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Assessment of Learning

MORE TIPS ON PERFECTING EXAM WRITING

(Adapted from Nettles, Bloom, Others)

The Stem

  1. USE CLEAR AND SIMPLE LANGUAGE. The production of good test items is exacting Few other words are read with such critical attention to implied and expressed meaning as those used in test items. The problem of ambiguity in objective test items is particularly acute because each test item is usually an isolated unit. Unlike other reading material in which extensive content helps to clarify the meaning of a particular phrase, a test item must be explicitly clear in and of itself.
  2. AVOID UNESSENTIAL SPECIFICITY. Design your items to test knowledge that may be applied in a variety of specific situations. The superior value of general knowledge over specific knowledge should be reflected in tests whenever possible.
  3. AVOID DIFFICULT AND TECHNICAL VOCABULARY. Unless it is essential for the purpose of the item, sentence structure should be as simple as possible. Complex sentences should be broken up into two or more separate sentences. Qualifying phrases should be placed near the terms they qualify. The important elements should generally appear early in the statement of the item, with qualifications and explanations following.
  4. PRESENT A SINGLE, CLEARLY FORMULATED PROBLEM. The task set forth in the stem of the item should be so clear that it is understood without reading the options. In fact, a good check on the clarity and completeness of a multiple-choice stem is to cover the options and determine whether it could be answered. Avoid an "undirected stem" in which the candidate must read all options to know what the item is asking.
  5. AVOID THE USE OF NEGATIVE WORDING. State the stem of the item in positive form whenever possible. A positively-phrased test item tends to measure more important learning outcomes than a negatively stated item.
  6. AVOID TEST QUESTIONS RELATING TO DEFINITIONS. A correct response to a definition simply indicates that the candidate can recall what he or she has learned in class. It does not mean that he or she knows how to use that information in a job-related setting.
  7. PUT AS MUCH OF THE WORDING AS POSSIBLE INTO THE STEM OF THE ITEM. Avoid repeating the same material over again in each of the options. By moving all common content to the stem, it is usually possible to clarify the problem and to reduce the time required to read the options. In many cases, it is not simply a matter of moving the common words to the stem, but one of rewording the entire item.
  8. AVOID EXCESSIVE "WINDOW DRESSING." The item should contain only material relevant to its solution, unless selection of what is relevant is part of the problem.
  9. INCLUDE ALL QUALIFICATIONS NEEDED TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT ANSWER. Item writers do not always state the qualifications that exist in their own minds about a topic. They forget that different individuals need to have these qualifications specifically stated.

Options and Distractors

  1. SELECT AND FORMULATE THE DISTRACTORS WITH CARE. The options are as important as your statement of the problem in the stem. Incorrectness should not be the sole criterion. The difficulty of an item depends largely on the options. The finer the distinctions that must be made to select the correct answer from the distractors, the more difficult the item.
  2. MAKE CERTAIN THAT THE KEY IS CORRECT AND CLEARLY BEST. There should be ONLY ONE correct answer and it should be unquestionably correct. The intended answer should be the one that experts would agree is clearly the best, in which case, it may also be necessary to include "of the following" in the stem to allow for equally satisfactory answers that have not been included in the item.
  3. MAKE THE DISTRACTORS PLAUSIBLE TO THE UNINFORMED OR MISINFORMED. The distractors in a multiple-choice item should be so appealing to candidates who lack the knowledge called for by the item that they select one of the distractors in preference to the correct answer. The art of constructing good multiple-choice items depends heavily on the development of effective distractors. There are a number of things that can be done to increase the plausibility and attractiveness of distractors. These are summarized below:
    • Use the common misconceptions of candidates as distractors.
    • State the options in the language of the candidate.
    • Use good-sounding words (e.g., accurate, important) in the distractors, as well as in the correct answer.
    • Make the distractors similar to the correct answer in both length and complexity of wording.
    • Use extraneous clues in the distractors, such as stereotyped phrasing, scientific-sounding answers, and verbal associations with the stem of the item. However, beware of writing trick questions.
    • Make the options similar but avoid fine discriminations which are not practically significant.
    • Avoid using options which are opposites of each other. Each alternative should be plausible; opposites are inconsistent with that idea, and candidates can eliminate them with limited information.
  4. ARRANGE THE RESPONSES IN LOGICAL ORDER. When the responses consist of numbers, they should ordinarily be arranged in ascending order, to make it considerably easier for candidates to locate their choice and mark the answer accurately.
  5. DO NOT USE THE OPTIONS "ALL OF THE ABOVE" OR "NONE OF THE ABOVE." The inclusion of "all of the above" as an option makes it possible to answer the item on the basis of partial information, and the chances of guessing the correct answer are increased. Another difficulty with this option is that some candidates, recognizing that the first choice is correct, will select it without reading the remaining options. "None of the above" is a poor option because it could almost always be argued for being a correct answer.
  6. MAKE THE DISTRACTORS INDEPENDENT. Responses should NOT be interrelated in meaning or mutually exclusive of each other. Sometimes a subset of two or three of the responses may cover the entire range of possibilities, so that one of them must necessarily be correct. Sometimes, one response may include one or more of the other responses, so that all the items in that subset must necessarily be false. Related responses help candidates eliminate wrong answers.
  7. MAKE ALL OPTIONS GRAMMATICALLY CONSISTENT WITH THE STEM OF THE ITEM AND PARALLEL IN FORM. The correct answer is usually carefully phrased so that it is grammatically consistent with the stem. Make sure that you read each option with the stem, and ensure that the options are consistent, parallel, and properly stated.

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