SCHOOL-BASED ROLL

OUT ON TEST
CONSTRUCTION
January 10, 2020

ROANN S. GARCIA
Resource Speaker
 Objectives
• Identify the different types of test
• Correct practices not following the guidelines
in test construction
• Craft test items following the guidelines
• Develop higher order thinking test questions
 Priming
Let us do the Thumbs up or thumbs down
1. I prepare test questions a week before the
exam.
2. I align my test items based on competencies.
3. The Table of Specification is written after
finalizing my periodic test.
4. I arrange options in multiple choice
alphabetically.
5. Assessment result is beneficial for teachers
and students.
 Analysis
1. Are all my responses correct?
2. How did you feel reviewing and analyzing
current practices?
3. How can we improve writing test items for
our learners?
 Classroom instruction has for its
main purpose a change in pupil’s
behavior in the desired direction
which can be established by
instructional objectives; can be
brought about by planned learning
and where learning progress can be
evaluated by evaluation devices.
 One of these evaluation devices
is the test. If the classroom test is
to be successful in providing valid,
reliable and useful information,
careful planning must precede test
construction. Good tests do not
just happen.
Objective Test
Essay Test
 Free - Response Test – the response
must be supplied by the
pupils/students. Ex: short answer and
completion type.
 Limited - Response Test – the item
provides the options or choices from
which the pupil will select the answer
Ex: true-false, multiple choice and
matching type.
 The Extended Response Type – the
pupils/students are given freedom
in their responses.
 The Restricted Response Type –
one in which the organization
length and nature of the response
are limited.
 Simple Recall or Short-Answer Question
 Completion Type
 True or False Type
 Multiple Choice Type
 Matching Type
This type of test has
questions that begin with
WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE.
1. The main stem of the test
item maybe constructed in
question form, completion
form or direction form.
Which is the same as 470?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Four hundred seventy is the
same as _______.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Add : 22
+ 43
a.
b.
c.
d.
2. The main stem should be
clear. Avoid awkward stems.
If there are 9 chairs in the classroom
and 16 children in the class, the
classroom lacks how many chairs?
a. 7
b. 8
c. 9
d. 10
There are 16 children and 9 chairs
in the classroom. How many chairs
are needed?
a. 7
b. 8
c. 9
d. 10
3. The stem should not contain
clues.
4. Use a negatively stated stem
only when significant learning
outcomes required it. In this
case, the negative word like
NOT and EXCEPT should be
underlined or capitalized.
Which of the following is NOT a
characteristic of a gifted child?
a. They are emotionally stable.
b. They are friendly.
c. They are not as old as their
classmates.
d. They are not awkward.
5. The stem should provide for
only one correct answer.
Mosquitoes and flies are disease
carriers. How can we protect
ourselves from them?
a. spray insecticides
b. destroy their young
c. clean the surroundings
d. use mosquito nets and cover
our food.
Which is the correct way of protecting
ourselves from mosquitoes and flies
that are disease carriers?
a. cover stagnant places
b. leave empty cans around
c. leave garbage cans open
d. unclean surroundings
Constructing the
Choices/
Alternatives
1. List the alternatives in column.
a.
b.
c.
d.
2. Arrange the alternatives
in natural order and
according to length.
Jane is ten years old. How many trips
has the earth made around the sun
since she was born?
a. 365
b. 12
c. 10
d. 30
a. 10 a. 365
b. 12 or b. 30
c. 30 c. 12
d. 365 d. 10
3. Alternatives should have
grammatical parallelism
belonging to the same class
and possessing the
character of the correct
response.
Clay can be used for ___________.
a. garden soil
b. growing vegetables
c. making hollow blocks
d. making pots
Clay can be used for ___________.
a. growing fruits
b. growing vegetables
c. making hollow blocks
d. making pots
4. All distracters or wrong
choices should be plausible.
Ex. Who is the Brain of Katipunan?
a. Aguinaldo
b. Bonifacio
c. Mabini
d. Rizal
5. Responses should not be too
short to emphasize vocabulary
only.

6. Have consistently the same

number of choices in all times.

