This document discusses objective and subjective tests. It defines objective tests as having a single correct answer, while subjective tests can have multiple correct answers. It provides examples of question types for each and notes advantages and disadvantages. Objective tests are preferred for standardized testing due to easier scoring but may limit what can be assessed. The document also discusses formative vs summative assessment and norm-referenced vs criterion-referenced tests, noting differences in purpose, content, and score interpretation for each.

1. OBJECTIVES
&
SUBJECTIVES
TESTS
1

2. OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE
TESTS
Objective Tests
is a form of questioning which has a single correct answer.
Subjective Tests
is a form of questioning which may have more than one
current answer (or more than one way of expressing the
correct answer).
2

3. OBJECTIVE TEST
 Objective tests include multiple choice, true-false,
matching, and fill-in questions. They tend to focus more
on specific facts than on general ideas and concepts
 Questions on a tests that only have one correct answer
 Objective tests require far more careful preparation than
subjective tests
 Objective examination can be part of formative
(diagnostic) and summative (final assessment) exams.
 Most popular objective exam is Multiple Choice
Questions (MCQ).
(the method of scoring is the only factor that distinguishes an objective test from a
subjective test)

4.  Advantages of multiple choice question:
1. The ability to create a test item bank
2. Quick grading – can be easily computer scored
3. If written well, high reliability - only one possible
answer
4. Objective grading
5. Wide coverage of content
6. Can be used for mass testing
7. Precision in providing information regarding
specific skills and abilities.
8. Students are familiar with the item type –
directions are easy to understand.

5.  Weaknesses of multiple choice question:
1. Difficult and time consuming to construct
2. High content validity
3. Guessing may have considerable effect
4. Cheating may be facilitated
5. Sometimes skills and areas are tested because
they are testable than important
6. Places a high degree of dependence on student’s
reading ability and teacher’s writing ability.
7. It may limit beneficial washback.
8. This technique strictly limits what can be tested.

6. SUBJECTIVE TEST
 Subjective tests include essay, short-answer,
vocabulary, and take-home tests
 Questions on a test that have more than one correct
answer.
 Each examiner uses his own judgment in evaluating
performance and awarding marks.

7.  Strengths:
1. Easy to set
2. Low content validity
3. Can assess affective and interpretive aspects of language skills
4. allow a candidate to express originality of thought
5. allow the examiner to assess the candidate's quality of written
expression.
 Weaknesses:
1. Marking is time consuming
2. Reliability is low
3. Inter-rater as well as intra-rater variability are probable.
4. Dependence on presentation.- good hand writing vs bad
handwriting
5. Question evasion - possible for the candidate to avoid questions
in areas of the curriculum in which they are weak.
SUBJECTIVE TEST

8. OBJECTIVE VS. SUBJECTIVE TEST
Objective
 short answer
 closed response
 mostly recognition,
limited production
 difficult to write well
 quick and easy to
grade
 reliable
 workload “up front”
Subjective
 long answer
 open response
 emphasis on
production
 relatively easy to write
 difficult to grade
 time-consuming
 inter-rater reliability
 not as reliable
 workload post test
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9. FORMATIVE
&
SUMMATIVE
TESTS
9

10. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
 Assessment for learning
 Taken at varying intervals throughout a course to provide
information and feedback that will help improve
 the quality of student learning
 the quality of the course itself
 The purpose is:
 To promote further improvement of student learning
during the learning process
 To involve students in the ongoing assessment of their
own achievement
 Provides information on what an individual student needs
 To practice
 To have re-taught
 To learn next
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11. KEY ELEMENTS OF FORMATIVE
ASSESSMENT
1. The identification by teachers & learners of learning
goals, intentions or outcomes and criteria for
achieving these.
2. Rich conversations between teachers & students that
continually build and go deeper.
3. The provision of effective, timely feedback to enable
students to advance their learning.
4. The active involvement of students in their own
learning.
5. Teachers responding to identified learning needs and
strengths by modifying their teaching approach(es).
Black & Wiliam, 1998
11

12. BENEFITS OF FORMATIVE
ASSESSMENT FOR TEACHERS
(Boston, 2002)
 Teachers are able to determine what standards students
already know and to what degree.
 Teachers can decide what minor modifications or major
changes in instruction they need to makes so that all
students can succeed in upcoming instruction and on
subsequent assessments.
 Teachers can create appropriate lessons and activities
for groups of learners or individual students.
 Teaching can inform students about their current
progress in order to help them set goals for improvement.
12

