what is a limitation of essay test

• Educational Assessment

Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Types of Test Questions

• October 23, 2018
• Maryellen Weimer, PhD

It’s good to regularly review the advantages and disadvantages of the most commonly used test questions and the test banks that now frequently provide them.

Multiple-choice questions

• Quick and easy to score, by hand or electronically
• Can be written so that they test a wide range of higher-order thinking skills
• Can cover lots of content areas on a single exam and still be answered in a class period

Disadvantages

• Often test literacy skills: “if the student reads the question carefully, the answer is easy to recognize even if the student knows little about the subject” (p. 194)
• Provide unprepared students the opportunity to guess, and with guesses that are right, they get credit for things they don’t know
• Expose students to misinformation that can influence subsequent thinking about the content
• Take time and skill to construct (especially good questions)

True-false questions

• Quick and easy to score
• Considered to be “one of the most unreliable forms of assessment” (p. 195)
• Often written so that most of the statement is true save one small, often trivial bit of information that then makes the whole statement untrue
• Encourage guessing, and reward for correct guesses

Short-answer questions

• Quick and easy to grade
• Quick and easy to write
• Encourage students to memorize terms and details, so that their understanding of the content remains superficial

Essay questions

• Offer students an opportunity to demonstrate knowledge, skills, and abilities in a variety of ways
• Can be used to develop student writing skills, particularly the ability to formulate arguments supported with reasoning and evidence
• Require extensive time to grade
• Encourage use of subjective criteria when assessing answers
• If used in class, necessitate quick composition without time for planning or revision, which can result in poor-quality writing

Questions provided by test banks

• Save instructors the time and energy involved in writing test questions
• Use the terms and methods that are used in the book
• Rarely involve analysis, synthesis, application, or evaluation (cross-discipline research documents that approximately 85 percent of the questions in test banks test recall)
• Limit the scope of the exam to text content; if used extensively, may lead students to conclude that the material covered in class is unimportant and irrelevant

We tend to think that these are the only test question options, but there are some interesting variations. The article that promoted this review proposes one: Start with a question, and revise it until it can be answered with one word or a short phrase. Do not list any answer options for that single question, but attach to the exam an alphabetized list of answers. Students select answers from that list. Some of the answers provided may be used more than once, some may not be used, and there are more answers listed than questions. It’s a ratcheted-up version of matching. The approach makes the test more challenging and decreases the chance of getting an answer correct by guessing.

Remember, students do need to be introduced to any new or altered question format before they encounter it on an exam.

Editor’s note: The list of advantages and disadvantages comes in part from the article referenced here. It also cites research evidence relevant to some of these advantages and disadvantages.

Reference: McAllister, D., and Guidice, R.M. (2012). This is only a test: A machine-graded improvement to the multiple-choice and true-false examination. Teaching in Higher Education, 17 (2), 193-207.

Reprinted from The Teaching Professor, 28.3 (2014): 8. © Magna Publications. All rights reserved.

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The Ultimate Essay Test Guide: Achieve Top Grades With Ease

An essay test, a fundamental tool in academic assessment, measures a student's ability to express, argue, and structure their thoughts on a given subject through written words. This test format delves deeper into a student's critical thinking and writing skills unlike other conventional exam types.

What is an Essay Test?

An essay test is a type of assessment in which a student is prompted to respond to a question or a series of questions by writing an essay.

This form of test isn’t merely about checking a student’s recall or memorisation skills , but more about gauging their ability to comprehend a subject, synthesise information, and articulate their understanding effectively.

Types of Essay Tests

Essay tests can be broadly classified into two categories: Restricted Response and Extended Response .

• Restricted Response tests focus on limited aspects, requiring students to provide short, concise answers.
• Extended Response tests demand more comprehensive answers, allowing students to showcase their creativity and analytical skills.

Advantages and Limitations of an Essay Test

Essay tests offer numerous benefits but also have certain limitations. The advantages of an essay test are :

• They allow teachers to evaluate students’ abilities to organise, synthesise, and interpret information.
• They help in developing critical thinking and writing skills among students.
• They provide an opportunity for students to exhibit their knowledge and understanding of a subject in a broader context.

And the limitations of an essay test are :

• They are time-consuming to both take and grade.
• They are subject to scoring inconsistencies due to potential subjective bias.
• They may cause the students who struggle with written expression may face difficulties, and these tests may not accurately reflect the full spectrum of a student’s knowledge or understanding.

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Understanding the Structure of an Essay Test

Essay tests involve a defined structure to ensure organised, coherent, and comprehensive expression of thoughts. Adhering to a specific structure can enhance your ability to answer essay questions effectively .

The 7 Steps of an Essay

Writing an essay test typically involves seven steps :

• Understanding the question
• Brainstorming ideas
• Creating an outline
• Crafting a thesis statement
• Writing the essay body
• Formulating the conclusion
• Revising and editing for clarity and conciseness

The First Sentence in an Essay

The initial sentence of an essay, often termed a hook , plays a crucial role.

It aims to grab the reader’s attention and provoke interest in the essay topic. It should be engaging, and relevant, and set the tone for the rest of the essay .

The 5-Paragraph Essay Format

The 5-paragraph essay format is commonly used in essay tests, providing a clear and organised approach for students to articulate their ideas. In this format, the introduction and the conclusion include 1 paragraph, while the body of the essay includes 3 .

• Introduction : The introduction sets the stage, providing a brief overview of the topic and presenting the thesis statement – the central argument or point.
• Body : The body of the essay contains three paragraphs, each presenting a separate point that supports the thesis statement. Detailed explanations, evidence, and examples are included here to substantiate the points.
• Conclusion : The conclusion reiterates the thesis statement and summarises the main points. It provides a final perspective on the topic, drawing the essay to a close.

How to Prepare for an Essay Test?

Preparing for an essay test demands a structured approach to ensure thorough understanding and effective response. Here are some strategies to make this task more manageable:

#1 Familiarise Yourself with the Terminology Used

Knowledge of key terminologies is essential. Understand the meaning of directives such as “describe”, “compare”, “contrast”, or “analyse”. Each term guides you on what is expected in your essay and helps you to answer the question accurately.

To make it easier, you can take advantage of AI technologies. While preparing for your exam, use similar essay questions as prompts and see how AI understands and evaluates the questions. If you are unfamiliar with AI, you can check out The Best Chat GPT Prompts For Essay Writing .

#2 Review and Revise Past Essays

Take advantage of past essays or essay prompts to review and revise your writing . Analyse your strengths and areas for improvement, paying attention to grammar , structure , and clarity . This process helps you refine your writing skills and identify potential pitfalls to avoid in future tests.

#3 Practice Timed Writing

Simulate test conditions by practising timed writing . Set a specific time limit for each essay question and strive to complete it within that timeframe. This exercise builds your ability to think and write quickly , improving your efficiency during the actual test.

#4 Utilise Mnemonic Techniques

To aid in memorisation and recall of key concepts or arguments, employ mnemonic techniques . These memory aids, such as acronyms, visualisation, or association techniques, can help you retain important information and retrieve it during the test. Practice using mnemonics to reinforce your understanding of critical points.

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Strategies to Pass an Essay Test

Passing an essay test goes beyond understanding the topic; it also requires strategic planning and execution . Below are key strategies that can enhance your performance in an essay test.

• Read the exam paper thoroughly before diving into writing : read the entire exam paper thoroughly. Understand each question’s requirement and make a mental note of the points to be included in each response. This step will help in ensuring that no aspect of the question is overlooked.
• Answer in the First Sentence and Use the Language of the Question : Begin your essay by clearly stating your answer in the first sentence. Use the language of the question to show you are directly addressing the task. This approach ensures that your main argument is understood right from the start.
• Structure Your Essay : Adopt a logical essay structure , typically comprising an introduction, body, and conclusion. This helps in organising your thoughts, making your argument clearer, and enhancing the readability of your essay.
• Answer in Point Form When Running Out of Time : If time is running short, present your answer in point form. This approach allows you to cover more points quickly, ensuring you don’t leave any questions unanswered.
• Write as Legibly as Possible : Your writing should be clear and easy to read. Illegible handwriting could lead to misunderstandings and may negatively impact your grades.
• Number Your Answers : Ensure your answers are correctly numbered. This helps in aligning your responses with the respective questions, making it easier for the examiner to assess your work, and reducing chances of confusion or error
• Time Yourself on Each Question : Time management is crucial in an essay test. Allocate a specific amount of time to each question, taking into account the marks they carry. Ensure you leave ample time for revising and editing your responses. Practising this strategy can prevent last-minute rushes and result in a more polished essay.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Essay Tests

How do you answer an essay question, when taking an essay test what is the first step, what type of test is an essay test, what is the first sentence in an essay, what are the six elements of an essay.

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Short Answer & Essay Tests

Strategies, Ideas, and Recommendations from the faculty Development Literature

General Strategies

Save essay questions for testing higher levels of thought (application, synthesis, and evaluation), not recall facts. Appropriate tasks for essays include: Comparing: Identify the similarities and differences between Relating cause and effect: What are the major causes of...? What would be the most likely effects of...? Justifying: Explain why you agree or disagree with the following statement. Generalizing: State a set of principles that can explain the following events. Inferring: How would character X react to the following? Creating: what would happen if...? Applying: Describe a situation that illustrates the principle of. Analyzing: Find and correct the reasoning errors in the following passage. Evaluating: Assess the strengths and weaknesses of.

There are three drawbacks to giving students a choice. First, some students will waste time trying to decide which questions to answer. Second, you will not know whether all students are equally knowledgeable about all the topics covered on the test. Third, since some questions are likely to be harder than others, the test could be unfair.

Tests that ask only one question are less valid and reliable than those with a wider sampling of test items. In a fifty-minute class period, you may be able to pose three essay questions or ten short answer questions.

To reduce students' anxiety and help them see that you want them to do their best, give them pointers on how to take an essay exam. For example:

• Survey the entire test quickly, noting the directions and estimating the importance and difficulty of each question. If ideas or answers come to mind, jot them down quickly.
• Outline each answer before you begin to write. Jot down notes on important points, arrange them in a pattern, and add specific details under each point.

Writing Effective Test Questions

Avoid vague questions that could lead students to different interpretations. If you use the word "how" or "why" in an essay question, students will be better able to develop a clear thesis. As examples of essay and short-answer questions: Poor: What are three types of market organization? In what ways are they different from one another? Better: Define oligopoly. How does oligopoly differ from both perfect competition and monopoly in terms of number of firms, control over price, conditions of entry, cost structure, and long-term profitability? Poor: Name the principles that determined postwar American foreign policy. Better: Describe three principles on which American foreign policy was based between 1945 and 1960; illustrate each of the principles with two actions of the executive branch of government.

If you want students to consider certain aspects or issues in developing their answers, set them out in separate paragraph. Leave the questions on a line by itself.

Use your version to help you revise the question, as needed, and to estimate how much time students will need to complete the question. If you can answer the question in ten minutes, students will probably need twenty to thirty minutes. Use these estimates in determining the number of questions to ask on the exam. Give students advice on how much time to spend on each question.

Decide which specific facts or ideas a student must mention to earn full credit and how you will award partial credit. Below is an example of a holistic scoring rubric used to evaluate essays:

• Full credit-six points: The essay clearly states a position, provides support for the position, and raises a counterargument or objection and refutes it.
• Five points: The essay states a position, supports it, and raises a counterargument or objection and refutes it. The essay contains one or more of the following ragged edges: evidence is not uniformly persuasive, counterargument is not a serious threat to the position, some ideas seem out of place.
• Four points: The essay states a position and raises a counterargument, but neither is well developed. The objection or counterargument may lean toward the trivial. The essay also seems disorganized.
• Three points: The essay states a position, provides evidence supporting the position, and is well organized. However, the essay does not address possible objections or counterarguments. Thus, even though the essay may be better organized than the essay given four points, it should not receive more than three points.
• Two points: The essay states a position and provides some support but does not do it very well. Evidence is scanty, trivial, or general. The essay achieves it length largely through repetition of ideas and inclusion of irrelevant information.
• One point: The essay does not state the student's position on the issue. Instead, it restates the position presented in the question and summarizes evidence discussed in class or in the reading.

Try not to bias your grading by carrying over your perceptions about individual students. Some faculty ask students to put a number or pseudonym on the exam and to place that number / pseudonym on an index card that is turned in with the test, or have students write their names on the last page of the blue book or on the back of the test.

Before you begin grading, you will want an overview of the general level of performance and the range of students' responses.

Identify exams that are excellent, good, adequate, and poor. Use these papers to refresh your memory of the standards by which you are grading and to ensure fairness over the period of time you spend grading.

Shuffle papers before scoring the next question to distribute your fatigue factor randomly. By randomly shuffling papers you also avoid ordering effects.

Don't let handwriting, use of pen or pencil, format (for example, many lists), or other such factors influence your judgment about the intellectual quality of the response.

