I once, in a large class and with multiple forms of the exam (same questions, different order), mistaking used one form that had the questions appearing in order of the page in the text on the topic was presented. Performance on that form was about a letter grade higher than on the form with items scrambled.
For multiple choice exams I routinely check which wrong answer
options were chosen. If one turns out to be too attractive, I may edit it.
Cheers,
[Description: Karl L. Wuensch]<http://core.ecu.edu/psyc/wuenschk/klw.htm>
From: Claudia Stanny [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, May 04, 2012 5:10 PM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: Re: [tips] Curious about exam construction
When I have a large class and create multiple versions of the exam, I randomize
the questions on the multiple forms, which mixes up the questions across
chapters.
For smaller classes, I keep questions from each chapter together.
I didn't notice that it made a difference in average class performance in the
large classes when the questions were mixed rather than blocked (as they had
been before I started creating multiple forms).
In spite of this evidence that it might not matter, I still like the idea of
maintaining the context of a topic and keep related questions together. (It
also helps me detect when I have questions that are too similar or a question
that provides the answer for another question.)
Another test construction question:
I tried selecting questions based on item difficulty/type (as identified in a
publisher's test bank or based on my judgment and previous class performance
for questions I write myself). I tried to select questions so that 50% were
fact-based with the remainder a combination of conceptual and application
questions. I also decided to ensure that 50% of the questions were considered
"easy," about 40% "moderate," and no more than 10% "difficult." Has anyone
tried structuring the test questions in this way?
The item analysis on my exam items this term have been quite interesting.
What are your thoughts about using data from an item analysis to redefine item
difficulty?
_____________________________________________
Claudia J. Stanny, Ph.D.
Director
Center for University Teaching, Learning, and Assessment
Associate Professor
NSF ADVANCE Scholar
School of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences
University of West Florida
11000 University Parkway
Pensacola, FL 32514 - 5751
Phone: (850) 857-6355 or 473-7435
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
CUTLA Web Site: http://uwf.edu/cutla/
Personal Web Pages: http://uwf.edu/cstanny/website/index.htm
On Fri, May 4, 2012 at 3:34 PM, Carol DeVolder
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Hi,
As I sit here trying to do anything but grade or write exams, a thought
occurred to me. Often, when one constructs an exam over several chapters, the
questions are mixed up so that those over the same chapter aren't grouped
together. Is this really necessary? It seems that it merely serves to add one
more layer of confusion to the process. Or am I the only one who does this?
Carol
--
Carol DeVolder, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
St. Ambrose University
518 West Locust Street
Davenport, Iowa 52803
563-333-6482<tel:563-333-6482>
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