TABLE OF SPECIFICATION

(TOS)

Educational Measurement TERESITA B. SAMBO PhD. GLENN G. LIWAGON JR.

Educ. 219R_11041 Instructor Reporter
What is a TOS?
❑ It is a tool prepared and used by teachers
to design a test or exam
❑ It is a table chart that breaks down the
topics that will be on a test and the
number of test questions
❑ The goal of TOS is to organize the
material covered by comparing number of
questions devoted to each level and
content.
What is the significance of TOS?
✓ Help teachers frame the decision
making process of test
construction and improve the
validity of teacher’s evaluations
based on tests constructed.
✓ Help teachers to identify the types
of items they need to include on
their tests.
✓ Identify the achievement domains
being measured and to ensure that
a fair and representative sample of
questions appear on the test.
✓ Provides the teacher with evidence
that a test has content validity,
that it covers what should be
covered.
 Major Columns of TOS:
1. Competency to be tested
2. No. of hours per competency
3. Level of cognitive required
4. Number of items and
percentage
Sample TOS Template
Compete No. of No of Revise Bloom’s Cognitive Level Number of
ncy mins./hrs. Test Questions
/day devoted
to
60% 30% 10%
Compete
Remember Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate Create
ncy

TOTAL
Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy
OLD VERSION NEW VERSION
Steps in Constructing TOS:
Step 1: Determine the coverage of
your exam
➢ The topics covered, objectives
or competencies to be included
or assessed in the test.
 Table of Specification
Compete No. of No of Revise Bloom’s Cognitive Level Number of
ncy mins./hrs. Test Questions
/day devoted
to
60% 30% 10%
Compete
Remember Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate Create
ncy

TOTAL
Steps in Constructing TOS:
Step 2: Determine the duration for
each content area.
➢ Specify the number of meetings
(minutes, hours, days) spent for
teaching a particular topic.
➢ Go back to lesson plan, curriculum
guide and course syllabus
 Table of Specification
Compete No. of No of Revise Bloom’s Cognitive Level Number of
ncy mins./hrs. Test Questions
/day devoted
to
60% 30% 10%
Compete
Remember Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate Create
ncy

Competency 1 2 hrs.
Competency
2
4 hrs.

Competency
3
4 hrs.

TOTAL 10
Steps in Constructing TOS:
Step 3: Determine the total number of
test items
➢ There are prescribed number of items
depending on the grade level.
➢ Keep in mind that certain type of
questions required a certain length
for students to complete an item.
 Table of Specification
Compete No. of No of Revise Bloom’s Cognitive Level Number of
ncy mins./hrs. Test Questions
/day devoted
to
60% 30% 10%
Compete
Remember Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate Create
ncy
Competency 1
2
Competency
2
4

Competency
3
4

TOTAL 10 20
Steps in Constructing TOS:
Step 4: Determine the percentage of test
devoted to the content area

➢ Time spent in teaching the content area

refers to the allotted time spent to teach a
certain topic
➢ Total time spent is the total number of
teaching the whole coverage
𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒂
% of test devoted to content area= x 100
𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆
 Table of Specification
Compete No. of No of Revise Bloom’s Cognitive Level Number of
ncy mins./hrs. Test Questions
/day devoted
to
60% 30% 10%
Compete
Remember Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate Create
ncy
Competency 1
2 20%
Competency
2
4 40%

Competency
3
4 40%

TOTAL 10 100% 20
 Steps in Constructing TOS:
Step 5: Determine the number of items per topic
per content area

➢ This can be done by multiplying the percentage

allocation to each topic by the total number of
items to be constructed.
Number of items per content area= (total number of items) X (% of test devoted to content area)
 Table of Specification
Compete No. of No of Revise Bloom’s Cognitive Level Number of
ncy mins./hrs. Test Questions
/day devoted
to
60% 30% 10%
Compete
Remember Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate Create
ncy
Competency 1
2 20% 4 items
Competency
2
4 40% 8 items

Competency
3
4 40% 8 items

TOTAL 10 100% 20
 Steps in Constructing TOS:
Step 6: Determine the level of difficulty and their
percentage in the examination.

➢ To know how many items is allotted per

cognitive level based on the given percentage.
Level Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy
Easy 60% Remembering, Understanding
Average30% Apply, Analyze
Difficult 10% Evaluate, Create
 Table of Specification
Compete No. of No of Revise Bloom’s Cognitive Level Number of
ncy mins./hrs./ Test Questions
day devoted
to 60% 30% 10%
Compete
ncy Remember Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate Create

Competency 1
2 20% 4 items

Competency
2
4 40% 8 items

Competency
3
4 40% 8 items

TOTAL 10 100% 12 6 2 20
 Steps in Constructing TOS:

Step 7: Determine the no. of items for each topic

per level of difficulty
No. of items per difficulty = (no. of items of content area) (level of difficulty)
 Table of Specification
Compete No. of No of Revise Bloom’s Cognitive Level Number of
How many
ncy items would
mins./hrs./ TestI Questions
day
allocate for Rememberdevoted
&
to 60% 30% 10%
Understanding with
How to do it properly?60%
Compete
level of difficulty?ncy Remember Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate Create

Competency 1
2 20% 1 1 4 items
1 1
Competency 4 40%
2Multiply the number of =(4) (30)% 8 items
items=(4)
with(60%)
the level of = 1.2 or 1
= 2.4 or 2
Competency
3
4
difficulty 40% =(4) (10%) 8 items
= 0.4

TOTAL 10 100% 12 6 2 20
 Table of Specification
Compete No. of No of Revise Bloom’s Cognitive Level Number of
ncy mins./hrs./ Test Questions
day devoted
to 60% 30% 10%
Compete
ncy Remember Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate Create

Competency 1
2 20% 1 1 1 1 4 items
(#1) (#8) (#13) (#19)
Competency
2
4 40% 4 1 1 1 1 8 items
(#2,#3,#4, (#9) (#14) (#16) (#20)
#5)
Competency
3
4 40% 2 3 1 2 8 items
(#6,#7) (#10,#11, (#15) (#17, #18)
#12)

TOTAL 10 100% 12 6 2 20