Write brief notes on strengths and weaknesses to indicate what students have done well and where they need to improve. The process of writing comments also keeps your attention focused on the response. And your comments will refresh your memory if a student wants to talk to you about the exam.

Focus on the organization and flow of the response, not on whether you agree or disagree with the students' ideas. Experiences faculty note, however, that students tend not to read their returned final exams, so you probably do not need to comment extensively on those.

Most faculty tire after reading ten or so responses. Take short breaks to keep up your concentration. Also, try to set limits on how long to spend on each paper so that you maintain you energy level and do not get overwhelmed. However, research suggests that you read all responses to a single question in one sitting to avoid extraneous factors influencing your grading (for example, time of day, temperature, and so on).

Wait two days or so and review a random set of exams without looking at the grades you assigned. Rereading helps you increase your reliability as a grader. If your two score differ, take the average.

This protects students' privacy when you return or they pick up their tests. Returning Essay Exams

A quick turnaround reinforces learning and capitalizes on students' interest in the results. Try to return tests within a week or so.

Give students a copy of the scoring guide or grading criteria you used. Let students know what a good answer included and the most common errors the class made. If you wish, read an example of a good answer and contrast it with a poor answer you created. Give students information on the distribution of scores so they know where they stand.

Some faculty break the class into small groups to discuss answers to the test. Unresolved questions are brought up to the class as a whole.

Ask students to tell you what was particularly difficult or unexpected. Find out how they prepared for the exam and what they wish they had done differently. Pass along to next year's class tips on the specific skills and strategies this class found effective.

Include a copy of the test with your annotations on ways to improve it, the mistakes students made in responding to various question, the distribution of students' performance, and comments that students made about the exam. If possible, keep copies of good and poor exams.

The Strategies, Ideas and Recommendations Here Come Primarily From:

Gross Davis, B. Tools for Teaching. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 1993.

McKeachie, W. J. Teaching Tips. (10th ed.) Lexington, Mass.: Heath, 2002.

Walvoord, B. E. and Johnson Anderson, V. Effective Grading. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 1998.

And These Additional Sources... Brooks, P. Working in Subject A Courses. Berkeley: Subject A Program, University of California, 1990.

Cashin, W. E. "Improving Essay Tests." Idea Paper, no. 17. Manhattan: Center for Faculty

Evaluation and Development in Higher Education, Kansas State University, 1987.

Erickson, B. L., and Strommer, D. W. Teaching College Freshmen. San Francisco:

Jossey-Bass, 1991.

Fuhrmann, B. S. and Grasha, A. F. A Practical Handbook for College Teachers. Boston:

Little, Brown, 1983.

Jacobs, L. C. and Chase, C. I. Developing and Using Tests Effectively: A Guide for Faculty.

San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1992.

Jedrey, C. M. "Grading and Evaluation." In M. M. gullette (ed.), The Art and Craft of Teaching.

Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1984.

Lowman, J. Mastering the Techniques of Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1984.

Ory, J. C. Improving Your Test Questions. Urbana:

Office of Instructional Res., University of Illinois, 1985.

Tollefson, S. K. Encouraging Student Writing. Berkeley:

Office of Educational Development, University of California, 1988.

Unruh, D. Test Scoring manual: Guide for Developing and Scoring Course Examinations.

Los Angeles: Office of Instructional Development, University of California, 1988.

Walvoord, B. E. Helping Students Write Well: A Guide for Teachers in All Disciplines.

(2nded.) New York: Modern Language Association, 1986.

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TIP Sheet HOW TO TAKE ESSAY TESTS

There are basically two types of exams:

Objective - requires answers of a word or short phrase, or the selection of an answer from several available choices that are provided on the test . Essay - requires answers to be written out at some length. The student functions as the source of information.

An essay exam requires you to see the significance and meaning of what you know. It tests your knowledge and understanding of the subject and your skill in reading and writing. To be successful on an essay exam, you must:

• Prove immediately that you know the material.
• Make your meaning unmistakably clear.
• Employ a reasonable organization and show sufficient thought development.
• Make every word count.
• Be specific.
• Use your own voice and style.

When you are writing an essay as part of an exam, all this must be done within what amounts to a first draft written in a very limited amount of time. As with all writing, if you think of your essay as being produced in three stages, you can tackle the test in an organized fashion. The three stages are pre-writing, writing, and revision. Suggestions for each of these stages follow.

The last section addresses preparation for essay exams. PRE-WRITING

Your first impulse in a writing exam is probably to read the question and start writing immediately, especially when you see those seconds ticking away on the clock. RESIST THAT IMPULSE! You can't successfully address the subject until you know precisely what you're required to do, you understand and have thought about the subject, and you are organized in how you approach the specific points you wish to make in your answer. 1.  Understanding what to do:

• When you get your copy of the exam, read through to make sure you understand what is expected of you. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY!
• Underline or circle key words that direct the approach your answer should take. Some of the most common key words are:

Agree/Disagree : State your position and support it with facts Comment or Evaluate: State your position and support it with facts, discussing the issue and its merits. Analyze : Break down into all the parts or divisions looking at the relationships between them. Compare/Contrast : Show differences and similarities. Describe/Discuss : Examine in detail. Explain : Tell why something is as it is. Illustrate : Give examples and relate them to the statement in question. Prove/Defend : Demonstrate why something is true. Interpret : Explain the significance or meaning of something. List/State : Make a list of points or facts. Summarize : Hit the high points.

2.  Understanding the subject

• When you are confident that you understand the instructions, direct your attention to the topic.
• Collect your ideas.
• Formulate a thesis. Make sure it is a strong, concise statement that specifically addresses the question.
• Think of as many specific details and facts as you can that support the thesis.

3.  Getting organized

• Jot your ideas down on paper, in very brief format.
• Evaluate your ideas in light of the question. Ask yourself repeatedly: "Does this apply to the question I'm supposed to answer?" Select only those ideas most relevant to your purpose.
• Number your ideas in order of appropriate sequence (first step to last step, most important to least important, etc.)

1.  Remember your thesis. Now stick to it, referring back to it periodically throughout your essay. This gives your essay unity and coherence, and helps insure that you are not digressing. 2.  Write in an orderly fashion. If you suddenly think of a new point, jot it down in a margin or on scratch paper until you find an appropriate place for it. Don't just put it into the middle of what you were writing. 3. Avoid:

• Repeating, in other words, what you have already said.
• Digressing into material that does not answer the question.
• Language that is too broad or general. Be specific.
• Bluffing. This far too common practice of using elegant but empty language to conceal ignorance or lack of effort rarely works, and often irritates the reader(s).
• Write as legibly as you can. If you want, write on every other line so you have room to add later. When you want to cross something off, simply draw a straight line through it. This is much better than scribbling out an entire passage.
• If you run out of time, simply write "Ran out of time" at the close of the essay. This is much better than adding a hurriedly tacked on, and possibly incoherent, conclusion.

Essay examinations are difficult because of the time pressures, yet you should always try to leave a few minutes at the end to proofread your essay. 1.  Ask yourself, before you hand in the essay:

• Did I provide the information requested? That is, did I "explain" or "define" as the directions asked?
• Is the answer simply, clearly, and logically organized?
• Do I stick to my thesis statement? Is there unnecessary information in here?
• Did I proofread to check content and/or mechanical errors?

2.  Proofreading:

• Gives you a chance to catch and correct errors in content.
• Gives you a chance to correct your mechanical errors.
• Allows you to add material that may have occurred to you after writing the essay.

3.  You should proofread for:

• Complete sentences (watch for fragments, comma-splices, and run-ons).
• Words omitted, or one word used when you meant another.
• Logical transitions between sentences and paragraphs.
• Unnecessary repetition of words or ideas.
• Spelling errors.

3.  Essay type tests depend a great deal on your basic writing skills - organization, punctuation, grammar, and spelling. If your answer is not clearly written, your instructor won't be able to find it! Here are some basic guidelines to keep in mind as you take an essay test:

• Read the directions carefully! Read every part of the directions!
• Give yourself time to answer each question. Quickly look over the entire exam and budget your time per question accordingly.
• Above all, stay calm. You are being asked to show competence, not perfection.
• If you are not too sure about one question, leave it and go back.
• When given a choice, answer the questions you know best.
• State your points and support ideas clearly - don't make the instructor have to look for them.
• Go back to check and proofread all of your answers.

PREPARING FOR ESSAY EXAMS

WRITING A SUCCESSFUL ESSAY EXAM BEGINS ON DAY ONE 1.  Study regularly as you go along.

• Take careful lecture notes.
• Read all material when assigned.
• Become familiar with vocabulary.
• Keep a study list of all main ideas.

2.  Final preparation

• Review lecture notes and reading material.
• Find a classmate or friend willing to talk over key ideas and implications.
• Try to anticipate questions . This is very important!  Use your lecture notes to zero in on points that the instructor emphasized.
• Think through the material and write up the best possible essay questions you can.
• Then answer those questions.
• Pinpoint key points that you would like to make when answering each question.
• Put your answer into outline form or write it out completely.
• For each potential test question, use mnemonics or other memory techniques to move the information to your long-term memory for the exam.
• Create a list of the clue words for each point you wish to make.
• Create a mnemonic device to memorize those points.

3.  Come to the exam confident that you have something specific to say on all possible topics. KEY WORDS COMMONLY FOUND ON ESSAY EXAMS

Compare: Look for qualities or characteristics that resemble each other. Emphasize similarities among them, but in some cases also mention differences.

Contrast: Stress the dissimilarities, differences, or unlikenesses of things, qualities, events, or problems.

Criticize: Express your judgement about the merit or truth of the factors or views mentioned. Give the results of your analysis of these factors, discussing their limitations and good points.

Define: Give concise, clear, and authoritative meanings. Don't give details, but make sure to give the limits of the definitions. Show how the thing you are defining differs from things in other classes.

Describe: Recount, characterize, sketch, or relate in sequence or story form.

Diagram: Give a drawing, chart, plan, or graphic answer. Usually you should label a diagram. In some cases, add a brief explanation or description.

Discuss: Examine, analyze carefully, and give reasons pro and con. Be complete, and give details.

Enumerate: Write in list or outline form, giving points concisely one by one.

Evaluate: Carefully appraise the problem, citing both advantages and limitations. Emphasize the appraisal of authorities and, to lesser degree, your personal evaluation.

Explain: Clarify, interpret, and spell out the material you present. Give reasons for differences of opinion or of results, and try to analyze causes.

Illustrate: Use a figure, picture, diagram, or concrete example to explain or clarify a problem.

Interpret: Translate, give examples of, solve, or comment on, a subject, usually giving your judgment about it.

Justify: Prove or give reasons for decisions or conclusions, taking pains to be convincing.

List: As in "enumerate," write an itemized series of concise statements.

Outline: Organize a description under main points and subordinate points, omitting minor details and stressing the arrangement or classification of things.

Prove: Establish that something is true by citing factual evidence or giving clear logical reasons.

Relate: Show how things are related to, or connected with, each other or how one causes another, or is like another.

Review: Examine a subject critically, analyzing and commenting on the important statements to be made about it.

Sketch: means "break down into its component parts."

State: Present the main points in brief, clear sequence, usually omitting details, illustrations, or examples.

Summarize: Give the main points or facts in condensed form, like the summary of a chapter, omitting details and illustrations.

Trace: In narrative form describe progress, development, or historical events from some point of origin.

Identify or characterize: means "distinguish this term, or this person from all others that are similar." Both are clear injunctions to be as specific as possible.

Illustrate or exemplify: means "giving examples," showing thereby, rather than by definition, that you understand the concept. TRANSITIONAL WORDS AND PHRASES

To achieve unity and coherence, writers use transitional words and phrases. Transitional expressions clarify the relationships between clauses, sentences, and paragraphs, helping guide the readers along. The following is a partial list of transitional expressions.

To Add or Show Sequence: again, also, and, and then, besides, equally important, finally, first, further, furthermore, in addition, in the first place, last, moreover, next, second, still, too

To Compare: also, in the same way, likewise, similarly

To Contrast: although, and yet, but, but at the same time, despite, even so, even though, for all that, however, in contrast, in spite of, nevertheless, notwithstanding, on the contrary, on the other hand, regardless, sill, though, whereas, yet

To Give Examples or Intensify: after all, an illustration of, even, for example, for instance, indeed, in fact, it is true, of course, specifically, that is, to illustrate, truly

To Indicate Place: above, adjacent to, below, elsewhere, farther on, here, near, nearby, on the other side, opposite to, there, to the east, to the left

To Indicate Time: after a while, afterward, as long as, as soon as, at last, at length, at that time, before, earlier, formerly, immediately, in the meantime, in the past, lately, later, meanwhile, now, presently, shortly, simultaneously, since, so far, soon, subsequently, then, thereafter, until, until now, when

To Repeat Summarize or Conclude: all in all, altogether, as has been said, in brief, in conclusion in other words, in particular, in short, in simpler terms, in summary, on the whole,that is, therefore, to put it differently, to summarize

To Show Cause or Effect: accordingly, as a result, because, consequently, for this purpose, hence, otherwise, since, then, therefore, thereupon, this, to this end, with this object.

