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.
