construction of a test

 

CONSTRUCTION OF AN ACHIEVEMENT TEST

Achievement Test

Achievement test measures present proficiency, mastery and understanding of general and specific areas of knowledge. Achievement tests attempt to measure what and how individual has learnt, viz. his present standard of performance. Scores of achievement test indicate the academic status of the individual learner in different subjects as a whole or individually.

Any test designed to assess the achievement in any subject with regard to a set of predetermined objectives.

Major steps involved in the construction of achievement test

1.      Planning

2.      Design of the test

3.      Blue print of the test

4.      Writing of test items

5.      Scoring key and marking scheme

6.      Question wise analysis

1. Planning of test

It is all about the planning a test, in this the objectives of a test are fixed. It is most important to have an aim of the test, on the basis of which we can assume the outcomes of the test.

• Objective of the Test
• Determine the maximum time and maximum marks.

2. Preparation of a design for the test

Test design is a process that describes “how” testing should be done. It includes processes for the identifying test cases by enumerating steps of the defined test conditions. Some of the important factors to be considered in design are as follow-

Important factors to be considered in design for the test are:

• Weightage to objectives
• Weightage to content
• Weightage to form of questions
• Weightage to difficulty level.

Weightage to objectives

• This indicates what objectives are to be tested and what weightage has to be given to each objectives.

Sl.No	Objectives	Marks	Percentage
1	Knowledge	3	12
2	Understanding	2	8
3	Application	6	24
4	Analysis	8	32
5	Synthesis	4	16
6	Evaluation	2	8
Total		25	100

Weightage to content

• This indicates the various aspects of the content to be tested and the weightage to be given to these different aspects.

Sl.No	Content	Marks	Percentage
1	Sub topic - 1	15	60
2	Sub topic - 2	10	40
Total		25	100

Weightage to form of questions

• This indicates the form of the questions to be included in the test and the weightage to be given for each form of questions.

Sl.No	Form of questions	No. of Questions	Marks	Percentage
1	Objective type	14	7	28
2	Short answer type	7	14	56
3	Essay type	1	4	16
Total		22	25	100

Weightage to difficulty level

• This indicates the total mark and weightage to be given to different level of questions.

Sl.No	Form of questions	Marks	Percentage
1	Easy	5	20
2	Average	15	60
3	Difficult	5	20
Total		25	100

 

3. Preparation of the blue print

• Blue print is a three-dimensional chart giving the placement of the objectives, content and form of questions.

Objectives Form of Qtn Content	Knowledge			Under-standing			Application			Analysis			Synthesis			Evaluation			Grant Total
	O	SA	E	O	SA	E	O	SE	E	O	SA	E	O	SA	E	O	SA	E
Sub Topic- 1	2 (4)			1 (2)			2 (4)	2 (1)				4 (1)		2 (1)			2 (1)		15
Sub Topic – 2	1 (2)			1 (2)				2 (1)			4 (2)			2 (1)					10
Total Marks	3	0	0	2	0	0	2	4	0	0	4	4	0	4	0	0	2	0	25
Grand Total	3			2			6			8			4			2

Note: O – Objective Type, SA – Short Answer Type, E – Essay Type

The number outside the bracket indicates the marks and those inside indicates the number of questions.

4. Writing of items

• The paper setter write items according to the blue print.
• The difficulty level has to be considered while writing the items.
• It should also checked whether all the questions included can be answered within the time allotted.
• It is advisable to arrange the questions in the order of their difficulty level.

5. Preparation of the scoring key and marking scheme

• In the case of objective type items where the answers are in the form of some letters or other symbol a scoring key is prepared.

Scoring Key

Q.No	Answer	Marks
1	A	½
2	C	½
3	A	½
4	D	½
5	B	½

 

• In the case of short answer and essay type questions, the marking scheme is prepared.
• In preparing marking scheme the examiner has to list out the value points to be credited and fix up the mark to be given to each value point.

Marking Scheme

Q.No	Value points	Marks	Total Marks
1	Value Point – 1 Value point – 2 Value point – 3 Value point – 4	½ ½ ½ ½	2
2	Value Point – 1 Value point – 2 Value point – 3 Value point – 4	½ ½ ½ ½	2

6. Preparation of Question-wise Analysis

Question-wise Analysis

Q.No	Content	Objectives	Form of Questions	Difficulty Level	Marks	Estimated Time ( In Mts.)
1	Sub topic – 1	Knowledge	Objective Type	Easy	½	1
2	Sub Topic – 2	Understanding	Objective Type	Average	½	1
3	Sub Topic – 2	Application	Objective Type	Easy	½	1
4	Sub Topic – 1	Knowledge	Objective Type	Easy	½	1
5	Sub Topic – 2	Understanding	Objective type	Average	½	1
5	Sub Topic – 1	Analysis	Short answer	Average	2	3
6	Sub Topic – 1	Synthesis	Short Answer	Difficult	2	3
7	Sub topic – 2	Application	Short answer	Easy	2	3
8	Subtopic – 1	Analysis	Essay	Average	4	10

reference:

Educational Technology For All

http://sathitech.blogspot.com/2009/03/construction-of-achievement-test.html