.

14. The number of options used in the first item should be the same number of

options in all the items of this type of test.

 GUIDELINES FOR WRITING SHORT ANSWER QUESTION

1. Design each item to measure an important learning outcome.

2. Use direct question as much as possible.

3. Use fill-in-the-blank statements only when a direct question is inappropriate.

4. Write precise questions for which only one answer is possible.

5. Use only one or two blank spaces to avoid ambiguous statements.

6. Place the blanks at the end, or near the end, rather than at the beginning of the

statement.

7. Avoid reproducing statements verbatim from textbooks or your lecture notes.

8. Leave enough space for your students to answer questions.

9. Omit only words that are essential to the meaning of the statement or sentence

10. Make the blank equal in length to avoid clues. Long blanks suggest long answer;

short ones, short answer.

11. Avoid grammatical errors.

 GUIDELINES FOR WRITING ALTERNATE CHOICE TEST ITEMS

1. Design each item to measure an important learning outcome.

2. Include only the central idea in each statement.

3. Write statements which are entirely true or entirely false.

4. Avoid using words which will provide your students with clues to the correct

answer.

5. Write concise, clear, and correct statements.

6. Avoid using statements containing negative or double negative words.

7. Write items that present one idea at a time.

8. Write items so that the answer is not immediately obvious.

9. Arrange the items in a random order so that there is no pattern in the answers.

10. The number of true and false statements should more or less be the same.

11. Keep the statement short and use simple vocabulary and sentence structure.
 GUIDELINES FOR WRITING MATCHING ITEMS

Matching items consist of two lists as columns. One list contains a set of

statements, symbols or ideas. The other list contains words or symbols associated with

the items in the first column, but arranged randomly. The student is asked to select

matching the items from the two lists.

If you follow the guidelines listed below, you will learn to write good matching items.

1. Design each item to measure an important learning outcome.

2. Write directions to students for answering the items in clear, concise and simple

language.

3. To minimize the chance of students guessing the correct answers, include more

items in one column that in the other.

4. Write an item which deals with only one idea, concept or principle at a time.

5. Identify items in the first column by number, and the items in second column by

letter.

6. Only one correct matching for each item should be possible.

7. Matching sets should neither be too long nor too short.

8. Item should be listed in random order in each list.

9. All items should be on the same page to avoid turning of pages in the process of

matching pairs.