2.

8 The Writing of Essay Test (ET)

🎯Learning Outcomes:     

        At the end of this lesson, the students are expected to:

   Demonstrate understanding by providing a checklist in constructing an Essay test.

 Explain the advantages and disadvantages of an Essay Test.
 Discuss the situations that suggest the use of Essay questions.

This type of test differs from the completion test in degree rather than in kind. Essays usually
allow students to express their ideas with relatively few restraints. Reganit et al. (2010), provided
the checklist for writing Essay questions.

Checklist for Writing Essay Questions

FACTORS YES
1.    Are the questions restricted to measuring objectives that would not be assessed more ✔
effectively by other test formats?
2.    Does each question relate to some instructional objectives? ✔
3.    Does each question establish a framework to guide the students to the expected ✔
answer?
4.    Are the questions the novel? Do they challenge the student? ✔
5.    Are the premises no longer and more complex? Are the responses short and ✔
straightforward?
         a. difficulty? ✔
         b. the time allowed for the student to respond? ✔
         c. the complexity of the task? ✔
6. Are all the students expected to answer the same questions? ✔
 

Advantages and Disadvantages of Essay Tests

                                                                   (Source Reganit, 2014)

Advantages Disadvantages

1. Guessing is eliminated.
2. Practical for testing a small number of
students.
3. Reduce assembling time.
4. Can measure divergent thinking.
1.    Difficult to score objectively since students
have greater freedom of expression.
2.    Extended essays measure only the limited
aspects of student knowledge.
3.    Essay questions are time-consuming for
teachers and students.

4.    It requires more than rote memory.

 

Situations that Suggest the Use of Essay Questions (Arnulfo Reganit, 2014)

1. If the test objectives specify the students have to write, recall or supply information, an
essay examination may be necessary.
2. When the class size is small, the teacher can afford to spend more time reading essay
responses.
3. If a test can be used only once, an essay examination may be more convenient than a
multiple-choice one.