7. Use sparingly special

alternatives such as none of the
above, or all of the above.
1. Put items on the left and number them,
put options on the right and designate
them by letters.
2. The number of stems should not be
more than 20 and should not be lower
than 10.
3. The number of choices should exceed
the number of stems by at least two to
reduce the effect of guessing.
4. Stems and choices should deal with
similar kinds of content.
5. Use longer expressions for stems
and short expressions for choices to
reduce reading time.
6. Write complete names of people
used as stems or choice to avoid
confusion.
7. Stems and choices should be
alphabetically arranged to reduce
reading time and eliminate clues.
8. Place all of the items for one
matching exercise on the same page.
9. The direction should include the
expected form of answer and where
to place the answer.
1. Omit important words only. Omit
key words and phrases rather than
trivial details.

Poor: Jose Rizal was born on June ______,

1861.

Better : Jose Rizal was born on ______.

2. Do not take statements directly from
textbooks.
3. Don’t have more than two blanks in the
same item.
4. Make lengths of blanks equal to avoid
giving of clues.
5. Construct the sentence such that the
blank is near the end or at the end of
the sentence.
6. Avoid overmutilated statements.

Poor: The ________ is obtained by dividing

the _______ by the ________.

Better : The IQ is obtained by dividing the

_________ by the ___________.
7. Whenever the indefinite article is
required before a blank, write it in the
form a(n) to avoid giving clue whether
the correct answer begins with a vowel
or a consonant.
Poor: Madeline picked an ______ off the
tree and ate it.
Better : Madeline picked a(n) ______ off
the tree and ate it.
Types of True or False
1. Single true-false
Each item is a single statement to be
marked by the student as true or false.
2. Modified true or false
In this type the student marks the
statement as true or false. If the statement
is false, he substitutes the correct word or
phrase to the underlined word or phrase to
make the statement true.
1. Avoid the use of usually, generally,
often and sometimes because they
most likely appear in true
statements.
2. Absolute terms like never, all, none,
always and only should also be
avoided because they usually
indicate false answer.
3. Use simple, clear, short statements.
4. Response maybe by circling
T or F rather than writing the
word of its letter to minimize
time in answering.
5. Have approximately equal
number of true or false items.
6. Avoid the use of negative statements
particularly double negatives. Double
negatives contribute to ambiguity.

Poor: T-F 1. The answer in multiplication is

not called difference.

Better : T-F 1. The answer in multiplication is

called product.
7. Avoid including two ideas in
statements unless cause – effect
relationship is being measured. Avoid
a statement which is partly true or
partly false.
Poor: T-F 1. Rizal wrote Noli Me Tangere
and Pag-ibig sa Lupang Hinirang.

Better : T-F 1. Rizal wrote Noli Me Tangere

and El Filibusterismo.
1. Ask specific questions expecting
specific answer.
2. Have more questions with short
answer than few questions with
long answers.
3. Each question should measure
only one kind of understanding.
4. Question should be written so
that it will elicit the type of
behavior you want to measure.

5. Don’t start essay questions with

such words as “list”, “who”,
“what”, “whether”.
How do we craft Test
Questions?
1. Knowledge - remembering facts,
terms, concepts, definitions, principles
• Define, list, state, identify, label,
name, retrieve, recognize, duplicate,
memorize, repeat, reproduce
• who? when? where? what?
2. Comprehension/Understanding-
explaining/interpreting the meaning of
material
• Explain, predict, interpret, infer,
summarize, convert, translate, give
example, account for, paraphrase,
clarify, interpret, exemplify
3. Application- using a concept or
principle to solve a problem
• Apply, solve, show, make use of,
modify, execute, implement, interpret,
solve, discover, dramatize
• demonstrate, compute, convert
4. Synthesis -producing something new
or original from component parts
• Design, construct, develop, formulate,
• imagine, create, change, write a poem
or short story
(old Bloom’s Taxonomy)
5. Analyzing- distinguishing parts, and
determining how they relate to one
another and to overall structure and
purpose
• Differentiate, distinguish, compare,
contrast, organize, outlining,
deconstruct
5. Evaluating - making a judgment based
on a pre-established set of criteria
• Appraise, evaluate, justify, judge,
critique, coordinate, measure, detect
• recommend, which would be better?
6. Creating- learner put elements
together to form functional whole,
create a new product or point of view
• Generate, hypothesize, plan, design,
develop, produce, construct,
construct, formulate, assemble,
design, desire
( new Bloom’s Taxonomy/ synthesis)