CTVSD2/Introduction/Tests

Follow these steps to develop effective knowledge based tests:

1. Determine how many questions you need

It the test is delivered via oral questioning or in writing you may only need one or two question for each of the knowledge items or outcomes you are assessing. If the test is conducted online and the learners have multiple attempts, then you will need to develop a test back of questions for each outcome or knowledge item. For example, if you are assessing three (3) outcomes and you need to ask three (3) questions for each one to be assessed and learners can have two (2) attempts the test then the number of questions you will need you will need per outcome is 3 (questions need) x 2 (number of attempts) x 2 (a multiplier to minimise the chance of the same questions being answered) or a total of twelve (12) questions per outcome. The test bank will have in total 36 questions of which a there will be 3 sets of 12 will categorised under each outcome.

2. Choose the appropriate type of questions

When preparing a test weather administered in oral questioning, in writing or online is important to choose the best format for each questions from the available formats. You may want to review this guide from the University of Bristol when choosing an appropriate question style. It also provides more information and tips here on writing assessment questions for online delivery with some principles and guidelines.

Here are some more tips:


 * how to you write the best test questions link


 * how to write effective multiple-choice questions (MCQs) link


 * 7 rules on how to construct true and false questions link.

When writing the questions consider their level of difficulty. If all questions are of the same difficulty, then they should be assigned the same value or marks to be earned. If their difficulty varies that the value or marks need to be representative of the difficulty. For example, easy questions can carry 1 mark, more difficult questions 2 marks and hard once 3 marks.

3. Take into account the literacy level of your learners

If you have learners with variety or low literacy levels, you should consider using images rather than just test in your questions. For example, if learners need to identify specific parts of a machine rather than matching the names of the parts with a description you can have images of the parts to be matched with the parts’ names.

4. Review your questions

Once you have written the questions, we strongly recommend you ask a college to review them and make sure they are written well, there is no ambiguity, and that you have used the appropriate type of questions to effectively assess the knowledge assessed.

5. Set up the test

Once you have finalised the questions and incorporated any changes from your college’s review you are ready to set up the test. If the test in writing or the learners are orally questioned you need to prepare the test instructions including how the tests is conducted, the time frame for completion and the selected questions. In the example earlier that will be 12 questions for the 3 outcomes that are assessed.

If the test is conducted online, you will need to upload and publish the 36 questions (the test bank from our example) in the learning management system (LMS) or test software you use. When uploading the questions, you need to make sure they are clearly categorised (grouped or tagged) under the outcomes they are assessing. Once all questions are uploaded and published with the appropriate marks and feedback allocated to them, as marking will be automatically be done by the assessment software, you are ready to set up the tests.

You need to have clear interactions for learners to follow how to take the test and how to submit their final answers in case they have the option to review them before submitting. The you need to select the parameters for the software how to constrict the test. For example, you need to include in the test settings how many questions need to be pulled randomly from each outcome category at every test attempt, In our example it was 2 questions for each outcome. You will also need to specify the number of attempts allowed and how the finial mark is derived. For example, taking the highest mark or the average of the two attempts.

Last but not least you need to set the date the test will be available for the learners to take it, as well as the date the test will close.

6. Test your test

No that your test is all set up and ready in your LMS or test software it is time to test if everything is functioning as it should. Re recommend you test it yourself as well as ask a couple of colleagues to take the test as well. As them to note any functionality issues as well as any questions they felt did not work well. This is your last opportunity to make improvements before administering the test with learners.