Campus Resources

Academic affairs

Writing Test Questions

How well students perform on tests may significantly depend on how well you write the test. If you have been in the classroom long, you have likely experienced the following scenario.

You did what you thought was a good job teaching the material, and the students seemed to have completed their assignments; then you gave a test or quiz and the students performed poorly. You start to think that you did not teach the material as well as you thought. Then you start to think that your students really did not do their work or study after all. You and your students are frustrated and unhappy.

The chances are that neither your teaching nor their preparation is the culprit. The culprit may be the kinds of test items you wrote. The information below will connect you to links for general test writing tips, essay writing tips, objective question writing tips (multiple choice, matching, True/False, and fill-in-the-blank), and problem solving questions. In addition, there is a set of links for materials you can provide to your students on good test-taking skills for each of the above types of tests.

A Place to Start

One good place to start is by reviewing Bloom’s Taxonomy. A staple for those in education programs, these concepts rarely make it into the course content of most graduate programs.

Benjamin Bloom created this taxonomy for categorizing level of abstraction of questions that commonly occur in educational settings. The taxonomy provides a useful structure in which to categorize test questions.

Bloom’s Taxonomy
Competence	Skills Demonstrated
Knowledge	observation and recall of information knowledge of dates, events, places knowledge of major ideas mastery of subject matter Question Cues: list, define, tell, describe, identify, show, label, collect, examine, tabulate, quote, name, who, when, where, etc.
Comprehension	understanding information grasp meaning translate knowledge into new context interpret facts, compare, contrast order, group, infer causes predict consequences Question Cues: summarize, describe, interpret, contrast, predict, associate, distinguish, estimate, differentiate, discuss, extend
Application	use information use methods, concepts, theories in new situations solve problems using required skills or knowledge Questions Cues: apply, demonstrate, calculate, complete, illustrate, show, solve, examine, modify, relate, change, classify, experiment, discover
Analysis	seeing patterns organization of parts recognition of hidden meanings identification of components Question Cues: analyze, separate, order, explain, connect, classify, arrange, divide, compare, select, explain, infer
Synthesis	use old ideas to create new ones generalize from given facts relate knowledge from several areas predict, draw conclusions Question Cues: combine, integrate, modify, rearrange, substitute, plan, create, design, invent, what if?, compose, formulate, prepare, generalize, rewrite
Evaluation	compare and discriminate between ideas assess value of theories, presentations make choices based on reasoned argument verify value of evidence recognize subjectivity Question Cues: assess, decide, rank, grade, test, measure, recommend, convince, select, judge, explain, discriminate, support, conclude, compare, summarize

* Adapted from: Bloom, B.S. (Ed.) (1956) Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals: Handbook I, cognitive domain. New York ; Toronto: Longmans, Green.

The Goal of Teaching

One goal we always have is to improve the teaching and learning at Mat-Su College. Unexpected and unwanted test results sometimes happen because we didn’t ask the right questions, the questions that would elicit what we really wanted students to know.

Worse yet, we sometimes inadvertently ask questions that don’t relate at all to what we really want our students to learn nor to what we actually taught in the classroom.

Try reading a few of the articles for which we have provided links, and try some of the tips and techniques as you plan your quizzes and tests for your classes. The results should be tests and quizzes that better reflect your teaching and the true level of understanding by your students.

This resource was written and compiled by Dr. Carolyn Holbert, Matanuska-Susitna College, May 2004.

Campus Resources

Academic affairs

Writing Test Questions

A Place to Start

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Competence

Skills Demonstrated

The Goal of Teaching