13. BENEFITS OF FORMATIVE
ASSESSMENTS FOR STUDENTS
 Students are more motivated to learn.
 Students take responsibility for their own learning.
 Students become users of assessment.
 Students learn valuable lifelong skills such as self-
evaluation, self-assessment, and goal setting.
 Student achievement can improve from 21-41 percentile
points.
(marzano 2003; stiggens et. al, 2006)
13

14. SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
 Assessment of learning
 Generally taken by students at the end of a unit
or semester to demonstrate the "sum" of what
they have or have not learned.
 Summative assessment methods are the most
traditional way of evaluating student work.
 "Good summative assessments--tests and other
graded evaluations--must be demonstrably
reliable, valid, and free of bias" (Angelo and
Cross, 1993).
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15. POSSIBLE ASSESSMENT METHODS
Formative Assessment includes
 Questions
 Classroom Discussions
 Learning Activities
 Feedback
 Conferences
 Interviews
 Student Self-Assessment
Summative Assessment
 Selected Response
 Multiple Choice
 True/False
 Matching
 Fill-in
 Extended Written Response
 Performance Assessment
15

16. FORMATIVE SUMMATIVE
•Occurs During Instruction
•Not Graded
•Process
•Descriptive Feedback
•Continuous
•Occurs at the end
•Graded
•Product
•Evaluative Feedback
•Periodic
•Sort students in rank order
COMPARISON OF ASSESSMENTS
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17. NORM-REFERENCED
&
CRITERION REFERENCED
TESTS
17

18. NORM-REFERENCED TESTS
 To rank each student with respect to the achievement of
others in broad areas of knowledge.
 Normed using large groups of test takers. Compares one
taker to another. Measure achievement, predicts future
performance.
 Each individual is compared with other examinees and
assigned a score--usually expressed as a percentile, a
grade or equivalent score.
 Student achievement is reported for broad skill areas,
although some norm-referenced tests do report student
achievement in specific sub-areas.
18

19. NORM-REFERENCED TEST
 Measures broad skill areas sampled from a variety of
textbooks, syllabi, and the judgments of curriculum
experts.
 Each skill is, usually, tested by less than four items.
 Items vary in difficulty. Items are selected that
discriminate between high and low achievers.
• If too many people get a question correct, or too many
score well, then test questions are “thrown out” until they
achieve a normal curve again.
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20. CRITERION-REFERENCED TEST
• Criterion-referenced tests, also called mastery tests,
compare a person's performance to a set of
objectives. Anyone who meets the criterion can get a
high score.
• Everyone knows what the benchmarks / objectives are
and can attain mastery to meet them.
• It is possible for ALL the test takers to achieve 100%
mastery.
• Measure a student against a specific set of knowledge
(criterion).
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21. CRITERION-REFERENCED TEST
 To determine whether each student has achieved specific
skills or concepts.
 To find out how much students know before instruction
begins and after it has finished.
 Measures specific skills which make up a designated
curriculum.
 These skills are identified by teachers and curriculum
experts.
 Each skill is expressed as an instructional objective.
 Each individual is compared with a preset standard for
acceptable achievement.
 The performance of other examinees is irrelevant.
 Each skill is tested by at least four items in order to obtain
an adequate sample of student performance and to
minimize the effect of guessing.
 The items which test any given skill are parallel in
difficulty.
21

22. NORM & CRITERION REFERENCED TESTS
Dimension Criterion-Referenced
Tests
Norm-Referenced
Tests
Purpose  To determine whether each
student has achieved specific
skills or concepts.
 To find out how much
students know before
instruction begins and after it
has finished.
 To rank each student with
respect to the
achievement of others in
broad areas of knowledge.
 To discriminate between high
and low achievers.
Content  Measures specific skills which
make up a designated
curriculum. These skills are
identified by teachers and
curriculum experts.
 Each skill is expressed as an
instructional objective.
 Measures broad skill areas
sampled from a variety of
textbooks, syllabi, and the
judgments of curriculum
experts.
The following is adapted from: Popham, J. W. (1975). Educational
evaluation. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
22

