Creating
Exams
ACOSTA-CAHUANA-MEDINA-PILLA-SOTO
Choose appropriate
item types for your
objectives
Should you assign
essay questions on
your exams?
Problem sets?
Multiple-choice
questions?
.
ef
01
Highlight how the
exam aligns with
course objectives
Identify which course objectives the
exam addresses
02
This exam assesses your students'
ability to use grammar appropriately
and to apply what we have learned in
the course to date.
03
It activates relevant experiences and
knowledge from the early stages of
the course.
Write instructions
that are clear, explicit,
and unambiguous
Be more explicit about
your expectations than
you think necessary.
These expectations should
be expressed to students
before they take the exam.
You may want to explain in
the instructions to what
extent you want the
students to answer the
questions.
Write instructions that
preview the exam
Students' test-taking
skills may not be very
effective.
Example:
There will be 10
multiple-choice
questions,each worth
two points.
Two essay questions,
each worth 15 points.
Word questions
clearly and simply.
Complex and
convoluted
“never” or “always”
Enlist a colleague or TA to read
through your exam.
INSTRUCTIONS
OR QUESTIONS
COLLEAGUE OR
TA
Think about how long it will take
students to complete the exam.
Time pressure is related
to mistakes
Assess how students
perform.
The difficulty of the
exam.
Consider the point value of
different question types.
The point value depends on:
01
Difficult and
complex
question
types
02
Length of
time
03
Level of
critical
knowledge.
04
The
importance
of the skills
and subskills
Think ahead to how you will score
students’ work.
When assigning point values, it is
useful to think ahead to how you
will score students’ answers.
Will you give partial credit if a
student gets some elements of an
answer right?
Creating objective test questions
Test only a single idea in each item.
Make sure the wrong answers (distractors) are
plausible. Incorporate common student errors as
distractors.
Make sure the position of the correct answer (e.g.,
A, B, C, D) varies randomly from item to item.
Include from three to five options for each item.
Avoid using “All of the above” and “None of the
above” in responses.
Bibliography