Objective Type Test

keywords; objective type test, advantages of objective type test, limitations of objective type test, types of objective test, selection type of objective test supply types of objective test,  Suggestions for writing objective type tests, Multiple Choice objective type questions, Completion Items test,  Short Answer Items test

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                        

Objective Type Test

1)    Definition

2)    Advantages

3)    Limitations

4)    Types

5)    Suggestions for writing

 

Definition:

The test in which the personal opinions of the scorer are not allowed to influence the score.

 

Advantages:

• Easy to Score
• Objectivity in scoring
• Exact rating of student achievement
• It covers the whole course
• Language and hand writing is not affected

 

 Limitations:

• Time consuming in preparation
• Easy in cheating
• Difficult in construction
• Difficult in supervision
• Guessing problem
• It does not develop/measure higher mental abilities (e.g. critical thinking, organization, creativity etc.)

Types of Objective Test

Objective type

 

a) Selection type                                                                             b) Supply Type

i) Binary Choice                                                                              i) Completion Items

ii) Multiple Choice Questions                                                      ii) Short Answer Items

iii) Matching Choice

5 – Suggestions for writing objective type tests

 

1) Binary choice (True/False)

i)             Use Clear and simple language

ii)            Avoid negative statements – double negative

{e.g. Pakistan is not un-Islamic country. (T/F)}

iii)           Use balance number of true and false items in the test

iv)           It should be absolutely true or false

{e.g. Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and it is situated in the province of Sindh (T/F)}

v)                  Avoid specific determiners such as           All, none, always, never à False

Some, often, as rule à True

vi)           avoid tricky statements

e.g. Columbus discovered America in 1492 B.C (T/F)

vii)         Arrange true and false items randomly not in any specific order.

viii)        Avoid lifting exact wording from the text book.

2) Multiple Choice questions (MCQs)

It consist of two parts                                   Stem

                                                            Alternatives                           Answer

                                                                                                            Distracters

e.g.

Who was the first president of Pakistan? (Stem)

a) Quaid-e-Azam b) Liqat Ali Khan c) Ghulam Mohammad d) Sikandar Mirza

(a, b, c = Distracters)                                                      (Answer)

Suggestions:

1)    There should be only one correct answer in the alternatives.

{e.g. Which one is the neighboring country of Pakistan? a) Russia b) Iraq c) Iran d) India }

2)    All distracters should be plausible.

{e.g. The name of the capital of Pakistan is _______,

a) Karachi b) Lahore c) Islamabad d) Swat}

3)    Give the correct answer randomly

4)    Verbal association between stem and correct answer should be avoided. {e.g. A process which ranks the students from highest to lowest is called _________ a) Tallying b) Ranking c) Classifying d) Blocking}

5)    Length of all responses should be approximately equal

6)    Avoid interdependent Items

{e.g. 1. The mean (x) of a set of scores 3, 7, 8, 12, 15 is    

a) 9 b) 10 c) 7 d) 8

         2. If we multiply the mean of the above score by 5, we get:

a) 45, b) 50, c) 35, d) 40

7)    Avoid irrelevant grammatical clues

e.g. the authors of the book “Measurement and Evaluation” are:            

a) Thrandike and Hagen

b) Mouly

c) Best

d) Ebel

8)    Formulate the problem in the stem

e.g. The president of Pakistan

a) Is elected by N.A.

b) Is elected by senate

c) Is elected by Provincial Assemblies

d) Is elected by a, b, c all

9)    Avoid the use of item which helps the students to answer other items.

1) Who was the founder of Pakistan?

a)   ________b)   ________c) _______ d) _______

2) In which city the founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam was born?

a)   ________b)   ________c) _______ d) _______

10) Formula for negative marking for correction of guessing

S = R – W/N-1

R = Right responses

W = Wrong responses

N = Number of Options given

 

3) Completion Items:

Defined as “A sentence in which one or more words have left out with blanks provided for the examinee to fill in”.

e.g. The capital of Iran is ______________ (Tehran).

 

Suggestions:

1) State such that there should be only one correct answer

e.g.      Allama Iqbal was born in __________. (Asia, Sub-continent, Punjab,Sialkot,1977)

           

The country of which Quaid-e-Azam was the founder is __________ (poor)

{Pakistan, Good, Advance, beautiful, Islamic, Industrialized} (Better)

The name of the country of which Quaid-e-Azam was born is _____

2) Omit only important words.

e.g.      The capital of Pakistan _______ Islamabad (poor)

The capital of Pakistan is ______________ (Better)

3) Do not leave many blanks in statements

(Guessing game) __________ Discover _________ in _____ (poor)

Columbus discovered America in ______ (Better)

4) For numerical answer specify the unit

e.g.      The distance between Peshawar and Lahore is _____  

5) Leave the blank preferably at the end of the statement rather than at the beginning

6) Avoid taking directly from text book.

Short Answer Items

Definition:

            A question to which the examinee responds with a word, symbol or sentence

Uses:

i)             Terminology

ii)            Method, laws

iii)           Numerical problems

 

Suggestions:

1)    Short and brief answer

e.g.      How do we multiply 7 by 5 ______ (poor)

            What number do you get by multiplying 7 by 5 _______ (better)

e.g.      What is education? (Poor)

Define Education not more than three lines (Better)

2)    Do not take from textbook

3)    Ignore or penalized for spellings etc.

4)    Provide enough space for writing.