CCT 106 Assessment of Learning

2013-2014

RESTRICTED ESSAY AND EXTENDED ESSAY

ESSAY TEST ITEMS

- is another test format wherein the students’ supplies the answer rather than
select the correct answer. It is appropriate when assessing students’ ability to
organize and present their original ideas.

TWO TYPES OF ESSAY ITEMS:

1. Extended Response (open-ended)

- Essay question is one where there are no restrictions on the

response, including the amount of time allowed to finish, the
number of pages written, or material included.

Example:

Identify as many different ways to generate electricity as you can. Give

advantages & disadvantages of each & how each might be used to meet the
electrical power requirements of a medium-sized city. Your response will be
graded on its accuracy & your evaluation of how practical each source of
electricy would be, if implemented. Your response should be 12-15 pages in
length & will be evaluated based on the scoring criteria distributed in class. For
maximum credit be sure that your response addresses each of the scoring
criteria components.

Advantages:

 Demonstrate learning outcomes at the synthesis and evaluation levels.

 Evaluate the answers with sufficient reliability to provide useful measures
of learning.
 Provides freedom to give response to the question.
 Provide creative integration of ideas.
 Disadvantages:

 More difficult to construct extended response essay questions.

 Scoring is time consuming than restricted response essay.

2. Restricted Response (closed-ended)

- An essay item that places strict limits on both content and the
response given by the students.
- The content is usually restricted by the scope of the topic to be
discussed and the limitations on the form of the response is
indicated in the question.

Example:

List the major facts and opinions in the first state of the nation address
(SONA) of Pres. Benigno Cojuangco Aquino, Jr. Limit your answer to one page
only. The score will depend on the content, organization and accuracy of your
answer.

Advantages:

 Easier to prepare questions.

 Easier to score.
 More directly related to the specific learning outcomes.

Disadvantages:

 Provides little opportunity for the students to demonstrate their abilities to

organize ideas, to integrate materials, and to develop new patterns of
answers.
 Measures learning outcomes at comprehension, application and analysis
levels only.

HOW TO WRITE ESSAY ITEMS: THE GUIDELINES

1. Allow adequate time to answer the question.

2. Be sure the question is complete and clear.
3. Essay questions should be used only to evaluate higher-order outcomes,
such as when comparisons, evaluations, analysis, and interpretations are
required.
4. Have all test takers answer the same question.

ADVANTAGES OF ESSAY QUESTIONS:

1. They help find out how ideas are related to one another.
2. They increase security.
3. They provide increased flexibility in item design.

DISADVANTAGES OF ESSAY QUESTIONS:

1. They emphasize writing.

2. They are difficult to write.
3. They are hard to score.
4. They emphasize writing skills over content.

In conclusion, the principle for writing essay questions should be restricted to

learning outcomes that cannot be measured well by objective means. The
questions need to phrased so that the student’s task is clear and comparable for
all. Indicate approximate time limit for each question and avoid optional question
topics. The principle for writing new-type examination will present a single clearly
formulated problem, use simple and clear language and leave out irrelevant
material. Put as much of the wording of the item as possible in its stem. This will
also help state the question in positive form and highlight any negative wording.
Therefore, writing examination is not only a technique but also an art.

Prepared by:

Rachel Ann R. Bornilla

In conclusion, the principle for writing essay questions should be restricted to learning outcomes that
cannot be measured well by objective means. The questions need to phrased so that the student’s task is
clear and comparable for all. Indicate approximate time limit for each question and avoid optional
question topics. The principle for writing new-type examination will present a single clearly formulated
problem, use simple and clear language and leave out irrelevant material. Put as much of the wording of
the item as possible in its stem. This will also help state the question in positive form and highlight any
negative wording. Therefore, writing examination is not only a technique but also an art.

In order to develop high quality essay items, teachers should follow six criteria. First, always ensure
that the item measures the specific skill/instructional objective. One way to accomplish this is to be sure
to NOT allow students to choose the items they will answer. If you do, be sure that all choices assess
the same capability. Second, the reading level should be below that of the learner in order to ensure we
are measuring the skill and not a student’s reading level. Third, the question should take only ten
minutes to answer. Otherwise, it is an extended response item, which should be avoided in online
settings. Fourth, a good scoring plan must be devised to ensure the validity of the test. Fifth, the
scoring plan should describe a correct and complete response so scorers will be able to identify correct
responses more accurately. Last, the item should be written in such a way that the knowledgeable
learner will be able to determine the characteristics of a correct answer.
The quality of test construction depends largely on the part of the teacher. Every teacher is interested to
know how far and wide he/she can facilitate, orient and guide his/her students with the knowledge, ideas,
abilities, skills and attitudes that he/she wishes to build up in order to achieve his teaching objectives, and
to make his/her students responsive to the changing needs of the society.

Unfortunately, there are some teachers who don’t know how to make a good exam. Some teachers make
an exam for the sake of compliance purposes.

In this blog, allow me to share with you some of the advantages and disadvantages of essay test, as one
of the types of traditional assessment, which I read from the book of Reganit et al entitled “Measurement
amd Evaluation in Teaching and Learning.”

Essay test is a type of test that usually allows greater freedom of response to questions and requires
more writing.

Advantages of Essay Tests

1. The essay examination allows students to express their ideas with relatively few restraints.
2. It involves recall and there are no options to select from, therefore, guessing is eliminated. The student
must suuply rather than select the good response.
3. Essay items are good for testing small numbers of students. However, as the number of student
increases, the advantage of essay test decreases.

Disadvantages and Limitations of Essay Tests

1. Essay questions are time consuming to teachers and students. Students often spend much time
answering only one or two essay questions. Teachers, on the other hand, also devote much time reading
lengthy responses.
2. Essay responses are subject to bluffing. Essays eliminate guessing but not bluffing. Poorly prepared
students desperately attempt to get a passing grade by answering something even if the responses are
not related to the questions asked.
3. In practice, very few essays require originaltiy and most emphasize the lengthy enumeration of
memorized facts.
Its up now to the teachers to carefully examine the advantages and disadvantages in giving essay
questions during the exam. At the end of the day, what the teacher wanted during the assessment is to
find out the students’ progress in the course.

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