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Essay exams provide opportunities to evaluate students’ reasoning skills such as the ability to compare and contrast concepts, justify a position on a topic, interpret cases from the perspective of different theories or models, evaluate a claim or assertion with evidence, design an experiment, and other higher level cognitive skills. They can reveal if students understand the theory behind course material or how different concepts and theories relate to each other. 

+ Advantages and Challenges of essay exams

Advantages:

• Can be used to measure higher order cognitive skills
• Takes relatively less time to write questions
• Difficult for respondents to get correct answers by guessing

Challenges:

• Can be time consuming to administer and to score
• Can be challenging to identify measurable, reliable criteria for assessing student responses
• Limited range of content can be sampled during any one testing period
• Timed exams in general add stress unrelated to a student's mastery of the material

+ Creating an essay exam

• Limit the use of essay questions to learning aims that require learners to share their thinking processes, connect and analyze information, and communicate their understanding for a specific purpose. 
• Write each item so that students clearly understand the specific task and what deliverables are required for a complete answer (e.g. diagram, amount of evidence, number of examples).
• Indicate the relative amount of time and effort students should spend on each essay item, for example “2 – 3 sentences should suffice for this question”.
• Consider using several narrowly focused items rather than one broad item.
• Consider offering students choice among essay questions, while ensuring that all learning aims are assessed.

When designing essay exams, consider the reasoning skills you want to assess in your students. The following table lists different skills to measure with example prompts to guide assessment questions. 

+ Preparing students for an essay exam

Adapted from Piontek, 2008

Prior to the essay exam

• Administer a formative assessment that asks students to do a brief write on a question similar to one you will use on an exam and provide them with feedback on their responses.
• Provide students with examples of essay responses that do and do not meet your criteria and standards. 
• Provide students with the learning aims they will be responsible for mastering to help them focus their preparation appropriately.
• Have students apply the scoring rubric to sample essay responses and provide them with feedback on their work.

Resource video : 2-minute video description of a formative assessment that helps prepare students for an essay exam. 

+ Administering an essay exam

• Provide adequate time for students to take the assessment. A strategy some instructors use is to time themselves answering the exam questions completely and then multiply that time by 3-4.
• Endeavor to create a distraction-free environment.
• Review the suggestions for informal accommodations for multilingual learners , which may be helpful in setting up an essay exam for all learners.

+ Grading an essay exam

To ensure essays are graded fairly and without bias:

• Outline what constitutes an acceptable answer (criteria for knowledge and skills).
• Select an appropriate scoring method based on the criteria.
• Clarify the role of writing mechanics and other factors independent of the learning aims being measured.
• Share with students ahead of time.
• Use a systematic process for scoring each essay item.  For instance, score all responses to a single question in one setting.
• Anonymize student work (if possible) to ensure fairer and more objective feedback. For example students could use their student ID number in place of their name.

+ References & Resources

• For more information on setting criteria, preparing students, and grading essay exams read:  Boye, A. (2019) Writing Better Essay Exams , IDEA paper #76.
• For more detailed descriptions of how to develop and score essay exams read: Piontek, M.E. (2008). Best Practices for Designing and Grading Exams, CRLT Occasional Paper # 24.

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Creating and Scoring Essay Tests

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Essay tests are useful for teachers when they want students to select, organize, analyze, synthesize, and/or evaluate information. In other words, they rely on the upper levels of Bloom's Taxonomy . There are two types of essay questions: restricted and extended response.

• Restricted Response - These essay questions limit what the student will discuss in the essay based on the wording of the question. For example, "State the main differences between John Adams' and Thomas Jefferson's beliefs about federalism," is a restricted response. What the student is to write about has been expressed to them within the question.
• Extended Response - These allow students to select what they wish to include in order to answer the question. For example, "In Of Mice and Men , was George's killing of Lennie justified? Explain your answer." The student is given the overall topic, but they are free to use their own judgment and integrate outside information to help support their opinion.

Student Skills Required for Essay Tests

Before expecting students to perform well on either type of essay question, we must make sure that they have the required skills to excel. Following are four skills that students should have learned and practiced before taking essay exams:

• The ability to select appropriate material from the information learned in order to best answer the question.
• The ability to organize that material in an effective manner.
• The ability to show how ideas relate and interact in a specific context.
• The ability to write effectively in both sentences and paragraphs.

Constructing an Effective Essay Question

Following are a few tips to help in the construction of effective essay questions:

• Begin with the lesson objectives in mind. Make sure to know what you wish the student to show by answering the essay question.
• Decide if your goal requires a restricted or extended response. In general, if you wish to see if the student can synthesize and organize the information that they learned, then restricted response is the way to go. However, if you wish them to judge or evaluate something using the information taught during class, then you will want to use the extended response.
• If you are including more than one essay, be cognizant of time constraints. You do not want to punish students because they ran out of time on the test.
• Write the question in a novel or interesting manner to help motivate the student.
• State the number of points that the essay is worth. You can also provide them with a time guideline to help them as they work through the exam.
• If your essay item is part of a larger objective test, make sure that it is the last item on the exam.

Scoring the Essay Item

One of the downfalls of essay tests is that they lack in reliability. Even when teachers grade essays with a well-constructed rubric, subjective decisions are made. Therefore, it is important to try and be as reliable as possible when scoring your essay items. Here are a few tips to help improve reliability in grading:

• Determine whether you will use a holistic or analytic scoring system before you write your rubric . With the holistic grading system, you evaluate the answer as a whole, rating papers against each other. With the analytic system, you list specific pieces of information and award points for their inclusion.
• Prepare the essay rubric in advance. Determine what you are looking for and how many points you will be assigning for each aspect of the question.
• Avoid looking at names. Some teachers have students put numbers on their essays to try and help with this.
• Score one item at a time. This helps ensure that you use the same thinking and standards for all students.
• Avoid interruptions when scoring a specific question. Again, consistency will be increased if you grade the same item on all the papers in one sitting.
• If an important decision like an award or scholarship is based on the score for the essay, obtain two or more independent readers.
• Beware of negative influences that can affect essay scoring. These include handwriting and writing style bias, the length of the response, and the inclusion of irrelevant material.
• Review papers that are on the borderline a second time before assigning a final grade.
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The Disadvantages of an Essay Test

How to Get Faster at Taking Tests

Essay tests are dreaded in high schools and colleges across the U.S. It is a classroom assessment that gauges student knowledge by the lengthy answer of one or more questions. Essay tests have a few questions on which the entire test grade relies. Students who excel at written assessments welcome the essay test. Other students find more than one disadvantage of the test.

Eyes of the Beholder

Essay exams are graded by human eyes and intellect, leaving lots of room for human error. The instructor must be able to accurately interpret the words that the student chose. This is done while attempting to separate the student from the test form being graded. However, the instructors prejudices concerning a problematic student or a struggling one will ultimately intrude upon the grading process, especially since the essay grading heavily relies on the teacher’s interpretation of the student’s essay. Furthermore, interpretations aren’t always understood accurately.

Tunnel Vision Testing

The essay can’t help but test part of the lessons covered in the classroom. No matter how creative the questions may be, a handful is not enough to perform a survey of knowledge. As a result, the students get a kind of testing tunnel vision that threatens to dislodge the information gather in the weeks prior to the exam. Some instructors try to offset this by keeping the essay questions secret until test day. The students do have to study all of the material covered in class, but on a small part of it is reinforced on the test.

More Work for Teacher

Time is one of the most well known disadvantages of essay testing. Instructors must read every essay, grading the content and composition, while making a judgment on how thorough the answer is. This painstaking process creates hours of grading. The exact number depends on the grader. Students usually wait a few days or more to receive essay test scores. Meanwhile, multiple-choice tests are concrete. The tests are graded by hand using an answer key or using the famous Scantron system. The students complete special Scantron test answer sheets during the test. Instructors submit the test answers and then feed the answer sheets into a machine and graded electronically. The Scantron Corporation states that 30 to 40 answer sheets are graded per minute. Even multiple choice questions graded manually are returned within 24 hours of the test.

Testing Anxiety

The concept of an essay test places more pressure on the student prior to the test than other forms. The uncertainty of which material will be tested is another issue. It adds to the usual testing anxiety that students feel prior to test day. Another uncertainty is the ability to recall the correct material. Instructors try to mitigate the anxiety by issuing study guides and steering students away from the material that isn’t on the test. However, only so much can be done to minimize the anxiety without giving away the test questions.

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• University of North Carolina: For Your Consideration; Writing and Grading Essay Questions
• Scantron Corporation: Scantron Score
• University of Michigan: Best Practices for Designing and Grading Exams; Table 1 Advantages and Disadvantages of Commonly Used Types of Achievement Test Items

Jonita Davis is freelance writer and marketing consultant. Her work has appeared in various print and online publications, including "The LaPorte County Herald Argus" and Work.com. Davis also authored the book, "Michigan City Marinas," which covers the history of the Michigan City Port Authority. Davis holds a bachelor's degree in English from Purdue University.

College Teaching, Fall 1997 v45 n4 p150(3) Essays - well worth the effort. Craig W. Steele.

Abstract: More college teachers should make use of essay examinations in their courses. Well-constructed essay questions test higher-level knowledge than most objective questions. They also furnish students with valuable writing practice and provide the opportunity for mutual feedback between teacher and student. Some disadvantages of essay exams include the amount of time they take to grade and their inherent subjectivity. Teachers can increase their grading objectivity by covering students' names, deciding in advance the key points each essay should cover, and stopping the grading when they begin to feel tired.

Full Text: COPYRIGHT 1997 Heldref Publications

Why do questions requiring essay responses make students so apprehensive? Because they are used to taking multiple-choice tests. By the time they enter college, students have had up to twelve years training in this type of examination; it is what they expect in most classes. Multiple-choice tests are easier to take (usually involving only simple recognition and recall), permit a certain amount of guessing, and require basic study skills.

But multiple-choice exams, in my opinion, are the least appropriate evaluation tools for aiding student learning, at any grade level. They do little to help teachers "teach for understanding" (Perkins 1993). I agree with the position of the Writing across the Curriculum (WAC) Association of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, as expressed in the May 1991 issue of Writing and Learning, that "writing is central to all disciplines" because an "active language element is crucial for any significant learning."

Why then, according to WAC, do "most college classes not only neglect the language-based elements of learning, but actively avoid them?" Perhaps the reason is that teachers, as well as students, do not appreciate the advantages of the essay. Also, according to Everett (1994), many teachers avoid writing assignments because of the perceived difficulty and subjectivity in grading them.

Advantages of the Essay

Essays can test higher-level cognitive skills. Objective exams can also test higher-level skills, but on a more limited basis. For any test, the content and style of the questions should be determined by the course objectives. When objectives require students to apply knowledge, analyze data or situations, synthesize, or evaluate, the essay can be an effective test. Because essays address higher-level cognitive processes, you can individually direct students in their thought processes. However, when objectives ask students to describe, to list, or to recognize, the essay exam is probably not useful.

Students study more efficiently in preparing for an essay test. Research has shown that students generally spend less time on rote memorization of material when they study for an essay exam rather than a multiple-choice exam (e.g., Mayer 1975; Shavelson and Stern 1981). Instead, students tend to generalize and conceptualize the material, using facts as support material rather than as ends unto themselves. Students are al so more apt to retain concepts and generalizations than isolated facts and details.

Essays allow students to practice their writing. Many students can graduate from college without having had much practice in writing. Unfortunately, many of these students discover too late that their writing skill in the "real world"--whether it is in the form of a memo, a proposal, or a report--is the difference between success or failure in their profession.

Essays can individualize your instruction. Your feedback on an essay can help students form insights into the subject material, organizational skills, and writing skills. Your comments can also be an important motivator.

Essays provide valuable feedback to you. Sometimes objective test scores do not portray your students' learning. Essays, however, can reveal the depth and breadth of students' knowledge, as well as erroneous conclusions that are drawn.

Essay questions require less time to prepare. Good multiple-choice exams are extremely time-consuming to prepare. The essay, however, requires much less preparation. (Be careful, however, not to "throw together" a list of essay questions.)

Disadvantages of the Essay

Essays are (very) time-consuming to grade. To garner the full benefits of including essays on your tests, you must allot sufficient time to read and comment on the students' responses. Simply scanning a response and assigning it a numerical grade will not close the learning cycle. Students quickly learn how to study for your exams! If they perceive that you fail to grade their responses adequately (as indicated by your written comments and suggestions), students will not bother to study at a higher level for the next test, but will instead return to memorizing facts.

Sometimes an essay question is not representative of the content covered. An example: In an introductory course in human physiology, which has just covered blood, the circulatory system, and the immune system, seven of the ten essay questions are about the circulatory system.

If you use essays, you must use course objectives to determine the content of the questions. By referring to objectives, you will not make the mistake of focusing too narrowly on one aspect of content.

