Lesson 6.3: Understanding Test Items
Test Items
There are several common kinds of test items. For objective tests, students answer multiple choice questions, matching items, and fill-in-the-blank items. The other kind of test items are short-answer responses and essays. The following are explanations and examples of these along with tips for educated guessing, if applicable–after all, sometimes even though we study hard, a bit of test anxiety might cause a sudden mental block!
Multiple Choice Test Items
Explanation:
These test items offer several answer choices. The test prompt (or question) is known as the “stem” for which you choose one or more of the answer options.
Examples:
1. A simile is
- a comparison without using “like”
- a comparison using the word “as”
- a comparison using either “like” or “as”
- none of the above
2. Memory devices include
- acronyms
- inference
- acrostics
- associations
- 1, 3, and 4
- all of the above
Tips
Make sure that all the rules of grammar apply when you match the stem with the option. for example, in example item number 2, above, notice that them stem directs you to look for a plural answer because “devices” is plural. Number 5, then, is the correct answer (answers 1, 3, and 4 are all plural).
Educated Guessing
- Choose “3” or C, which is more often than not the correct answer (as in example item number 1, above).
- Choose the longest or most inclusive answer, also as in example item number 1, above.
- If the test item is for a math quiz, choose the in-between number, or one of the in-between numbers. example: 1) 432, 2) 77, 3) 12, 4)2,098. Your chances are better by choosing either 1 or 2.
Matching Test Items
Explanation
This kind of test item features two columns, a numbered column and a lettered column. Students are asked to match the correct answer with the correct stem.
Example
- NASA ___organization device
- headache ___acronym
- graphic organizer ___symptom of test anxiety
Tips
Count the number of items in each column. If there are more on one side, ask if an answer can be used more than once.
Fill-In-the-Blank Test Items
Explanation
These are items for which you must fill in a word or words.
Example
Fill in the ____________ questions are featured frequently on exams.
Tips
Fill-in-the-blank questions usually expect you to write one word per blank. If more than one word is expected, there will be more than one blank space or the blank will be long.
Short Answer Test Items
Explanation
This type of test item usually involves a short answer of approximately 5-7 sentences. Typical short answer items will address only one topic and require only one “task” (see “essay test items,” below, for a test item requiring more than one task).
Example
Define the term “mnemonic.”
Tips
Since many short answer test items ask the student to define a term, here are several ways to expand a definition to achieve the 5-7 sentence desired response (depending upon the course and the teacher’s requirements, that is):
- the dicti