Alona Ramos 2BEED

A. Multiple Choice
1. In the directions, instruct students to select the "best answer" rather than the "correct
answer."
2. In the directions, let students know whether they can guess.
3. Express the full problem in the stem.
4. Put all relevant material in the stem.
5. Keep the stem short.
6. Limit the number of response alternatives.
7. Make the distracters appealing and plausible.
8. Make all choices equal in length and parallel in structure.
9. Avoid trick questions or negative wording
10. Refrain from using words such as "always," "never," "all," or "none."
11. Make the choices grammatically consistent with the stem.
12. Avoid giving "all of the above" or "none of the above" as choices.
13. Vary the position of the best answer.
14. Keep the test length manageable.
15. Take advantage of machine scoring capabilities.

B. Matching Type
1. Give Clear Instructions.
2. Keep the two sets of items homogeneous
3. Try to order the responses.
4. Create more responses than premises.
5. Be conscious of layout and format.

C. Alternative Response (True or False)

1. Base the item on a single idea.
2. Write items that test an important idea
3. Avoid lifting statements right from the textbook.
4. Make the questions a brief as possible
5. Write clearly true or clearly false statements.  Write them in pairs: one “true” and one
“false” version and choose one to keep balance on the test.
6. Eliminate giveaways:
• Keep true and false statements approximately equal in length
• Make half the statements true and half false.
• Try to avoid such words as “all,” “always,” “never,” “only,” “nothing,” and “alone.”
Students know these words usually signify false statements.
7. Beware of words denoting indefinite degree.  The use of words like “more,” “less,”
“important,” “unimportant,” “large,” “small,” “recent,” “old,” “tall,” “great,” and so on, can
easily lead to ambiguity.
8. State the items positively.  Negative statements may be difficult to interpret.  This is
especially true of statements using the double negative.  If a negative word, such as
“not” or “never,” is used, be sure to underline or capitalize it.
9. Beware of detectable answer patterns.  Students can pick out patterns such as
(TTTTFFFF) which might be designed to make scoring easier.
D. Short Answer (Fill-in-the blanks and Identification)
1. Word the question so that a clear, meaningful problem is presented.
2. Structure the problem so that the range of acceptable responses is limited to a single
correct answer or a narrow set of definite, clear-cut, and explicit answers. If you don't do
this, be prepared to accept any answer that could be correct in your broadly defined
situation.
3. Generally, use direct questions rather than incomplete sentences.
4. Focus on eliciting key words or ideas only. Do not use these questions for random
peripheral vocabulary or ideas. Also, don't use short answer when you really want an
essay.
5. Avoid using statements taken directly from textbooks, reference manuals, or other
documents with one or two words omitted (Swiss cheese). Use paraphrased vocabulary
and grammatical structures that are independent of the context and textbook
expressions of the source document.
6. Avoid using excessive blanks in any single item.
7. Avoid providing extraneous clues - see the section on multiple choice for examples.
8. When using computational problems, specify the unity and degree of precision that
should be used in expressing the answer.

E. Essay
1. Requires examinees to compose rather than select their response.
2. Elicits student responses that must consist of more than one sentence.
3. Allows different or original responses or pattern of responses.
4. Requires subjective judgment by a competent specialist
to judge the accuracy and quality of responses.

F. Cloze Test
1. Cloze test items consist of words that are deleted from a text after allowing a few
sentences of introduction.
2. The deletion rate is mechanically set, usually between every 5th and 8th.
3. Candidates have to fill each gap by supplying the words they think has been deleted
(Weir, 1990:46).

1. Research has shown that the passage with every 7th word deleted results is the most
reliable and valid tests.
2. The first and the last sentences of the passage should be left intact. Don't delete word
on the start and end of the sentence.
3. The number of deletions in standard cloze tests was set to be between 25 and 30.

References:
 https://www.uww.edu/learn/improving/restiptool/multiple-choice-and-matching
 https://www2.palomar.edu/pages/testwritingstrategies/2015/10/12/alternative-response-
design-structure-and-advice/
 https://ar.cetl.hku.hk/am_saq.htm
 https://assessmentdevelopment.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/summary-group-6-cloze-
procedure-tests-of-grammar-and-reading-communicative/