The essay exam often has grading reliability problems. Unlike the multiple-choice format, the essay is a subjective form of evaluation. And teachers often introduce biases into their grading. If you know whose paper is being evaluated, the grade may reflect personal feelings for that student, or may reflect influence from past grades. For example, if the student received an A on a past exam, you may tend to give a higher grade than is actually deserved on this exam (and vice versa if a student had received an F). Also, grades given on first papers may differ significantly from those that are graded later. Other influences include your general mood and stress level at the time of grading, the time of day, and your feelings about the subject of the essay.

Preparing an Essay Question or Exam

These suggestions may help you maximize the benefits of an essay test:

Carefully select those course objectives that can be evaluated through an essay. Cognitive objectives stressing memorization of facts, names, or definitions should not be measured by essays. Essays should require students to analyze hypothetical data, solve sample problems, or compare and contrast concepts.

Phrase the question clearly. After reading the question, the prepared student should know exactly what you expect. If a question's wording is ambiguous or too vague, unprepared students can draw upon the related knowledge they have and write an answer, while claiming (correctly) that they misunderstood what you desired.

Control the level of students' response. If you want more than just a recitation of facts in an essay, word the question so that more is demanded. Read the following examples of essay questions:

When were Medicare and Medicaid established?

How have Medicare and Medicaid contributed to the current U.S. trends of increased demand for health services, increased costs of health care and physicians' services, and longer hospital stays?

What do you suppose might have occurred in the field of health care in the U.S. if Medicare and Medicaid had never been established?

Although all three questions request information on Medicare and Medicaid, the first two require only recitation in writing an answer. The third question, however, requires a knowledge of the first two questions and requires the student to analyze rather than recite.

Write essay questions that sample the content covered. Many professors permit students to choose several essays from a list. Although you may believe this choice benefits the prepared student who may be weak in one area, actually the unprepared student benefits more from this practice because it encourages students to "place a bet" and to omit studying some key areas of content. By allowing choice, you also create different exams, which decreases the content validity and the grading reliability.

Inform students of the grading criteria. You must decide what evaluative criteria will be used. It is important to share this information with students before they write the essay. If you will be grading for language usage, spelling, and grammar, tell them. If you desire a minimum or maximum number of words, tell them. If you desire a certain format, specify it ahead of time.

Share examples of good and weak essays with students. Students can benefit greatly from seeing what is expected of them. In groups, have students apply the grading criteria to several sample essays you provide. Discuss their judgments and yours.

Ten Tips for Grading Writing and Reducing Bias

What can you do to improve the reliability of your grading of responses to essay questions? Following is a list of suggestions:

1. Cover the names of the students. Most teachers attempt to treat all students fairly. However, it is human nature to like some students more than others, or to actively dislike some students as individuals. This personal bias can affect the reliability of the grades. Grading can be influenced by the performance of the student on earlier exams, by the amount of class participation, and by the student's attitude toward the course and the teacher.

2. Familiarize yourself with the general performance level on the exam before you begin to grade. Randomly sample exams and read them thoroughly to determine the general level of performance. This practice will keep your evaluations from being unduly influenced by the quality (whether excellent or poor) of one specific paper.

3. List the points you believe should be discussed in each essay. Such a list can keep you from being "bluffed" by students who are exceptionally accomplished writers, or highly clever and verbal. Unprepared students often select one aspect of a question, or an aspect tangential to the question, and elaborate on that one point to the extent that a reader may become immersed in the writing style, overlooking the insufficiency of the answer. A list of expected points can assist you in assessing objectively the breadth and depth of the response. You can get help from your students in developing these criteria (Everett 1994). Ask them what they believe is important in the assignment, what they would expect to read if they were grading it.

4. Do not attempt to grade all exams in one sitting. As stated earlier in this article, a major disadvantage of essays is the time required to grade them. When you begin to tire of reading the responses, you naturally become too critical or too generous in your grading, which affects the reliability of the grades.

5. Grade only one question or topic at a time. Each question on an essay exam, or each essay question included in an objective test, should be graded separately. Reading an entire exam and then trying to assign a grade also affects the reliability of the grades. By grading exams by individual questions, you will be better able to concentrate on the quality of each individual response and how it compares to other students' responses.

6. Write comments on the exams. Point out the good as well as the bad. Comments indicate that you actually read the exam. Also, they serve as an explanation of why you assigned a particular grade. Comments such as "Expand," "What about . . . ," or "How do you conclude this?" readily indicate weakness to the students. When commenting, adopt a nonconfrontational attitude by assuming that you and the student share a common enterprise. Write to convince the student: be direct in your criticisms, but be dispassionate and never engage in ad hominem attack. Ask yourself whether your disagreement with the student's writing is based on specialized knowledge you possess because of your education and training. If so, then offer that knowledge to the student. Don't simply bash the student for not knowing something that "everyone knows." Maintain an appropriate perspective on the writing assignment, i.e., don't fixate on remarks that may be tangential to the principal point/s of the composition (Moore 1992). Finally, realize that you do not necessarily improve a student's writing by writing an "overwhelming" number of comments on an essay (Moore 1992).

7. Before you assign grades, sort your papers into piles. By sorting papers into piles corresponding to A's, B's, C's, etc., you can quickly check through the piles to ensure that there are no changes to be made. This practice assists you in making decisions about "borderline" papers.

8. Discuss the test with the students. Feedback is a critical element in the learning cycle. Testing provides you with an opportunity to give feedback to your students. In addition to written comments on the essay exam, you should allocate class time to discuss the question and the responses. This practice reinforces the testing process as a part of learning.

9. Have colleagues read the papers. This is an effective way of improving the grading for team-taught courses and for teachers teaching different sections of the same course. If you and a colleague differ greatly in scoring a question, reevaluate the response to the question. It is very important, of course, to tell your students about such dual grading arrangements. You could even improve the feedback to your students by having the different graders identify their comments by different colored inks.

10. If students do not meet your established criteria for a question, consider retesting them on the concepts. After providing feedback on the incorrect answers and time to restructure their concepts, allow students to rewrite their responses. Without an opportunity to revise their response, any comments you make have little effect on improving subsequent writings (see Doher 1991, for a more thorough discussion). After all, the ultimate objective of education is learning, not simply receiving a grade.

Student writing, regardless of subject, is only one-half of the equation. The other half is learning through studying the teacher's thoughtful critique of the writing. Bashing may be brought about unintentionally by a teacher's misunderstanding a student's perspective, reasoning, background, or personal values. Constructive critiquing is an art that must be learned and then practiced.

Doher, G. 1991. Do teachers' comments on students' papers help? College Teaching 39:48-54.

Everett, E. 1994. Do the write thing. The Science Teacher 61(7): 35-7.

Mayer, R. E. 1975. Information processing variables in learning to solve problems. Review of Educational Research 45:525-41.

Moore, R 1992. Writing about biology: How should we mark students' essays? Bioscene: Journal of College Biology Teaching. 18(3): 3-9.

Perkins, D. 1993. Teaching for understanding. American Educator 17(3): 8 and 28-35.

Shavelson, R J. and R Stern. 1981. Research on teachers' pedagogical thoughts, judgments, decisions, and behavior. Review of Educational Research 51:455-98.

Steele, C. W. 1992. Critique; don't bash. Writing and Learning 3(1): 5 6.

Craig W. Steele is an associate professor in the Department of Biology and Health Services at Edinboro University in Edinboro, Pennsylvania.

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Improving Your Test Questions

• ICES Online
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For questions or information:

• Choosing between Objective and Subjective Test Items

Multiple-Choice Test Items

True-false test items, matching test items, completion test items, essay test items, problem solving test items, performance test items.

• Two Methods for Assessing Test Item Quality
• Assistance Offered by The Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CITL)
• References for Further Reading

I. Choosing Between Objective and Subjective Test Items

There are two general categories of test items: (1) objective items which require students to select the correct response from several alternatives or to supply a word or short phrase to answer a question or complete a statement; and (2) subjective or essay items which permit the student to organize and present an original answer. Objective items include multiple-choice, true-false, matching and completion, while subjective items include short-answer essay, extended-response essay, problem solving and performance test items. For some instructional purposes one or the other item types may prove more efficient and appropriate. To begin out discussion of the relative merits of each type of test item, test your knowledge of these two item types by answering the following questions.

Quiz Answers

1 Sax, G., & Collet, L. S. (1968). An empirical comparison of the effects of recall and multiple-choice tests on student achievement. J ournal of Educational Measurement, 5 (2), 169–173. doi:10.1111/j.1745-3984.1968.tb00622.x

Paterson, D. G. (1926). Do new and old type examinations measure different mental functions? School and Society, 24 , 246–248.

When to Use Essay or Objective Tests

Essay tests are especially appropriate when:

• the group to be tested is small and the test is not to be reused.
• you wish to encourage and reward the development of student skill in writing.
• you are more interested in exploring the student's attitudes than in measuring his/her achievement.
• you are more confident of your ability as a critical and fair reader than as an imaginative writer of good objective test items.

Objective tests are especially appropriate when:

• the group to be tested is large and the test may be reused.
• highly reliable test scores must be obtained as efficiently as possible.
• impartiality of evaluation, absolute fairness, and freedom from possible test scoring influences (e.g., fatigue, lack of anonymity) are essential.
• you are more confident of your ability to express objective test items clearly than of your ability to judge essay test answers correctly.
• there is more pressure for speedy reporting of scores than for speedy test preparation.

Either essay or objective tests can be used to:

• measure almost any important educational achievement a written test can measure.
• test understanding and ability to apply principles.
• test ability to think critically.
• test ability to solve problems.
• test ability to select relevant facts and principles and to integrate them toward the solution of complex problems. 

In addition to the preceding suggestions, it is important to realize that certain item types are  better suited  than others for measuring particular learning objectives. For example, learning objectives requiring the student  to demonstrate  or  to show , may be better measured by performance test items, whereas objectives requiring the student  to explain  or  to describe  may be better measured by essay test items. The matching of learning objective expectations with certain item types can help you select an appropriate kind of test item for your classroom exam as well as provide a higher degree of test validity (i.e., testing what is supposed to be tested). To further illustrate, several sample learning objectives and appropriate test items are provided on the following page.

After you have decided to use either an objective, essay or both objective and essay exam, the next step is to select the kind(s) of objective or essay item that you wish to include on the exam. To help you make such a choice, the different kinds of objective and essay items are presented in the following section. The various kinds of items are briefly described and compared to one another in terms of their advantages and limitations for use. Also presented is a set of general suggestions for the construction of each item variation. 

II. Suggestions for Using and Writing Test Items

The multiple-choice item consists of two parts: (a) the stem, which identifies the question or problem and (b) the response alternatives. Students are asked to select the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question. For example:

Sample Multiple-Choice Item

*correct response

Advantages in Using Multiple-Choice Items

Multiple-choice items can provide...

• versatility in measuring all levels of cognitive ability.
• highly reliable test scores.
• scoring efficiency and accuracy.
• objective measurement of student achievement or ability.
• a wide sampling of content or objectives.
• a reduced guessing factor when compared to true-false items.
• different response alternatives which can provide diagnostic feedback.

Limitations in Using Multiple-Choice Items

Multiple-choice items...

• are difficult and time consuming to construct.
• lead an instructor to favor simple recall of facts.
• place a high degree of dependence on the student's reading ability and instructor's writing ability.