23. NORM & CRITERION REFERENCED TESTS
Dimension Criterion-Referenced
Tests
Norm-Referenced
Tests
Item
Characteris-
tics
 Each skill is tested by
at least four items in
order to obtain an
adequate sample of
student performance
and to minimize the
effect of guessing.
 The items which test
any given skill are
parallel in difficulty.
 Each skill is usually
tested by less than four
items.
 Items vary in difficulty.
 Items are selected that
discriminate between
high and low achievers.
23

24. NORM & CRITERION REFERENCED TESTS
Dimension Criterion-Referenced
Tests
Norm-Referenced
Tests
Score
Interpre-
tation
 Each individual is
compared with a preset
standard for acceptable
achievement. The
performance of other
examinees is irrelevant.
 A student's score is
usually expressed as a
percentage.
 Student achievement is
reported for individual
skills.
 Each individual is
compared with other
examinees and assigned a
score--usually expressed
as a percentile, a grade
equivalent score, or a
stanine.
 Student achievement is
reported for broad skill
areas, although some
norm-referenced tests do
report student achievement
for individual skills.
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25. Uses of Test Results for Teachers
 Two main ways that test results can be used by teachers:
• For revising instruction for entire class.
• For developing intervention strategies for individual students.
 Standardized test results have not typically been used to aid
teachers in making instructional decisions.
 Data-driven decision making takes some practice and experience
for classroom teachers.
NORM & CRITERION REFERENCED TESTS
25

26. • Norm-referenced
– General ability
– Range of ability
– Large groups
– Compares people to
people-comparison
groups
– Selecting top
candidates
• Criterion-referenced
– Mastery
– Basic skills
– Prerequisites
– Affective
– Psychomotor
– Grouping for instruction
COMPARING NORM &
CRITERION-REFERENCED TESTS
26

27. COMMON CHARACTERISTICS
OF NRT & CRT
*Require a relevant and representative sample of
test items
*Require specification of the achievement domain to
be measured
*Use the same type of test items
*Use the same rules for item writing
*Judged by the same qualities (validity and reliability)
*Useful in educational measurement
27

28. ADVANTAGES AND
DISADVANTAGES OF NRT
Advantages：
 They easy for instructors to use
 They work well in situations requiring rigid differentiation among
students
 They are generally appropriate in large courses
Disadvantages：
 An individual's grade is determined not only by his/her
achievements, but also by the achievements of others.
 no indication of prerequisite knowledge for more advanced
material has been mastered
 less appropriate for measuring affective and psychomotor
objectives
 encourages competition and comparison scores 28

29. ADVANTAGES AND
DISADVANTAGES OF CRT
Advantages：
 Students are not competing with each other
 Students are thus more likely to actively help each other learn.
 A student's grade is not influenced by the caliber of the class.
Disadvantages：
 It is difficult to set a reasonable standard for students
 Most experienced faculty set criteria based on their knowledge of
how students usually perform
 Criterion-referenced systems often become fairly similar to norm-
referenced systems.
 absolute standards difficult to set in some areas
 standards tend to be arbitrary
 not appropriate comparison when others are valuable
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30. REFERENCES
 Classroom Assessment: Basic Concepts. Formative vs.Summative
Assessments. Retrieved October 20, 2008 from
http://fcit.usf.edu/assessment/basic/basica.html
 Formative vs. Summative Evaluation. Retrieved October 20, 2008
from http.jan.ucc.nau.edu/edtech/etc/667/proposal/evaluation/
summative_vs_formative.htm
 Formative and Summative Assessment. Retrieved October 20, 2008
from http://www.krauseinnovationcenter.org/ewyl/modules/module6-
3.html.
 Classroom Assessment: Basic Concepts. Formative vs.Summative
Assessments. Retrieved October 24, 2008 from
http://fcit.usf.edu/assessment/basic/basica.html
 Pawlas, G., Oliva, P. (2008) Supervision for Today’s Schools, Sixth
Edition. New York: John Wiley and Sons
30

31.  Arter, Judith, and Jay McTighe. Scoring Rubrics in the
Classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, INC.,
2001.
 Marzano, Robert J., Debra Pickering, and Jay McTighe.
Assessing Student Outcomes. Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development, 1993.
 Schoenbach, Ruth, et al. Reading for Understanding, A Guide to
Improving Reading in Middle and High School Classrooms.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1999.
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