Essay tests provide students with the freedom to express their thoughts within broad guidelines, eliminating guessing but introducing difficulties in objective scoring. They are practical for small groups but can become unwieldy in larger classes, limiting content sampling and often emphasizing rote memorization over originality. Effective essay questions require clear instructions and specific expectations to minimize ambiguity and enhance the assessment process.

1. Essay
Test

2. This type of test differs from the
completion test in degree rather
than in kind. Essays usually allow
greater freedom response to
questions and require more writing.
Essay Test

3. of Essay
Test

4. Essay gives students freedom to
respond within broad limits.
Essays examinations allow
students to express their with
relatively few restraints.
Advantages of Essay Test

5. Guessing is eliminated. Essay
involves recall and there are no
options to select from. The
students are expected to supply
than select the proper response.
Advantages of Essay Test

6. Essay items are practical for
testing a small number of
students. However, as the
number of the students
increases, the advantage of
essay test decreases.
Advantages of Essay Test

7. Essay tests reduce the
assembling time. Less time is
required for typing,
mimeographing, and
assembling. If only a few
questions are asked the teacher
Advantages of Essay Test

8. They can measure the divergent
thinking. Divergent thinking is
indicated by unconventional,
creative, relatively free responses.
Because they allow great freedom
in answering, the opportunity to
obtain unusual responses is
Advantages of Essay Test

9. Disadvantages
&
Limitations of Essay
Tests

10. Disadvantages & Limitations of Essay Tests
Essays are difficult to score
objectively because students have
gave a freedom of expression. Also
long complex essays are more
difficult to score than shorter, more
limited ones.

11. Disadvantages & Limitations of Essay Tests
Extended essays measure only the limited aspects
of the students knowledge. Because extended
responses requires time to write, only a few
questions can be given to the students. Thus essay
test sample limited content and are not always a
fair measure of what the student actually knows.
This problem is less serious when responses are
limited and the number of items are increased.

12. Disadvantages & Limitations of Essay Tests
Essay questions are time-consuming for teachers and students.
Students often spend much tie answering only one or two
extended essay questions which may severely limit sampling their
knowledge. Teachers in the meantime, also devote much time
reading lengthy responses. However, if time limits are kept
constant, Coffman(1972) has shown that objectivity is improved
by increasing the number of the items than by allowing greater
freedom in responding to fewer items.

13. Disadvantages & Limitations of Essay Tests
Essay eliminate guessing but not bluffing.
Poorly prepared students desperately
attempt to get a passing grade by
answering even if their responses are not
related to the questions asked.

14. Disadvantages & Limitations of Essay Tests
Most essays require a little more than rote
memory. In practice, very few essays
require originality and emphasize the
lengthy enumeration of memorized facts or
trends.

15. Disadvantages & Limitations of Essay Tests
Essay tests place a premium on writing.
Students can read much more rapidly than
they can write. Much of the time allotted to
answering an essay question is devoted to
the mechanics of writing and there is
relatively little time to think about content.

16. Disadvantages & Limitations of Essay Tests
On more objective score tests, little time
spent in writing and more time is used in
thinking about responses. If the teacher
does not attempt to measure writing skills,
a multiple-choice test will probably provide
more information per until of time than
with an essay.

17. The Use of Essay
Tests to Facilitate
Learning

18. There are varied ideas for and against
essay testing. Below are the favorable
comments.
•Raises the quality of writing
• Teaches students to organize, outline
and summarize assignments rather
simply look for facts, dates and details
expected in T-F or multiple choice tests

19. Likewise, there are arguments against
essay tests.
•Essay tests do not allow students to
revise and rewrite their work since time is
limited.
•The teachers’ over-attention to details
can destroy the themes of essays.

20. Situations that
Suggest the Use of
Essay Questions

21. If the test objectives specify that
students have to write, recall or
supply information, an essay
examination may be necessary.
Objectives that suggest extended
student responses also suggest the
use of the essays.
Situations that Suggest the Use of Essay
Questions

22. When the class size is small, the
teacher can afford to spend more
time reading essay responses.
Reading extended responses for large
classes may prove to be excessively
time consuming.
Situations that Suggest the Use of Essay
Questions

23. Since multiple-choice tests are
difficult to construct but easy to
score, they are more considered more
practical when the test can be reused.
If a test can be only once, an essay
examination may be more convenient
than a multiple-choice one.
Situations that Suggest the Use of Essay
Questions

24. Twenty Categories of
Essay Questions (Carter,
1978)

25. •Selective recall (basis
given)
Name the congressmen who
died while still holding office.

26. •Evaluating recall (basis given)
Name the three most
important senators who
worked on the improvement
of quality education.

27. •Comparison of two things
(in general)
Compare norm- and
criterion-referenced
evaluation.

28. •Comparison of two things
(on a single basis)
Compare the effects of
extreme scores on the mean
and the median.

29. •Cause or effects
Why did insurgency rapidly
develop in the Philippines
during Martial Law?