Suggestions For Writing Multiple-Choice Test Items

4. Include in the stem any word(s) that might otherwise be repeated in each alternative.

Undesirable:

5. Use negatively stated stems sparingly. When used, underline and/or capitalize the negative word. Undesirable: Desirable: Item Alternatives 6. Make all alternatives plausible and attractive to the less knowledgeable or skillful student. Undesirable Desirable 7. Make the alternatives grammatically parallel with each other, and consistent with the stem. Undesirable: 8. Make the alternatives mutually exclusive. Undesirable: The daily minimum required amount of milk that a 10 year old child should drink is 9. When possible, present alternatives in some logical order (e.g., chronological, most to least, alphabetical). Undesirable Desirable 10. Be sure there is only one correct or best response to the item. Undesirable: 11. Make alternatives approximately equal in length. Undesirable: 12. Avoid irrelevant clues such as grammatical structure, well known verbal associations or connections between stem and answer. Undesirable: (grammatical clue) of water behind the dam. 13. Use at least four alternatives for each item to lower the probability of getting the item correct by guessing. 14. Randomly distribute the correct response among the alternative positions throughout the test having approximately the same proportion of alternatives a, b, c, d and e as the correct response. 15. Use the alternatives "none of the above" and "all of the above" sparingly. When used, such alternatives should occasionally be used as the correct response. A true-false item can be written in one of three forms: simple, complex, or compound. Answers can consist of only two choices (simple), more than two choices (complex), or two choices plus a conditional completion response (compound). An example of each type of true-false item follows: Sample True-False Item: Simple The acquisition of morality is a developmental process. True False Sample True-False Item: Complex Sample true-false item: compound. The acquisition of morality is a developmental process. True False     Advantages In Using True-False Items True-False items can provide... the widest sampling of content or objectives per unit of testing time. an objective measurement of student achievement or ability. Limitations In Using True-False Items True-false items... incorporate an extremely high guessing factor. For simple true-false items, each student has a 50/50 chance of correctly answering the item without any knowledge of the item's content. can often lead an instructor to write ambiguous statements due to the difficulty of writing statements which are unequivocally true or false. do not discriminate between students of varying ability as well as other item types. can often include more irrelevant clues than do other item types. can often lead an instructor to favor testing of trivial knowledge. Suggestions For Writing True-False Test Items 1.  Base true-false items upon statements that are absolutely true or false, without qualifications or exceptions. Undesirable: Desirable: 2.  Express the item statement as simply and as clearly as possible. Undesirable: Desirable: 3.  Express a single idea in each test item. Undesirable: Desirable: 4.  Include enough background information and qualifications so that the ability to respond correctly to the item does not depend on some special, uncommon knowledge. Undesirable: Desirable: 5.  Avoid lifting statements from the text, lecture or other materials so that memory alone will not permit a correct answer. Undesirable: Desirable: 6.  Avoid using negatively stated item statements. Undesirable: Desirable: 7.  Avoid the use of unfamiliar vocabulary. Undesirable: Desirable: 8.  Avoid the use of specific determiners which would permit a test-wise but unprepared examinee to respond correctly. Specific determiners refer to sweeping terms like "all," "always," "none," "never," "impossible," "inevitable," etc. Statements including such terms are likely to be false. On the other hand, statements using qualifying determiners such as "usually," "sometimes," "often," etc., are likely to be true. When statements do require the use of specific determiners, make sure they appear in both true and false items. Undesirable: required to rule on the constitutionality of a law. (T) easier to score than an essay test. (T) Desirable: 180°. (T) other molecule of that compound. (T) used for the metering of electrical energy used in a home. (F) 9.  False items tend to discriminate more highly than true items. Therefore, use more false items than true items (but no more than 15% additional false items). In general, matching items consist of a column of stimuli presented on the left side of the exam page and a column of responses placed on the right side of the page. Students are required to match the response associated with a given stimulus. For example: Sample Matching Test Item Advantages In Using Matching Items Matching items... require short periods of reading and response time, allowing you to cover more content. provide objective measurement of student achievement or ability. provide highly reliable test scores. provide scoring efficiency and accuracy. Limitations in Using Matching Items have difficulty measuring learning objectives requiring more than simple recall of information. are difficult to construct due to the problem of selecting a common set of stimuli and responses. Suggestions for Writing Matching Test Items 1.  Include directions which clearly state the basis for matching the stimuli with the responses. Explain whether or not a response can be used more than once and indicate where to write the answer. Undesirable: Desirable: 2.  Use only homogeneous material in matching items. Undesirable: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. a. b. c. d. O e. f. Desirable: 1. 2. 3. 4.  a. SO b. c. d. O e. HCl 3.  Arrange the list of responses in some systematic order if possible (e.g., chronological, alphabetical). Undesirable Desirable 1. 2. 3. 4. a. b. c. d. e. a. b. c. d. e. 4.  Avoid grammatical or other clues to the correct response. Undesirable: 1. 2. 3. 4. Desirable: 5.  Keep matching items brief, limiting the list of stimuli to under 10. 6.  Include more responses than stimuli to help prevent answering through the process of elimination. 7.  When possible, reduce the amount of reading time by including only short phrases or single words in the response list. The completion item requires the student to answer a question or to finish an incomplete statement by filling in a blank with the correct word or phrase. For example, Sample Completion Item According to Freud, personality is made up of three major systems, the _________, the ________ and the ________. Advantages in Using Completion Items Completion items... can provide a wide sampling of content. can efficiently measure lower levels of cognitive ability. can minimize guessing as compared to multiple-choice or true-false items. can usually provide an objective measure of student achievement or ability. Limitations of Using Completion Items are difficult to construct so that the desired response is clearly indicated. are more time consuming to score when compared to multiple-choice or true-false items. are more difficult to score since more than one answer may have to be considered correct if the item was not properly prepared. Suggestions for Writing Completion Test Items 1.  Omit only significant words from the statement. Undesirable: called a nucleus. Desirable: . 2.  Do not omit so many words from the statement that the intended meaning is lost. Undesirable:                                               Desirable:                               3.  Avoid grammatical or other clues to the correct response. Undesirable: decimal system. Desirable: 4.  Be sure there is only one correct response. Undesirable: . Desirable: . 5.  Make the blanks of equal length. Undesirable: and   (Juno)  . Desirable: and     (Juno)     . 6.  When possible, delete words at the end of the statement after the student has been presented a clearly defined problem. Undesirable: . Desirable: is     (122.5)     . 7.  Avoid lifting statements directly from the text, lecture or other sources. 8.  Limit the required response to a single word or phrase. The essay test is probably the most popular of all types of teacher-made tests. In general, a classroom essay test consists of a small number of questions to which the student is expected to demonstrate his/her ability to (a) recall factual knowledge, (b) organize this knowledge and (c) present the knowledge in a logical, integrated answer to the question. An essay test item can be classified as either an extended-response essay item or a short-answer essay item. The latter calls for a more restricted or limited answer in terms of form or scope. An example of each type of essay item follows. Sample Extended-Response Essay Item Explain the difference between the S-R (Stimulus-Response) and the S-O-R (Stimulus-Organism-Response) theories of personality. Include in your answer (a) brief descriptions of both theories, (b) supporters of both theories and (c) research methods used to study each of the two theories. (10 pts.  20 minutes) Sample Short-Answer Essay Item Identify research methods used to study the S-R (Stimulus-Response) and S-O-R (Stimulus-Organism-Response) theories of personality. (5 pts.  10 minutes) Advantages In Using Essay Items Essay items... are easier and less time consuming to construct than are most other item types. provide a means for testing student's ability to compose an answer and present it in a logical manner. can efficiently measure higher order cognitive objectives (e.g., analysis, synthesis, evaluation). Limitations In Using Essay Items cannot measure a large amount of content or objectives. generally provide low test and test scorer reliability. require an extensive amount of instructor's time to read and grade. generally do not provide an objective measure of student achievement or ability (subject to bias on the part of the grader). Suggestions for Writing Essay Test Items 1.  Prepare essay items that elicit the type of behavior you want to measure. Learning Objective: The student will be able to explain how the normal curve serves as a statistical model. Undesirable: Describe a normal curve in terms of: symmetry, modality, kurtosis and skewness. Desirable: Briefly explain how the normal curve serves as a statistical model for estimation and hypothesis testing. 2.  Phrase each item so that the student's task is clearly indicated. Undesirable: Discuss the economic factors which led to the stock market crash of 1929. Desirable: Identify the three major economic conditions which led to the stock market crash of 1929. Discuss briefly each condition in correct chronological sequence and in one paragraph indicate how the three factors were inter-related. 3.  Indicate for each item a point value or weight and an estimated time limit for answering. Undesirable: Compare the writings of Bret Harte and Mark Twain in terms of settings, depth of characterization, and dialogue styles of their main characters. Desirable: Compare the writings of Bret Harte and Mark Twain in terms of settings, depth of characterization, and dialogue styles of their main characters. (10 points 20 minutes) 4.  Ask questions that will elicit responses on which experts could agree that one answer is better than another. 5.  Avoid giving the student a choice among optional items as this greatly reduces the reliability of the test. 6.  It is generally recommended for classroom examinations to administer several short-answer items rather than only one or two extended-response items. Suggestions for Scoring Essay Items ANALYTICAL SCORING: Each answer is compared to an ideal answer and points are assigned for the inclusion of necessary elements. Grades are based on the number of accumulated points either absolutely (i.e., A=10 or more points, B=6-9 pts., etc.) or relatively (A=top 15% scores, B=next 30% of scores, etc.) GLOBAL QUALITY: Each answer is read and assigned a score (e.g., grade, total points) based either on the total quality of the response or on the total quality of the response relative to other student answers. Examples Essay Item and Grading Models "Americans are a mixed-up people with no sense of ethical values. Everyone knows that baseball is far less necessary than food and steel, yet they pay ball players a lot more than farmers and steelworkers." WHY? Use 3-4 sentences to indicate how an economist would explain the above situation. Analytical Scoring Global Quality Assign scores or grades on the overall quality of the written response as compared to an ideal answer. Or, compare the overall quality of a response to other student responses by sorting the papers into three stacks: Read and sort each stack again divide into three more stacks In total, nine discriminations can be used to assign test grades in this manner. The number of stacks or discriminations can vary to meet your needs. Try not to allow factors which are irrelevant to the learning outcomes being measured affect your grading (i.e., handwriting, spelling, neatness). Read and grade all class answers to one item before going on to the next item. Read and grade the answers without looking at the students' names to avoid possible preferential treatment. Occasionally shuffle papers during the reading of answers to help avoid any systematic order effects (i.e., Sally's "B" work always followed Jim's "A" work thus it looked more like "C" work). When possible, ask another instructor to read and grade your students' responses. Another form of a subjective test item is the problem solving or computational exam question. Such items present the student with a problem situation or task and require a demonstration of work procedures and a correct solution, or just a correct solution. This kind of test item is classified as a subjective type of item due to the procedures used to score item responses. Instructors can assign full or partial credit to either correct or incorrect solutions depending on the quality and kind of work procedures presented. An example of a problem solving test item follows. Example Problem Solving Test Item It was calculated that 75 men could complete a strip on a new highway in 70 days. When work was scheduled to commence, it was found necessary to send 25 men on another road project. How many days longer will it take to complete the strip? Show your work for full or partial credit. Advantages In Using Problem Solving Items Problem solving items... minimize guessing by requiring the students to provide an original response rather than to select from several alternatives. are easier to construct than are multiple-choice or matching items. can most appropriately measure learning objectives which focus on the ability to apply skills or knowledge in the solution of problems. can measure an extensive amount of content or objectives. Limitations in Using Problem Solving Items require an extensive amount of instructor time to read and grade. generally do not provide an objective measure of student achievement or ability (subject to bias on the part of the grader when partial credit is given). Suggestions For Writing Problem Solving Test Items 1.  Clearly identify and explain the problem. Undesirable: Desirable: 2.  Provide directions which clearly inform the student of the type of response called for. Undesirable: Desirable: 3.  State in the directions whether or not the student must show his/her work procedures for full or partial credit. Undesirable: Desirable: 4.  Clearly separate item parts and indicate their point values. A man leaves his home and drives to a convention at an average rate of 50 miles per hour. Upon arrival, he finds a telegram advising him to return at once. He catches a plane that takes him back at an average rate of 300 miles per hour. Undesirable: Desirable: 5.  Use figures, conditions and situations which create a realistic problem. Undesirable: Desirable: 6.  Ask questions that elicit responses on which experts could agree that one solution and one or more work procedures are better than others. 7.  