This paper presents a scientific rationale for deciding the number of points to use on a grading scale in any given assessment situation. The rationale is applied to two common methods of assessment (multiple-choice and essay tests) and an example of a composite assessment. (Author/SJL)

A validational procedure was used, which involved a matrix of intercorrelations among tests reresenting four areas of Chartered Life Underwriter content knowledge, each measured by objective multiple-choice and essay methods. Results indicated that the two methods of measuring the same trait yielded fairly consistent estimates of content…

Certain kinds of multiple-choice reading comprehension questions may be answered correctly at the higher-than-chance level when they are administered without the accompanying passage. These high risk questions do not necessarily lead to passage dependence invalidity. They threaten but do not prove invalidity. (Author/CP)

To determine the extent of students' confidence-judgment accuracy (CJA) and the relationship of this memory-monitoring ability to overall test performance, undergraduates in a psychology course supplied confidence-judgments along with their answers on multiple-choice test items. CJA correlated positively with test performance. (Editor/SJL)

The author gives several reasons for students' varying abilities to take tests, then discusses how to write tests of different forms--essay questions, true-false questions, matching questions, completion questions--noting that the teacher who spends time writing good items will save time and effort in scoring. (HD)

The effect of using statistical and cognitive item difficulty to determine item order on multiple-choice tests was examined, using 120 undergraduate students. Students performed better when items were ordered by increasing cognitive difficulty rather than decreasing difficulty. The statistical ordering of difficulty had little effect on…

A classification scheme is presented for procedures to detect differential item functioning (DIF) for dichotomously scored items that is applicable to new DIF procedures for polytomously scored items. A formal development of a polytomous version of a dichotomous DIF technique is presented. (SLD)

Methods are described, based on item response theory, that provide scaled scores, or estimates of trait level, for each summed score for rated responses or for combinations of rated responses and multiple-choice items. These useful methods avoid problems associated with response-pattern scoring. (SLD)

The Force Concept Inventory (FCI) is a 29-question, multiple-choice test designed to assess students' Newtonian and non-Newtonian conceptions of force. Presents an analysis of FCI results as one way to determine what the inventory actually measures. (LZ)

Discusses effects of test question order on student performance. Addresses (1) differences in the distribution of scores on each form of the examination; (2) effects on the validity of individual examination items; and (3) effects on the reliability of the examination instrument. Concludes that distribution of examination scores may be influenced…

Two experiments with 112 college students investigated how subjects might modulate their reading strategies as a function of how they expect to be tested. Test-expectancy subjects, regardless of the test expected, are more apt to identify and focus on important information than are subjects without a specific test expectancy. (SLD)

Four management and four marketing professors classified multiple-choice questions in four widely adopted introductory textbooks according to the two levels of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives: knowledge and intellectual ability and skill. Inaccuracies may cause instructors to select questions that require less thinking than they intend.…

Relationships between multiple-choice test answer changing and testwiseness skills, and between these two variables and examination performance were studied with 150 college business students. Answer-changing behavior was related to multiple-choice test performance but not to testwiseness or performance on the nonmultiple choice portion.…

Discusses statistical procedures for increasing test unreliability due to guessing in multiple choice and true/false tests. Proposes two new measures of test unreliability: one concerned with resolution of defined levels of knowledge and the other with the probability of examinees being incorrectly ranked. Both models are based on the binomial…

The effect of removing nonfunctioning items from multiple-choice tests was studied by examining change in difficulty, discrimination, and dimensionality. Results provide additional support for the benefits of eliminating nonfunctioning options, such as enhanced score reliability, reduced testing time, potential for broader domain sampling, and…