Effective Test Item Writing Guidelines

Item Analysis for Exam Preparation

• Item Analysis: The process of analyzing student responses to individual test questions, used to evaluate the quality of exam items and improve test design while upholding academic integrity.
• Purpose: Evaluate the quality of exam items and improve test design.
• Focus Areas: Item Difficulty, Item Discrimination, Item Distractors.
• Item Difficulty: Assess whether a question is too easy or too hard.
• Item Discrimination: Determine if a question differentiates between students who understand the material and those who do not.
• Item Distractors: Evaluate whether incorrect options effectively function as distractors.

Procedure for Item Analysis

• Identify the Upper and Lower Groups: Select the top and lowest 10 scorers, excluding other test-takers.
• Create a Chart: Construct a grid with student names on the left and item numbers across the top, and include correct answers for each item.
• Record Student Answers: List answers for the top and bottom 10 students; only enter incorrect answers (leave blank for correct responses).
• Calculate Scores: Count how many in each group answered each item correctly, labeling RUR_URU (correct responses in the upper group) and RLR_LRL (correct responses in the lower group).

Indices for Evaluation

• Difficulty Index: Formula: (RU+RL)/20, represents the proportion of students who answered the item correctly.
• Discrimination Index: Formula: (RU-RL)/10, measures how well the item differentiates between high-performing and low-performing students. Higher values indicate better discrimination.

Second Chart Construction

• Plot difficulty and discrimination indices in a chart.
• Row 1: Maximum possible discrimination indices, for each item difficulty level.
• Row 2: Observed difficulty level (measured difficulty of each item).
• Discrimination index is placed in the column corresponding to difficulty level.

Interpreting Results

• Medium Difficulty: Best items for assessing students, allowing discrimination between high and low performers.
• Discrimination Rules:
  • Very Discriminating: Near maximum possible index.
  • Moderately Discriminating: About half the maximum possible.
  • Weak Item: About a quarter of the maximum possible.
  • Non-Discriminating Item: Index near zero.
  • Negative Index: Indicates a bad item, delete if less than -0.10.

Evaluating Distractors

• Ensure all distractors attract at least some test-takers.
• Distractors that pull high-performing students lower need revision.
• Analyze if distractors are clear and educationally significant.

General Guidelines for Writing Test Items

• Purpose: Test items should accurately assess student knowledge and skills, align with learning objectives, and reduce ambiguity or bias.

Structure of a Multiple-Choice Item

• Stem: The part of the item that sets up the problem or asks the question.
• Alternatives: Responses provided to answer the stem, including the correct answer and distractors (plausible incorrect responses).

Key Considerations in Writing Multiple-Choice Items

• Avoid Triviality: Questions should be meaningful and test significant concepts, not superficial details.
• Reduce Guessing: Distractors should be plausible.
• Clarity: Use clear and concise language.
• Relevance: Ensure the question aligns with instructional objectives.

Guidelines for Alternate-Response Items

• These are True/False or Yes/No types.
• Challenges: Ambiguity and susceptibility to guessing.

Example of Analogy Test Items

• Direct Comparison: Using a stem and alternatives, provide a comparison.

Review Questions to Consider

• What are the basic principles of testing for classroom tests?

Table of Specifications (TOS)

• Purpose: Outlines the topics covered and their weight in the test, ensuring balanced representation of content.

Best Practices for Creating Test Item Instructions

• Write Clear Instructions: Specify the task, number of items, and any limitations.
• Ensure Item Relevance: Questions must align with learning objectives and avoid trivia.

Focus on Higher-Order Thinking

• Use Bloom's Taxonomy: Questions should evaluate knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

Guidelines for Multiple-Choice Items

• Guidelines for multiple-choice format.

Alternate Test Formats:

• True/False: Effective for factual knowledge, but higher risk of guessing.
• Matching Type: Useful for relationships between terms and definitions.
• Essay Questions: Assess deep understanding and critical thinking.

Analyzing Test Results

• Item Analysis: Evaluate item difficulty and discrimination.
• Revise questions based on performance.

Key Takeaways

• Well-constructed tests align with learning objectives and provide fair assessment.
• Use a mix of item types (e.g., multiple choice, true/false) to assess various levels of thinking.

Administering and Scoring Paper-and-Pencil Tests

• Pre-Administration Checklist: Ensure well-lit and ventilated testing area; proper materials are available; minimize distractions.
• Key Areas to Address: Physical setting (ventilation, lighting), Psychological setting (calm environment), and careful preparation to avoid issues.
• Strategies During Testing: Time management, maintaining order, minimizing distractions, and student preparation (providing directions).
• Guidelines for Scoring Tests: Ensure objective scoring practices with rubrics for subjective items, use answer keys and templates for objective-type questions, and provide feedback.

Additional Tips for Administering Tests

• Accommodating Diverse Learners: Be mindful of students with special needs.
• Post-Test Practices: Secure materials and analyze to provide insights.
• Validity and Reliability: Ensure test items are accurate and consistent to measure what they intend.
• Ethical Considerations: Maintain test integrity (no favoritism, leakage).
• Legal Compliance: Follow all relevant institutional or governmental policies.

This quiz focuses on the principles of creating effective test items in educational settings. You will explore characteristics of strong and weak items, strategies to minimize guessing, and guidelines for writing multiple-choice and true/false questions. Test your knowledge on the best practices for constructing classroom assessments.