Work through each problem before classroom administration to double-check accuracy. A performance test item is designed to assess the ability of a student to perform correctly in a simulated situation (i.e., a situation in which the student will be ultimately expected to apply his/her learning). The concept of simulation is central in performance testing; a performance test will simulate to some degree a real life situation to accomplish the assessment. In theory, a performance test could be constructed for any skill and real life situation. In practice, most performance tests have been developed for the assessment of vocational, managerial, administrative, leadership, communication, interpersonal and physical education skills in various simulated situations. An illustrative example of a performance test item is provided below. Sample Performance Test Item Assume that some of the instructional objectives of an urban planning course include the development of the student's ability to effectively use the principles covered in the course in various "real life" situations common for an urban planning professional. A performance test item could measure this development by presenting the student with a specific situation which represents a "real life" situation. For example, An urban planning board makes a last minute request for the professional to act as consultant and critique a written proposal which is to be considered in a board meeting that very evening. The professional arrives before the meeting and has one hour to analyze the written proposal and prepare his critique. The critique presentation is then made verbally during the board meeting; reactions of members of the board or the audience include requests for explanation of specific points or informed attacks on the positions taken by the professional. The performance test designed to simulate this situation would require that the student to be tested role play the professional's part, while students or faculty act the other roles in the situation. Various aspects of the "professional's" performance would then be observed and rated by several judges with the necessary background. The ratings could then be used both to provide the student with a diagnosis of his/her strengths and weaknesses and to contribute to an overall summary evaluation of the student's abilities. Advantages In Using Performance Test Items Performance test items... can most appropriately measure learning objectives which focus on the ability of the students to apply skills or knowledge in real life situations. usually provide a degree of test validity not possible with standard paper and pencil test items. are useful for measuring learning objectives in the psychomotor domain. Limitations In Using Performance Test Items are difficult and time consuming to construct. are primarily used for testing students individually and not for testing groups. Consequently, they are relatively costly, time consuming, and inconvenient forms of testing. generally do not provide an objective measure of student achievement or ability (subject to bias on the part of the observer/grader). Suggestions For Writing Performance Test Items Prepare items that elicit the type of behavior you want to measure. Clearly identify and explain the simulated situation to the student. Make the simulated situation as "life-like" as possible. Provide directions which clearly inform the students of the type of response called for. When appropriate, clearly state time and activity limitations in the directions. Adequately train the observer(s)/scorer(s) to ensure that they are fair in scoring the appropriate behaviors. III. TWO METHODS FOR ASSESSING TEST ITEM QUALITY This section presents two methods for collecting feedback on the quality of your test items. The two methods include using self-review checklists and student evaluation of test item quality. You can use the information gathered from either method to identify strengths and weaknesses in your item writing.  Checklist for Evaluating Test Items EVALUATE YOUR TEST ITEMS BY CHECKING THE SUGGESTIONS WHICH YOU FEEL YOU HAVE FOLLOWED.   ____  When possible, stated the stem as a direct question rather than as an incomplete statement. ____  Presented a definite, explicit and singular question or problem in the stem. ____  Eliminated excessive verbiage or irrelevant information from the stem. ____  Included in the stem any word(s) that might have otherwise been repeated in each alternative. ____  Used negatively stated stems sparingly. When used, underlined and/or capitalized the negative word(s). ____  Made all alternatives plausible and attractive to the less knowledgeable or skillful student. ____  Made the alternatives grammatically parallel with each other, and consistent with the stem. ____  Made the alternatives mutually exclusive. ____  When possible, presented alternatives in some logical order (e.g., chronologically, most to least). ____  Made sure there was only one correct or best response per item. ____  Made alternatives approximately equal in length. ____  Avoided irrelevant clues such as grammatical structure, well known verbal associations or connections between stem and answer. ____  Used at least four alternatives for each item. ____  Randomly distributed the correct response among the alternative positions throughout the test having approximately the same proportion of alternatives a, b, c, d, and e as the correct response. ____  Used the alternatives "none of the above" and "all of the above" sparingly. When used, such alternatives were occasionally the correct response. ____  Based true-false items upon statements that are absolutely true or false, without qualifications or exceptions. ____  Expressed the item statement as simply and as clearly as possible. ____  Expressed a single idea in each test item. ____  Included enough background information and qualifications so that the ability to respond correctly did not depend on some special, uncommon knowledge. ____  Avoided lifting statements from the text, lecture, or other materials. ____  Avoided using negatively stated item statements. ____  Avoided the use of unfamiliar language. ____  Avoided the use of specific determiners such as "all," "always," "none," "never," etc., and qualifying determiners such as "usually," "sometimes," "often," etc. ____  Used more false items than true items (but not more than 15% additional false items). ____  Included directions which clearly stated the basis for matching the stimuli with the response. ____  Explained whether or not a response could be used more than once and indicated where to write the answer. ____  Used only homogeneous material. ____  When possible, arranged the list of responses in some systematic order (e.g., chronologically, alphabetically). ____  Avoided grammatical or other clues to the correct response. ____  Kept items brief (limited the list of stimuli to under 10). ____  Included more responses than stimuli. ____  When possible, reduced the amount of reading time by including only short phrases or single words in the response list. ____  Omitted only significant words from the statement. ____  Did not omit so many words from the statement that the intended meaning was lost. ____  Avoided grammatical or other clues to the correct response. ____  Included only one correct response per item. ____  Made the blanks of equal length. ____  When possible, deleted the words at the end of the statement after the student was presented with a clearly defined problem. ____  Avoided lifting statements directly from the text, lecture, or other sources. ____  Limited the required response to a single word or phrase. ____  Prepared items that elicited the type of behavior you wanted to measure. ____  Phrased each item so that the student's task was clearly indicated. ____  Indicated for each item a point value or weight and an estimated time limit for answering. ____  Asked questions that elicited responses on which experts could agree that one answer is better than others. ____  Avoided giving the student a choice among optional items. ____  Administered several short-answer items rather than 1 or 2 extended-response items. Grading Essay Test Items ____  Selected an appropriate grading model. ____  Tried not to allow factors which were irrelevant to the learning outcomes being measured to affect your grading (e.g., handwriting, spelling, neatness). ____  Read and graded all class answers to one item before going on to the next item. ____  Read and graded the answers without looking at the student's name to avoid possible preferential treatment. ____  Occasionally shuffled papers during the reading of answers. ____  When possible, asked another instructor to read and grade your students' responses. ____  Clearly identified and explained the problem to the student. ____  Provided directions which clearly informed the student of the type of response called for. ____  Stated in the directions whether or not the student must show work procedures for full or partial credit. ____  Clearly separated item parts and indicated their point values. ____  Used figures, conditions and situations which created a realistic problem. ____  Asked questions that elicited responses on which experts could agree that one solution and one or more work procedures are better than others. ____  Worked through each problem before classroom administration. ____  Prepared items that elicit the type of behavior you wanted to measure. ____  Clearly identified and explained the simulated situation to the student. ____  Made the simulated situation as "life-like" as possible. ____  Provided directions which clearly inform the students of the type of response called for. ____  When appropriate, clearly stated time and activity limitations in the directions. ____  Adequately trained the observer(s)/scorer(s) to ensure that they were fair in scoring the appropriate behaviors. STUDENT EVALUATION OF TEST ITEM QUALITY  Using ices questionnaire items to assess your test item quality . The following set of ICES (Instructor and Course Evaluation System) questionnaire items can be used to assess the quality of your test items. The items are presented with their original ICES catalogue number. You are encouraged to include one or more of the items on the ICES evaluation form in order to collect student opinion of your item writing quality. 102--How would you rate the instructor's examination questions? 116--Did the exams challenge you to do original thinking? Excellent Poor Yes, very challenging No, not challenging 103--How well did examination questions reflect content and emphasis of the course? 118--Were there "trick" or trite questions on tests? Well related Poorly related Lots of them Few if any 114--The exams reflected important points in the reading assignments. 122--How difficult were the examinations? Strongly agree Strongly disagree Too difficult Too easy 119--Were exam questions worded clearly? 123--I found I could score reasonably well on exams by just cramming. Yes, very clear No, very unclear Strongly agree Strongly disagree 115--Were the instructor's test questions thought provoking? 121--How was the length of exams for the time allotted. Definitely yes Definitely no Too long Too short 125--Were exams adequately discussed upon return? 109--Were exams, papers, reports returned with errors explained or personal comments? Yes, adequately No, not enough Almost always Almost never IV. ASSISTANCE OFFERED BY THE CENTER FOR INNOVATION IN TEACHING AND LEARNING (CITL) The information on this page is intended for self-instruction. However, CITL staff members will consult with faculty who wish to analyze and improve their test item writing. The staff can also consult with faculty about other instructional problems. Instructors wishing to acquire CITL assistance can contact [email protected] .  V. REFERENCES FOR FURTHER READING Ebel, R. L. (1965). Measuring educational achievement . Prentice-Hall. Ebel, R. L. (1972). Essentials of educational measurement . Prentice-Hall. Gronlund, N. E. (1976). Measurement and evaluation in teaching (3rd ed.). Macmillan. Mehrens W. A. & Lehmann I. J. (1973). Measurement and evaluation in education and psychology . Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Nelson, C. H. (1970). Measurement and evaluation in the classroom . Macmillan. Payne, D. A. (1974).  The assessment of learning: Cognitive and affective . D.C. Heath & Co. Scannell, D. P., & Tracy D. B. (1975). Testing and measurement in the classroom . Houghton Mifflin. Thorndike, R. L. (1971). Educational measurement (2nd ed.). American Council on Education. Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning 249 Armory Building 505 East Armory Avenue Champaign, IL 61820 217 333-1462 Email: [email protected] Office of the Provost USC Libraries Research Guides Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper Limitations of the Study Purpose of Guide Design Flaws to Avoid Independent and Dependent Variables Glossary of Research Terms Reading Research Effectively Narrowing a Topic Idea Broadening a Topic Idea Extending the Timeliness of a Topic Idea Academic Writing Style Applying Critical Thinking Choosing a Title Making an Outline Paragraph Development Research Process Video Series Executive Summary The C.A.R.S. Model Background Information The Research Problem/Question Theoretical Framework Citation Tracking Content Alert Services Evaluating Sources Primary Sources Secondary Sources Tiertiary Sources Scholarly vs. Popular Publications Qualitative Methods Quantitative Methods Insiderness Using Non-Textual Elements Common Grammar Mistakes Writing Concisely Avoiding Plagiarism Footnotes or Endnotes? Further Readings Generative AI and Writing USC Libraries Tutorials and Other Guides Bibliography The limitations of the study are those characteristics of design or methodology that impacted or influenced the interpretation of the findings from your research. Study limitations are the constraints placed on the ability to generalize from the results, to further describe applications to practice, and/or related to the utility of findings that are the result of the ways in which you initially chose to design the study or the method used to establish internal and external validity or the result of unanticipated challenges that emerged during the study. Price, James H. and Judy Murnan. “Research Limitations and the Necessity of Reporting Them.” American Journal of Health Education 35 (2004): 66-67; Theofanidis, Dimitrios and Antigoni Fountouki. "Limitations and Delimitations in the Research Process." Perioperative Nursing 7 (September-December 2018): 155-163. . Importance of... Always acknowledge a study's limitations. It is far better that you identify and acknowledge your study’s limitations than to have them pointed out by your professor and have your grade lowered because you appeared to have ignored them or didn't realize they existed. Keep in mind that acknowledgment of a study's limitations is an opportunity to make suggestions for further research. If you do connect your study's limitations to suggestions for further research, be sure to explain the ways in which these unanswered questions may become more focused because of your study. Acknowledgment of a study's limitations also provides you with opportunities to demonstrate that you have thought critically about the research problem, understood the relevant literature published about it, and correctly assessed the methods chosen for studying the problem. A key objective of the research process is not only discovering new knowledge but also to confront assumptions and explore what we don't know. Claiming limitations is a subjective process because you must evaluate the impact of those limitations . Don't just list key weaknesses and the magnitude of a study's limitations. To do so diminishes the validity of your research because it leaves the reader wondering whether, or in what ways, limitation(s) in your study may have impacted the results and conclusions. Limitations require a critical, overall appraisal and interpretation of their impact. You should answer the question: do these problems with errors, methods, validity, etc. eventually matter and, if so, to what extent? Price, James H. and Judy Murnan. “Research Limitations and the Necessity of Reporting Them.” American Journal of Health Education 35 (2004): 66-67; Structure: How to Structure the Research Limitations Section of Your Dissertation. Dissertations and Theses: An Online Textbook. Laerd.com. Descriptions of Possible Limitations All studies have limitations . However, it is important that you restrict your discussion to limitations related to the research problem under investigation. For example, if a meta-analysis of existing literature is not a stated purpose of your research, it should not be discussed as a limitation. Do not apologize for not addressing issues that you did not promise to investigate in the introduction of your paper. Here are examples of limitations related to methodology and the research process you may need to describe and discuss how they possibly impacted your results. Note that descriptions of limitations should be stated in the past tense because they were discovered after you completed your research. Possible Methodological Limitations Sample size -- the number of the units of analysis you use in your study is dictated by the type of research problem you are investigating. Note that, if your sample size is too small, it will be difficult to find significant relationships from the data, as statistical tests normally require a larger sample size to ensure a representative distribution of the population and to be considered representative of groups of people to whom results will be generalized or transferred. Note that sample size is generally less relevant in qualitative research if explained in the context of the research problem. Lack of available and/or reliable data -- a lack of data or of reliable data will likely require you to limit the scope of your analysis, the size of your sample, or it can be a significant obstacle in finding a trend and a meaningful relationship. You need to not only describe these limitations but provide cogent reasons why you believe data is missing or is unreliable. However, don’t just throw up your hands in frustration; use this as an opportunity to describe a need for future research based on designing a different method for gathering data. Lack of prior research studies on the topic -- citing prior research studies forms the basis of your literature review and helps lay a foundation for understanding the research problem you are investigating. Depending on the currency or scope of your research topic, there may be little, if any, prior research on your topic. Before assuming this to be true, though, consult with a librarian! In cases when a librarian has confirmed that there is little or no prior