Testing

The one question students always ask is, "Will this be on the test?"  Can't students realize which material is important and likely to be asked on a test?
--Graduate TA

Testing and grading are necessary ingredients of teaching and learning.  Tests give teachers a way of measuring student learning.  Grading gives students feedback on their academic performance.
(See the section on University Policies & Guidelines on academic dishonesty.)
 

WHAT TO TEST

• IMPORTANT LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND COURSE GOALS.  Your exams should test learning objectives and instructional goals that you have emphasized to students throughout the course.

  If your course goal is to analyze a marketing situation and recommend alternative solutions, don't ask students to perform simple memorization, plug-and-chug problems.  You will give a mixed message and students will learn to just memorize, not to analyze.

   

• MAJOR TOPICS OF DISCUSSION.  Test topics that were discussed in detail during class.

  You generally devote class time to discussion of material only if you consider it important to your course goals.

   

• ASSIGNED OUT-OF-CLASS READINGS OR PROJECTS. Testing out-of-class readings and projects that are important but have not been thoroughly covered in class emphasizes their importance to students.

HOW TO TEST

• TEST FREQUENTLY.  Research has shown that frequent testing with a quick turn-around on feedback enhances student learning and allows students to learn from their mistakes.

 

• TEST CUMULATIVELY.  Frequent (shorter) tests and quizzes give students good feedback, but students also need to be given tests in larger, more cumulative chunks.  Students who have to study for cumulative tests remember the material longer and are better able to integrate the new knowledge with old.

 

• WRITE EXPLICIT DIRECTIONS.  Go over the directions with students prior to starting the test.

 

• CLEARLY STATE THE QUESTIONS.  Remove as many sources of ambiguity as you can and be careful not to introduce new or difficult terminology into your test questions.

Sometimes what is clear to you may not be clear to your students, so you might ask a colleague to read your questions.  During the test, if a question statement seems confusing to some students, clarify the question for the whole class.

 

• TAKE THE TEST YOURSELF.  In addition to checking test construction, this technique helps you to generate your answer key.

This is an effective way to check for typos or problem questions.  Also time yourself and check for proper length of test.  A general guideline is that for a 50 minute test, you should need no longer than 20 minutes.

TYPES OF TEST QUESTIONS

• MULTIPLE CHOICE.  It is difficult to construct good questions, but they are quicker to grade.  Appropriate for measuring both recall of information and discipline vocabulary.

 

• SHORT ANSWER.  These questions are easy to grade, but questions need to be clearly worded.  It may be necessary to accept alternatively worded answers.  This form of question evaluates information recall and analytic skills.

 

• ESSAY.  Such tests are hardest to grade, but have the best educational value.  These questions challenge students to organize, evaluate, and integrate ideas, as well as demonstrate logical thinking and writing skills.

 

• NUMERICAL OR LOGICAL PROBLEMS.  Grading difficulty depends on the complexity of the problem.  Problems test understanding of the material and the ability to apply it.

 

• COMPLETION QUESTIONS.  It may be necessary to accept reasonable alternative answers.  Completion questions test for recognition of key terms and concepts.

 

• MATCHING.  Give enough answers so students can't guess by elimination.  This form of test evaluates recognition of relationships between pairs of words or between words and definitions.

TOTAL TEST

CLASSIFY QUESTIONS ACCORDING TO KNOWLEDGE REQUIREMENTS.  You may find that some questions involve only rote memorization and that with a small change, you can produce a question which requires a higher level of thought.
 
 

 This system, developed by Benjamin Bloom, is one of the most widely used and is based on the notion of a hierarchy of thought processes.  Each category requires more complex thinking than the one preceding it, and also builds on or incorporates the preceding types of thought in order to proceed to the "higher" levels.  This in itself suggests a teaching strategy:  In the early stages of a topic, there should be more emphasis on lower, more basic thinking processes; as this is mastered, students will be able to move up the hierarchy toward more complex ways of dealing with the material.

Descriptions of the Major Categories in the Cognitive Domain

1. Memorization is defined as the remembering of previously learned material.  This may involve the recall of a wide range of material, from specific facts to complete theories, but all that is required is the recall of the appropriate information.  Memorization represents the lowest level of learning outcomes.

   Sample Performance Statements

   • State names of 4 European rulers during World War I.
   • Describe how to titrate.
   • Define deviance.

    

2. Comprehension is defined as the ability to grasp the meaning of material.  This may be shown by translating material from one form to another (words to numbers), by interpreting material (explaining or summarizing), and by estimating future trends (predicting consequences or effects).  These learning outcomes go one step beyond the simple remembering of material, and represent the lowest level of understanding.

   Sample Performance Statements

   • Summarize Plato's views on good and evil.
   • Describe the composition of the nucleus of an isotope from its position in the periodic table.
   • Restate the concept of the superego in your own words.

    

3. Application refers to the ability to use learned material in new and concrete situations.  This may include the application of rules, methods, concepts, principles, laws, and theories.  Learning outcomes in this area require a higher level of understanding than those under comprehension.

   Sample Performance Statements

   • Calculate the volume of a sample of gas under any conditions.
   • Write a coherent paragraph, as given by the basic rules, to express an idea.
   • On the basis of a description, classify a society as embodying organic or mechanical solidarity.

    

4. Analysis refers to the ability to break down material into component parts so that the organizational structure may be understood.  This may include the identification of the parts, analysis of the relationships between parts, and/or recognition of the organizational principles involved.  Learning outcomes here represent a higher intellectual level than comprehension and application because they require an understanding of both the content and the structural form of the material.

   Sample Performance Statements

   • Identify the ions of an unknown using a chemical qualitative analysis scheme.
   • Identify the key themes in a short story and show how they are interrelated in producing the outcome.
   • Identify several central values in a non-western cultural system and show how they are expressed in economic and religious activities.
5. Synthesis refers to the ability to put parts together to form a new whole.  This may involve the production of a unique communication (theme or speech), a plan of operations (research proposal), or a set of abstract relations (scheme for classifying information).  Learning outcomes in this area stress creative behaviors, with major emphasis on the formulation of new patterns or structures.

   Sample Performance Statements

   • Devise a scheme for the synthesis of an organic compound from a given starting material.
   • Working from original documents, construct an account of how European intervention affected the Civil War.
   • Design an experiment for establishing in what ways certain members of an ecological system are dependent on one another.

    

6. Evaluation is concerned with the critical ability to judge the value of material (a statement, novel, poem, research report) for a given purpose.  The judgments are to be based on definite criteria.  These may be based on internal criteria (organization) or external criteria (relevance to the purpose) and the student may determine the criteria or be given them.  Learning outcomes in this area are highest in the cognitive hierarchy because they contain elements of all the other categories, plus conscious value judgments based on clearly defined criteria.

   Sample Performance Statements

   • Choose the most efficient scheme of synthesis for an organic compound from among several schemes.

   • Evaluate the quality of several poems on the basis of internal structure and harmony of imagery.
   • Compare the adequacy of 3 theories of personality in explaining a specified type of behavior.