Advantages and Disadvantages of various forms of Test Questions

It’s good to regularly review the benefits and disadvantages of the most widely used test questions additionally the test banks that now frequently provide them.

Multiple-choice questions

Quick and easy to score, by hand or electronically
May be essay help written so that they test a wide array of higher-order thinking skills
Can cover a lot of content areas on a exam that is single nevertheless be answered in a course period

Often test literacy skills: “if the student reads the question carefully, the clear answer is easy to acknowledge even in the event the student knows little in regards to the subject” (p. 194)
Provide students that are unprepared chance to guess, and with guesses which are right, they get credit for things they don’t know
Expose students to misinformation that can influence thinking that is subsequent the information
Take time and skill to create questions that are(especially good

True-false questions

Easy and quick to score

Considered to be “one of the very unreliable kinds of assessment” (p. 195)
Often written making sure that all the statement is true save one small, often trivial bit of information that then helps make the statement that is whole
Encourage guessing, and reward for correct guesses

Short-answer questions

Fast and simple to grade
Fast and simple to write

Encourage students to memorize terms and details, to ensure their knowledge of the content remains superficial

Offer students an opportunity to demonstrate knowledge, skills, and abilities in many ways
Can be used to develop student writing skills, specially the capacity to formulate arguments supported with reasoning and evidence

Require extensive time for you to grade
Encourage usage of subjective criteria when answers that are assessing
If utilized in class, necessitate quick composition without time for planning or revision, which could lead to poor-quality writing

Questions given by test banks

Save instructors the hard work involved in writing test questions
Make use of the terms and methods that are used in the book

Rarely involve analysis, synthesis, application, or evaluation (cross-discipline research documents that approximately 85 percent for the questions in test banks test recall)
Limit the scope of the exam to text content; if used extensively, may lead students to conclude that the material covered in class is unimportant and irrelevant

We have a tendency to genuinely believe that these are the test that is only options, but there are a few interesting variations. This article that promoted this review proposes one: focus on a question, and revise it until it can be answered with one word or a phrase that is short. Do not list any answer choices for that question that is single but affix to the exam an alphabetized a number of answers. Students select answers from that list. Some of the answers provided may be used more often than once, some may not be used, and there are many more answers listed than questions. It’s a ratcheted-up version of matching. The test is made by the approach more difficult and decreases the chance of getting an answer correct by guessing.

Remember, students do must be introduced to your new or altered question format on an exam before they encounter it.

Editor’s note: the menu of advantages and disadvantages will come in part from the article referenced here. Moreover it cites research evidence highly relevant to some of these pros and cons.

Reference: McAllister, D., and Guidice, R.M. (2012). This is only a test: A machine-graded improvement towards the multiple-choice and examination that is true-false. Teaching in advanced schooling, 17 (2), 193-207.

21st August 2019/by wp_admin_project