research, you may be required to develop an entirely new research typology [for example, using an exploratory rather than an explanatory research design ]. Note again that discovering a limitation can serve as an important opportunity to identify new gaps in the literature and to describe the need for further research. Measure used to collect the data -- sometimes it is the case that, after completing your interpretation of the findings, you discover that the way in which you gathered data inhibited your ability to conduct a thorough analysis of the results. For example, you regret not including a specific question in a survey that, in retrospect, could have helped address a particular issue that emerged later in the study. Acknowledge the deficiency by stating a need for future researchers to revise the specific method for gathering data. Self-reported data -- whether you are relying on pre-existing data or you are conducting a qualitative research study and gathering the data yourself, self-reported data is limited by the fact that it rarely can be independently verified. In other words, you have to the accuracy of what people say, whether in interviews, focus groups, or on questionnaires, at face value. However, self-reported data can contain several potential sources of bias that you should be alert to and note as limitations. These biases become apparent if they are incongruent with data from other sources. These are: (1) selective memory [remembering or not remembering experiences or events that occurred at some point in the past]; (2) telescoping [recalling events that occurred at one time as if they occurred at another time]; (3) attribution [the act of attributing positive events and outcomes to one's own agency, but attributing negative events and outcomes to external forces]; and, (4) exaggeration [the act of representing outcomes or embellishing events as more significant than is actually suggested from other data]. Possible Limitations of the Researcher Access -- if your study depends on having access to people, organizations, data, or documents and, for whatever reason, access is denied or limited in some way, the reasons for this needs to be described. Also, include an explanation why being denied or limited access did not prevent you from following through on your study. Longitudinal effects -- unlike your professor, who can literally devote years [even a lifetime] to studying a single topic, the time available to investigate a research problem and to measure change or stability over time is constrained by the due date of your assignment. Be sure to choose a research problem that does not require an excessive amount of time to complete the literature review, apply the methodology, and gather and interpret the results. If you're unsure whether you can complete your research within the confines of the assignment's due date, talk to your professor. Cultural and other type of bias -- we all have biases, whether we are conscience of them or not. Bias is when a person, place, event, or thing is viewed or shown in a consistently inaccurate way. Bias is usually negative, though one can have a positive bias as well, especially if that bias reflects your reliance on research that only support your hypothesis. When proof-reading your paper, be especially critical in reviewing how you have stated a problem, selected the data to be studied, what may have been omitted, the manner in which you have ordered events, people, or places, how you have chosen to represent a person, place, or thing, to name a phenomenon, or to use possible words with a positive or negative connotation. NOTE :   If you detect bias in prior research, it must be acknowledged and you should explain what measures were taken to avoid perpetuating that bias. For example, if a previous study only used boys to examine how music education supports effective math skills, describe how your research expands the study to include girls. Fluency in a language -- if your research focuses , for example, on measuring the perceived value of after-school tutoring among Mexican-American ESL [English as a Second Language] students and you are not fluent in Spanish, you are limited in being able to read and interpret Spanish language research studies on the topic or to speak with these students in their primary language. This deficiency should be acknowledged. Aguinis, Hermam and Jeffrey R. Edwards. “Methodological Wishes for the Next Decade and How to Make Wishes Come True.” Journal of Management Studies 51 (January 2014): 143-174; Brutus, Stéphane et al. "Self-Reported Limitations and Future Directions in Scholarly Reports: Analysis and Recommendations." Journal of Management 39 (January 2013): 48-75; Senunyeme, Emmanuel K. Business Research Methods. Powerpoint Presentation. Regent University of Science and Technology; ter Riet, Gerben et al. “All That Glitters Isn't Gold: A Survey on Acknowledgment of Limitations in Biomedical Studies.” PLOS One 8 (November 2013): 1-6. Structure and Writing Style Information about the limitations of your study are generally placed either at the beginning of the discussion section of your paper so the reader knows and understands the limitations before reading the rest of your analysis of the findings, or, the limitations are outlined at the conclusion of the discussion section as an acknowledgement of the need for further study. Statements about a study's limitations should not be buried in the body [middle] of the discussion section unless a limitation is specific to something covered in that part of the paper. If this is the case, though, the limitation should be reiterated at the conclusion of the section. If you determine that your study is seriously flawed due to important limitations , such as, an inability to acquire critical data, consider reframing it as an exploratory study intended to lay the groundwork for a more complete research study in the future. Be sure, though, to specifically explain the ways that these flaws can be successfully overcome in a new study. But, do not use this as an excuse for not developing a thorough research paper! Review the tab in this guide for developing a research topic . If serious limitations exist, it generally indicates a likelihood that your research problem is too narrowly defined or that the issue or event under study is too recent and, thus, very little research has been written about it. If serious limitations do emerge, consult with your professor about possible ways to overcome them or how to revise your study. When discussing the limitations of your research, be sure to: Describe each limitation in detailed but concise terms; Explain why each limitation exists; Provide the reasons why each limitation could not be overcome using the method(s) chosen to acquire or gather the data [cite to other studies that had similar problems when possible]; Assess the impact of each limitation in relation to the overall findings and conclusions of your study; and, If appropriate, describe how these limitations could point to the need for further research. Remember that the method you chose may be the source of a significant limitation that has emerged during your interpretation of the results [for example, you didn't interview a group of people that you later wish you had]. If this is the case, don't panic. Acknowledge it, and explain how applying a different or more robust methodology might address the research problem more effectively in a future study. A underlying goal of scholarly research is not only to show what works, but to demonstrate what doesn't work or what needs further clarification. Aguinis, Hermam and Jeffrey R. Edwards. “Methodological Wishes for the Next Decade and How to Make Wishes Come True.” Journal of Management Studies 51 (January 2014): 143-174; Brutus, Stéphane et al. "Self-Reported Limitations and Future Directions in Scholarly Reports: Analysis and Recommendations." Journal of Management 39 (January 2013): 48-75; Ioannidis, John P.A. "Limitations are not Properly Acknowledged in the Scientific Literature." Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 60 (2007): 324-329; Pasek, Josh. Writing the Empirical Social Science Research Paper: A Guide for the Perplexed. January 24, 2012. Academia.edu; Structure: How to Structure the Research Limitations Section of Your Dissertation. Dissertations and Theses: An Online Textbook. Laerd.com; What Is an Academic Paper? Institute for Writing Rhetoric. Dartmouth College; Writing the Experimental Report: Methods, Results, and Discussion. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University. Writing Tip Don't Inflate the Importance of Your Findings! After all the hard work and long hours devoted to writing your research paper, it is easy to get carried away with attributing unwarranted importance to what you’ve done. We all want our academic work to be viewed as excellent and worthy of a good grade, but it is important that you understand and openly acknowledge the limitations of your study. Inflating the importance of your study's findings could be perceived by your readers as an attempt hide its flaws or encourage a biased interpretation of the results. A small measure of humility goes a long way! Another Writing Tip Negative Results are Not a Limitation! Negative evidence refers to findings that unexpectedly challenge rather than support your hypothesis. If you didn't get the results you anticipated, it may mean your hypothesis was incorrect and needs to be reformulated. Or, perhaps you have stumbled onto something unexpected that warrants further study. Moreover, the absence of an effect may be very telling in many situations, particularly in experimental research designs. In any case, your results may very well be of importance to others even though they did not support your hypothesis. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that results contrary to what you expected is a limitation to your study. If you carried out the research well, they are simply your results and only require additional interpretation. Lewis, George H. and Jonathan F. Lewis. “The Dog in the Night-Time: Negative Evidence in Social Research.” The British Journal of Sociology 31 (December 1980): 544-558. Yet Another Writing Tip Sample Size Limitations in Qualitative Research Sample sizes are typically smaller in qualitative research because, as the study goes on, acquiring more data does not necessarily lead to more information. This is because one occurrence of a piece of data, or a code, is all that is necessary to ensure that it becomes part of the analysis framework. However, it remains true that sample sizes that are too small cannot adequately support claims of having achieved valid conclusions and sample sizes that are too large do not permit the deep, naturalistic, and inductive analysis that defines qualitative inquiry. Determining adequate sample size in qualitative research is ultimately a matter of judgment and experience in evaluating the quality of the information collected against the uses to which it will be applied and the particular research method and purposeful sampling strategy employed. If the sample size is found to be a limitation, it may reflect your judgment about the methodological technique chosen [e.g., single life history study versus focus group interviews] rather than the number of respondents used. Boddy, Clive Roland. "Sample Size for Qualitative Research." Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal 19 (2016): 426-432; Huberman, A. Michael and Matthew B. Miles. "Data Management and Analysis Methods." In Handbook of Qualitative Research . Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln, eds. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1994), pp. 428-444; Blaikie, Norman. "Confounding Issues Related to Determining Sample Size in Qualitative Research." International Journal of Social Research Methodology 21 (2018): 635-641; Oppong, Steward Harrison. "The Problem of Sampling in qualitative Research." Asian Journal of Management Sciences and Education 2 (2013): 202-210. << Previous: 8. The Discussion Next: 9. The Conclusion >> Last Updated: Jul 30, 2024 10:20 AM URL: https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide Your Article Library Objective type test: meaning, merits and limitations | statistics. ADVERTISEMENTS: After reading this article you will learn about:- 1. Meaning of Objective Type Test 2. Merits of Objective Type Test 3. Limitations 4. Construction. Meaning of Objective Type Test: Simply, an objective type test is one which is free from any subjective bias either from the tester or the marker. It refers to any written test that requires the examinee to select the correct answer from among one or more of several alternatives or supply a word or two and that demands an objective judgement when it is scored. Objective-Centered Test/Objective based Test: When questions are framed with reference to the objectives of instruction, the test becomes objective-based. This type of test may contain essay type and objective type test items. An essay test may be objective-centered or objective-based, though it may be difficult to score it objectively. An objective type test, on the other hand, can always be scored objectively, though it may not be objective-centered if it is not planned with reference to the objectives of instruction. Objective-type tests have two characteristics viz.: 1. They are pin-pointed, definite and so clear that a single, definite answer is expected. 2. They ensure perfect objectivity in scoring. The scoring will not vary from examiner to examiner. Merits of Objective Type Test: 1. Objective type test gives scope for wider sampling of the content. 2. It can be scored objectively and easily. The scoring will not vary from time to time or from examiner to examiner. 3. This test reduces (a) the role of luck and (b) cramming of expected questions. As a result, there is greater reliability and better content validity. 4. This type of question has greater motivational value. 5. It possesses economy of time, for it takes less time to answer than an essay test. Comparatively, many test items can be presented to students. It also saves a let of time of the scorer. 6. It eliminates extraneous (irrelevant) factors such as speed of writing, fluency of expression, literary style, good handwriting, neatness, etc. 7. It measures the higher mental processes of understanding, application, analysis, prediction and interpretation. 8. It permits stencil, machine or clerical scoring. Thus scoring is very easy. 9. Linguistic ability is not required. Limitations of Objective Type Test: 1. Objectives like ability to organise matter, ability to present matter logically and in a coherent fashion, etc., cannot be evaluated. 2. Guessing is possible. No doubt the chances of success may be reduced by the inclusion of a large number of items. 3. If a respondent marks all responses as correct, the result may be misleading. 4. Construction of the objective test items is difficult while answering them is quite easy. 5. They demand more of analysis than synthesis. 6. Linguistic ability of the testee is not at all tested. 7. Printing cost considerably greater than that of an essay test. Guidelines for Constructing Better Objective Type Test Items: To be a good item writer, one should have: (a) A thorough understanding of the subject matter; (b) A thorough understanding of the pupils tested; (c) Perseverance; and (d) A little creativity to prepare fertile kind of items. It is of paramount importance for him to be cognizant of the pitfalls involved in writing objective type test items. We shall now offer some general guidelines for the writing of objective type test items: 1. Each item must be clearly expressed i.e. there must be precision in writing the test items. 2. Test for important facts and knowledge and not for trivial details; e.g., (a) Give the name of the ship that Columbus was on when he discovered America. (b) Give the date (and/or time) when Edison invented the light bulb. These items test the ability to recall or supple trivial details and therefore are unsound. 3. Avoid ambiguous statements. Each item should be subjected to one and only one interpretation. Rabindranath Tagore wrote Gitanjali in……….. The item is ambiguous because the examinee does not know whether the teacher wants to know the year, the date, the language or the place. In which language did Rabindranath Tagore write Gitanjali? 4. Quantitative rather than qualitative words should be used. Words such as few, many, low, high, large, etc. are vague, indefinite, and, therefore, should be avoided. TF Many people are literate in Orissa. TF About 85% of the people are literate in Orissa. 5. Use good grammar and sentence structure to improve clarity. TF In a triangle, whose one of the angle’s measure is 90°, the hypotenuse is equal to the square root of the sum of the squares of the other two sides. TF In a right-angled triangle, the square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides. 6. Avoid lifting statements verbatim from the text-book. The use of text book language in a test encourages a pupil to memorise rather than to understand the subject matter. 7. There should be only one correct answer. Fill in the blank by inserting an operational symbol. 