WHAT IS PAPER-AND-PENCIL-TESTS?

Paper-and-pencil assessment refers to traditional student assessment formats such as written tests and
also to standardized tests that ask students to use pencils to fill in bubbles on a scannable answer sheet.

In the classroom, paper-and-pencil assessment frequently refers to tests scored objectively, which are
meant to measure memorized knowledge and lower levels of understanding, as compared with
performance-based assessment, which is meant to measure deeper understanding through skills and
ability.

Paper-and-pencil test can either be selected response or constructed-response types.

Selected-response items ask students to select the correct answer from a list of options included in the
item.

Constructed-response items ask students to write, or “construct,” the correct answer.

Selected response type includes:

a. True-false items
b. Multiple – choice type items
c. Matching type

Constructed response type of test includes:

a. Enumeration
b. Completion
c. Essays

The construction of valid test items begins with a Table of Specifications.

Why there is a need to plan a test and construct the table of specifications?

The table of specifications (TOS) is a tool used to ensure that a test or assessment measures the content
and thinking skills that the test intends to measure. ... That is, a TOS helps test constructors to focus on
issue of response content, ensuring that the test or assessment measures what it intends to measure.

The primary purpose of a TOS is to ensure alignment between the items or elements of an assessment
and the content, skills, or constructs that the assessment intends to assess.

PLANNING A TEST AND CONSTRUCTION OF TABLE OF SPECIFICATIONS (TOS)

The important steps in planning for a test are;

1. Identifying test objectives/lesson outcomes

2. Deciding on the type of objective test to be prepared

3. Preparing a Table of Specifications (TOS)

4. Constructing the draft test items

5 Try – out and validation

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 preferably by the students. The following are
typical objectives: knowledge/remembering, comprehension/understanding, application/applying,
analysis/analyzing, evaluation/evaluating, synthesis/synthesizing.

Deciding on the Type of Objective Test

The test objectives guide the kind of objective tests that will be designed and constructed by the
teacher. This means aligning the test with the lesson objective/outcome. The test to be formulated must
be aligned with the learning outcome. This is the principle of constructive alignment.

Constructive Alignment involves:

a. Thoughtfully determining intentions for what students should learn and how they will
demonstrate their achievement of these intended learning outcomes, and clearly communicating these
to students;

b. Designing teaching and learning activities so that students are optimally engaged in achieving
these learning outcomes; and

c. Creating assessments that will allow students to demonstrate their attainment of the learning
outcomes and allow instructors to discern how well these outcomes have been achieved.

Preparing a Table of Specifications

A Table of Specifications or TOS is a test map that guides the teacher in constructing a test. The TOS
ensures that there is balance between items that test lower-level thinking skills and those which test
higher order thinking skills (or alternatively, a balance between easy and difficult items) in the test.

Table1: Table of specification for a (30) items Economics test for SS2.

Objectives
Remembering Understanding Applying Total
Consumer’s
behavior & Price 2 4 3 9
determination
Population 2 2 2 6
Money Inflation 1 3 2 6
Economics Systems 1 2 2 5
Principle of 1 2 1 4
Economics
Total 7 13 10 30

From the table, it would be seen that of the five subject matter area, consumer behavior / price
determination attracted the highest number of items (that is 9) and the principle of Economics, the least
(that is 4). And for objectives the understanding level had (13) items as the highest. The remembering
level had the least. The distribution of number of items in each cell (that is for each objective level and
subject matter) is a reflection of the emphasis and the importance the teacher attached to these areas.
With a table of specification of this nature designed the teacher then proceeds to construct the test
items or questions. This must be in line with what has been specified in the table specification.

Table of specification to kibler (1998) is to ensure that the subject matter content and the course
objectives are adequately sampled by the test items; We need to develop a table of specification that
will provide a guide to the item construction which takes into account the relative importance of each
component of the syllabus and each level of cognitive domain. TOs should be prepared before testing.
The teacher should develop the table of specification in order to have content sampling and item
validity. These specifications may help the teacher to be more effective. In order words, it will help the
teacher in organizing teaching and learning, assessment and evaluation as well as all the resources he
plans to achieve during the teaching and learning.

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 double 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 item should be included in the draft.

Item Analysis and Try-out

The test draft is tried out to a group of pupils or students. The purpose of this try-out is to determine the
(a) item characteristics trough item analysis, and (b) characteristics of the test itself-validity, reliability
and practicality.