30. •Decision (for or against)
Should there be a
constitution amendment?
Defend your answer.

31. •Explanation of the use or
exact meaning of some phrase
or statements in a passage.
What does “ be salt in
earth” mean?

32. •Summary of one unit of the
test or some articles that were
read.
Summarize, in not more
than one page, the
advantages and limitations
of essay tests.

33. •Analysis
Does national testing improve
students learning?

34. •Statement of relationship
Why does validity imply
reliability but not the reverse?

35. •Illustrations or examples ( the
student’s own) of the principles
in science, construction in
language, or other subject
matter.

36. •Classification
To what group of compounds
do sucrose and lactose belong?
Explain your answer.

37. •Application of rules or
principles in new situations
Using the same principles on
test construction, develop a
higher order thinking question
in Science.

38. •Discussion
Discuss the Learning Theory of
Piaget

39. •Criticism
Critic the government’s fiscal
management.

40. •Outline
Outline the principal steps on
how to conduct logical
research.

41. •Reorganization of facts
Trace the development of the
industrial preparation in
contrast to the laboratory
preparation of nitric acid.

42. •Formulation of new questions
(problems and questions raised)
What else you must know in
order to understand the
matter under consideration?

43. •New methods or procedures
Devise another procedure for
testing students who are
unable to read. Discuss you
method fully.

44. Pointers in Writing
Essay Questions

45. The difficulty in scoring essays rests on the
teacher’s failure to precisely specify what they
want their students to do. Some teachers are
not sure of what they want; others know but
fail to communicate this to students. In their
case , the ambiguity of the essay questions
and the lack of scoring standards reduce the
effectiveness of essay tests. The following
suggestions should be useful in writing essay
questions.

46. Specify limitations
Tell the students the desired response and the
weight each question will be given when
determining the scores. This includes the time
to be spent on each item, the approximate
number of words per item, maximum points
per item, and maximum amount of space to
be devoted for each item.

47. Structure the task
The instructions should clearly specify
the task. Most essay questions are so
vague that the instructor’s intent is lost.

48. Make each item relatively short and increase the
number of items.
The more items there are, the greater chance
there is of sampling of knowledge.

49. Give all the students the same essay questions if
content relevant.
Sometimes, teachers give the students the
opportunity to deal with one or two items
from a set of essay questions.

50. Ask questions in direct manner.
Avoid deviousness and pedanticism when
framing questions..

51. Suggestions for
Rating or Scoring
Essay Questions

52. Suggestions for Rating or Scoring
Essay Questions
Analytic or Point
System
Universal or Holistic
Approach
Sorting Method
Demerits

53. Analytic or Point
System
Useful in scoring a large number of limited response
essay questions. Teachers using this method decide how
much weight each question will have and inform students
the number of points necessary for perfect score on each
question. The student’s total score is the sum of the points
awarded to each answer.

54. Universal or Holistic
Approach
Gives the general impressions to all the answers to the
questions. the student’s total score is based on the
overall quality of all the answers to all the questions.

55. Sorting Method
Is more appropriate than the point system for rating longer
essays. Rather than examining every sentence or main idea
to determine how many points the students should receive,
the best papers are place on a pile, the worst on the other
and the intermediate in between then. After the papers are
initially sorted , they are reread to ensure homogeneity.
Maximizing differences between or among groups and
reducing the differences within groups should be the goal of
the teacher.

56. Demerits
Teachers using demerits deduct points for
inconsistencies in the students’ answers. This
usually happens when the essay responses are
expanded. As the students further discuss their
answers, they become more prone to
contradicting statements.

57. In the grading of essay responses, one must observe the following
suggestions:
1.Remove names from papers before grading.
2.Read and evaluate each student’s answer to the
same question before going to the next.
3.Keep the scores of previously read items out of
sight when evaluating remaining questions.
4.Decide on a policy for dealing with irrelevant
responses.
5.If possible, reread or have other teachers read the
papers before returning them to the students.

58. In the grading of essay responses, one must observe the following
suggestions:
6. Check the scoring key against actual responses.
7. Be consistent when reading.
8. The mechanics of expression should be judged
separately from what the student writes.
9. If possible, have two independent readings of the
test and use the average as the final score.
10. Provide comments and correct errors.
11. Set realistic standards.

59. Factors to Consider in Assigning Point
Values
1.Time needed to respond
2.Complexity of the questions
3.Emphasis placed on the content

60. Other Considerations in Grading Essay
Responses
1.Use appropriate methods to minimize biases
2.Pay attention only to significant aspects of
the answer.
3.Avoid letting personal idiosyncrasies affect
the grading.
4.Apply uniform standards in grading all
papers.

61. Why Are Essay Test Still Popular?
1.Essay tests can indirectly measure attitudes,
values, and opinions.
2.Good essay tests are more easily prepared
that good objective tests.
3.Essay tests are good learning experiences.
Created by : Gerard F. Tolero