As one in a series of test item collections developed by the Assessment and Evaluation Unit of the Directorate of Studies, items of value from past tests are made available to teachers for the construction of unit tests, term examinations or as a basis for class discussion. Each collection was reviewed for content validity and reliability. The…

As one in a series of test item collections developed by the Assessment and Evaluation Unit of the Directorate of Studies, items of value from past tests are made available to teachers for the construction of unit tests, term examinations or as a basis for class discussion. Each collection was reviewed for content validity and reliability. The…

The effects of distinctive background settings on children's recognition memory for subjects and objects of related sentences was examined. As a follow-up to a study by Levin, Ghatala, and Truman (1979), the effects of presenting distinctive background contexts in sentences and multiple-choice tests were separated from the effects of providing…

The effectiveness of a strategy for improving performance on multiple choice items for examinees with different levels of test anxiety was assessed. Undergraduate measurement students responded to the Mandler-Sarason Test Anxiety Scale and to an objective test covering course content. Results indicated that, for most examinees, generation of an…

After vigorous review, editing, and trial testing, this item bank was compiled to help secondary school teachers construct objective tests in the social sciences. Anthropology, economics, ethnic and cultural studies, geography, history, legal studies, politics, and sociology are among the topics represented. The bank consists of multiple choice…

Two different formats for multiple-choice test items were compared in an experimental test given in a college class in introductory psychology. In one format, a question or incomplete statement was followed by four answers or completions, only one of which was correct. In the other format, the double multiple-choice version, the same questions…

This booklet offers English teachers a summary of the literature on test development and practical suggestions for test writing. The issues addressed include (1) honesty in testing, (2) understanding the place of testing, (3) characteristics of good testing, (4) preparing a classroom test, (5) what diagnostic tests reveal, (6) essay questions, and…

THE TEST OF BASIC INFORMATION (TOBI) IS A 54-ITEM, MULTIPLE-CHOICE PICTURE TEST DEVELOPED TO MEASURE PREACADEMIC, SCHOOL-RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE. IT CAN BE USED TO ASSESS PROGRAM EFFECTIVENESS BY GIVING IT AS A PRE- AND POSTTEST. IT CAN BE ADMINISTERED INDIVIDUALLY, OR TO GROUPS OF UP TO 15 IF THERE IS 1 ADULT FOR 3 OR 4 CHILDREN, AND TAKES FROM 15 TO…

Subkoviak suggested a technique for estimating both group reliability and the reliability associated with assigning a given individual to a mastery or non-mastery category based on a single test administration. Two assumptions underlie this model. First, it is assumed that had successive test administrations occurred, scores for each individual…

A project is described that was undertaken to investigate: (1) how long a cloze test has to be to achieve optimum reliability without wasting anyone's time; and (2) how cloze tests should be scored in order to obtain maximum reliability. The literature recommended 50 deletions in order to provide for an adequate sample of examinee's abilities; it…

Research related to the multiple choice test item is reported, as it is conducted by educational technologists in Japan. Sato's number of hypothetical equivalent alternatives is introduced. The based idea behind this index is that the expected uncertainty of the m events, or alternatives, be large and the number of hypothetical, equivalent…

A non-verbal science test was constructed to overcome a partial language barrier. Validation was achieved through tape-recorded interviews with the examinees on each test item to determine the clarity of the item and why choices among four possible answers were made. Ninth grade students at three boarding schools conducted by the Bureau of Indian…

The findings of this paper suggest that when students encounter a situation in which they can benefit by cheating, those who score lowest on the exam are least able to resist the temptation to cheat. Exam scores for 459 beginning psychology students were examined. Each student took four exams, but only on the third was copying made impossible. The…

The TITA (Totally Interactive Testing and Analysis) System algorithm for the repetitive construction of domain-referenced tests utilizes a compact data bank, is highly portable, is useful in any discipline, requires modest computer hardware, and does not present a security problem. Clusters of related keyphrases, statement phrases, and distractors…

Matching test (MT) construction techniques were compared. These included: (a) MT instruction that limit the number of times responses can be selected to once, rather than more than once; (2) MTs that are organized in groups of five premises, or stems, rather than in groups of ten premises; and (3) MTs designed to measure knowledge, rather than a…