2……… 2 = 4 Here, some students may write +, others may write X. 8. Avoid negative questions whenever possible. An indiscriminate use of the negative should be avoided. It takes more time to answer. TF The longitude of Bombay is not 73°E. TF The longitude of Bombay is 73°E. 9. Directions to questions should be specific. Ambiguous wording and double negatives should be avoided in questions. Related Articles: Merits and Demerits of Objective Type Test Types of Recall Type Test: Simple and Completion | Objective Test Educational Statistics , Evaluation Tools , Objective Type Test Comments are closed. How to write good Essay Questions Essay questions - you either love them or you hate them. There is no in between! These require written responses, which can consist of a few short paragraphs to thousands of words. Also known as: long answer, open ended, subjective Use Essay Questions to Assess: Comprehension of material learned Writing skills User's ability to organize facts and ideas Problem Solving Question Usage Ideas: Gain Feedback Gather information Comparison of two items Advantages of Essay Questions: Test takers can elaborate and provide detailed answers Test takers are not able to guess and select an answer Can review individualized responses from each user Can be used for all types of subjects Takes less time to create questions Disadvantages of Essay Questions: Takes longer to grade on paper Graded manually online Take longer to answer Can be graded unfairly Questions can be read differently resulting in not being able to answer correctly Will not cover as much varied content in a Test as other question types A user's writing skills could affect what they are trying to express Tips for creating Essay Questions Only add a few essay questions per Test Keep essay questions per Test specific to one or two topics Ask the question in your own words Leave opinions at home when grading Inform users ahead of time of how grading will be completed Provide customized feedback per student Make the question clear Use directives such as “Compare”, “Identify”, “Explain”, “Describe”, “Define” Show the points an essay questions is worth. Provide instructions on how in depth and detailed you want in an answer. Become a ClassMarker Guru: Pro Tips Essay Question Features in ClassMarker.com You're a Pro if You Know: After grading essay Questions, Test scores will be automatically adjusted You can add custom feedback for both correct/incorrect answers How to give individualized feedback per essay question per user Essay Questions are manually graded Search Search Please fill out this field. What is the Sahm Rule? How the sahm rule works, types of sahm rule indicators, history of the sahm rule, limitations of the sahm rule, the bottom line, the sahm rule recession indicator definition and how it's calculated. Erika Rasure is globally-recognized as a leading consumer economics subject matter expert, researcher, and educator. She is a financial therapist and transformational coach, with a special interest in helping women learn how to invest. pixelfit / Getty Images The "Sahm Rule" is a recession indicator created and named after Claudia Sahm, a macroeconomist who worked at the Federal Reserve and the White House Council of Economic Advisers. According to the Sahm Rule, the early stages of a recession is signaled when the three-month moving average of the U.S. unemployment rate is half a percentage point or more above the lowest three-month moving average unemployment rate over the previous 12 months. The Sahm Rule has been widely recognized for its accuracy, simplicity, and ability to quickly reflect the onset of a recession. Key Takeaways The Sahm Rule is a indicator that looks at signals related to the onset of a recession. According to the rule, the early stages of recession are signaled when the three-month average unemployment rate moves above the lowest three-month moving average unemployment rate over the last 12 months by half a percentage point or more. The rule has become widely recognized as a recession indicator due to its accuracy and simplicity. The Sahm rule was first introduced by macroeconomist Claudia Sahm in 2019 as part of a policy proposal. The unemployment rate represents the percentage of the overall labor force that is unemployed. The rate tends to rise when the economy is struggling and workers are having difficulty finding jobs, and fall when the economy is strong and workers can more easily find jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) typically releases the unemployment rate for the previous month on the first Friday of every month. The unemployment rate is one of the main economic indicators used to measure the health of the economy, and the Sahm Rule inputs the rate into a simple formula to determine whether the U.S. is headed into a recession. The rule compares the value of the current three-month moving average unemployment rate to the value of the lowest three-month moving average unemployment rate over the last 12 months. If the former is half a percentage point or more above the latter, the Sahm Rule indicates that U.S. is in the early stages of a recession. The Sahm Rule uses the three-month moving average unemployment rate—rather than the current unemployment rate—to prevent overreacting to a single month of data, Sahm said as a guest on The Investopedia Express podcast released in April 2024. The Sahm Rule simply indicates that the economy is in the early stages of a recession. Since the early 1970s, the indicator has never been triggered outside of a recession, according to Sahm. Historically, when the unemployment rate passes the threshold outlined by the Sahm rule, it continues to increase. The Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) database includes current and real-time Sahm Rule recession indicators. Current Sahm Rule Recession Indicator The BLS regularly revises the unemployment rate of previous months based on additional information from its survey that was not initially available. The current Sahm Rule recession indicator is calculated using the unemployment rate's revised values. Real-Time Sahm Rule Recession Indicator Unlike the current Sahm Rule recession indicator, the real-time Sahm Rule recession indicator uses "real-time" data. It is calculated using just the unemployment rate and recent history of unemployment rates that were available in a given month. Sahm first introduced the indicator that would later be named after her as part of a policy proposal called "Direct Stimulus Payments to Individuals" published by The Hamilton Project, an economic policy initiative that is part of the Brookings Institution. The proposal was also included in The Hamilton Project's book "Recession Ready: Fiscal Policies to Stabilize the American Economy" published in 2019. In the proposal, Sahm explained that consumer spending tends to slow significantly during recession growth, which can make job losses (and a recession overall) worse. She proposed that to combat that unemployment, the government distribute stimulus payments automatically to families in the face of a recessions—specifically, when the three-month average national employment rate jumps at least half a percentage point relative to its low over the last 12 months. "Recent research finds that broadly distributed, lump-sum payments to individuals directly boost spending and help stabilize demand, making these types of payments effective responses to recessions," Sahm explained. "The total amount of stimulus would offset about half of the slowdown in consumer spending, totaling about 0.7 percent of GDP." Gross domestic product (GDP) refers to a country's total market value of goods and services within a certain time frame. Fiscal policies like the one Sahm proposed are known as automatic stabilizers . The indicator became widely recognized, with the Federal Reserve adding it to the FRED database in October 2019. As Sahm has pointed out in her newsletter, the rule is "empirical regularity," not a proposition. She emphasized that this means that the rule can also be broken. For example, Sahm wrote in an April 2022 newsletter, imagine a scenario in which the unemployment rate increased hovered around 3.5%, up from a low of 3.0%, meeting the criteria for signaling the early stages of a recession based on the Sahm Rule. However, if around that same time, GDP growth held around 2.5%, down from a high of 5.5%, and inflation gradually slid down to 2%, such a combination of circumstances probably wouldn't constitute a recession, she explained. What is the Sahm Rule today? First introduced in 2019, the Sahm Rule is a recession indicator based on conditions of the labor market. When the three-month average unemployment rate rises above its 12-month low by at least half a percentage point, we are in the early stages of a recession, according to the rule. Who created the Sahm Rule? Claudia Sahm, a macroeconomist who worked at the Federal Reserve and the White House Council of Economic Advisers, introduced the indicator as part of a policy proposal. The rule was then named after her. How Accurate is the Sahm Rule? The rule has proved to be very accurate with the indicator always triggering in the early stages of a recession and never outside of one since the 1970s. The Sahm Rule refers to an indicator that signals the early stages of a recession. According to the rule, the beginning of a recession is signaled when the three-month moving average unemployment rate is half a percentage point or more higher than the lowest three-month moving average unemployment rate over the last 12 months. Historically, when the unemployment rate has passed this threshold, it has continued to rise. Sahm Consulting. " About ." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. " Release Calendar: List View ." Sahm, Claudia. " Direct Stimulus Payments to Individuals ." The Hamilton Project, The Brookings Institute , May 2019, pp. 77. Sahm, Claudia. " Direct Stimulus Payments to Individuals ." The Hamilton Project, The Brookings Institute , May 2019, pp. 77-79. Economic Research, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. " FRED Adds Sahm Rule Recession Indicators ." The Hamilton Project. " Direct Stimulus Payments to Individuals ." The Hamilton Project. " Recession Ready: Fiscal Policies to Stabilize the American Economy ." Stay-At-Home-Macro. " Rules Are Made to Be Broken ." Terms of Service Editorial Policy Privacy Policy Learning Materials Business Studies Combined Science Computer Science Engineering English Literature Environmental Science Human Geography Macroeconomics Microeconomics The Ultimate Essay Test Guide: Achieve Top Grades With Ease An essay test, a fundamental tool in academic assessment, measures a student's ability to express, argue, and structure their thoughts on a given subject through written words. This test format delves deeper into a student's critical thinking and writing skills unlike other conventional exam types. What is an Essay Test? An essay test is a type of assessment in which a student is prompted to respond to a question or a series of questions by writing an essay. This form of test isn’t merely about checking a student’s recall or memorization skills , but more about gauging their ability to comprehend a subject, synthesize information, and articulate their understanding effectively. Types of Essay Tests Essay tests can be broadly classified into two categories: Restricted Response and Extended Response . Restricted Response tests focus on limited aspects, requiring students to provide short, concise answers. Extended Response tests demand more comprehensive answers, allowing students to showcase their creativity and analytical skills. Advantages and Limitations of an Essay Test Essay tests offer numerous benefits but also have certain limitations. The advantages of an essay test are : They allow teachers to evaluate students’ abilities to organize, synthesize, and interpret information. They help in developing critical thinking and writing skills among students. They provide an opportunity for students to exhibit their knowledge and understanding of a subject in a broader context. And the limitations of an essay test are : They are time-consuming to both take and grade. They are subject to scoring inconsistencies due to potential subjective bias. They may cause the students who struggle with written expression may face difficulties, and these tests may not accurately reflect the full spectrum of a student’s knowledge or understanding. Join over 90% of students getting better grades! That’s a pretty good statistic. Download our free all-in-one learning app and start your most successful learning journey yet. Let’s do it! Understanding the Structure of an Essay Test Essay tests involve a defined structure to ensure organized, coherent, and comprehensive expression of thoughts. Adhering to a specific structure can enhance your ability to answer essay questions effectively . The 7 Steps of an Essay Writing an essay test typically involves seven steps : Understanding the question Brainstorming ideas Creating an outline Crafting a thesis statement Writing the essay body Formulating the conclusion Revising and editing for clarity and conciseness The First Sentence in an Essay The initial sentence of an essay, often termed a hook , plays a crucial role. It aims to grab the reader’s attention and provoke interest in the essay topic. It should be engaging, and relevant, and set the tone for the rest of the essay . The 5-Paragraph Essay Format The 5-paragraph essay format is commonly used in essay tests, providing a clear and organized approach for students to articulate their ideas. In this format, the introduction and the conclusion include 1 paragraph while the body of the essay includes 3 . Introduction : The introduction sets the stage, providing a brief overview of the topic and presenting the thesis statement – the central argument or point. Body : The body of the essay contains three paragraphs, each presenting a separate point that supports the thesis statement. Detailed explanations, evidence, and examples are included here to substantiate the points. Conclusion : The conclusion reiterates the thesis statement and summarizes the main points. It provides a final perspective on the topic, drawing the essay to a close. How to Prepare for an Essay Test? Preparing for an essay test demands a structured approach to ensure thorough understanding and effective response. Here are some strategies to make this task more manageable: #1 Familiarize Yourself with the Terminology Used Knowledge of key terminologies is essential. Understand the meaning of directives such as “describe”, “compare”, “contrast”, or “analyze”. Each term guides you on what is expected in your essay and helps you to answer the question accurately. To make it easier, you can take advantage of AI technologies. While preparing for your exam, use similar essay questions as prompts and see how AI understands and evaluates the questions. If you are unfamiliar with AI, you can check out The Best Chat GPT Prompts For Essay Writing . #2 Review and Revise Past Essays Take advantage of past essays or essay prompts to review and revise your writing . Analyze your strengths and areas for improvement, paying attention to grammar , structure , and clarity . This process helps you refine your writing skills and identify potential pitfalls to avoid in future tests. #3 Practice Timed Writing Simulate test conditions by practicing timed writing . Set a specific time limit for each essay question and strive to complete it within that timeframe. This exercise builds your ability to think and write quickly , improving your efficiency during the actual test. #4 Utilize Mnemonic Techniques To aid in memorization and recall of key concepts or arguments, employ mnemonic techniques . These memory aids, such as acronyms, visualization, or association techniques, can help you retain important information and retrieve it during the test. Practice using mnemonics to reinforce your understanding of critical points. Exam stress causing you sleepless nights? Get a good night’s rest with our free teacher-verified study sets and a smart study planner to help you manage your studies effectively. Strategies to Pass an Essay Test Passing an essay test goes beyond understanding the topic; it also requires strategic planning and execution . Below are key strategies that can enhance your performance in an essay test. Read the exam paper thoroughly before diving into writing : read the entire exam paper thoroughly. Understand each question’s requirement and make a mental note of the points to be included in each response. This step will help in ensuring that no aspect of the question is overlooked. Answer in the First Sentence and Use the Language of the Question : Begin your essay by clearly stating your answer in the first sentence. Use the language of the question to show you are directly addressing the task. This approach ensures that your main argument is understood right from the start. Structure Your Essay : Adopt a logical essay structure , typically comprising an introduction, body, and conclusion. This helps in organizing your thoughts, making your argument clearer, and enhancing the readability of your essay. Answer in Point Form When Running Out of Time : If time is running short, present your answer in point form. This approach allows you to cover more points quickly, ensuring you don’t leave any questions unanswered. Write as Legibly as Possible : Your writing should be clear and easy to read. Illegible handwriting could lead to misunderstandings and may negatively impact your grades. Number Your Answers : Ensure your answers are correctly numbered. This helps in aligning your responses with the respective questions, making it easier for the examiner to assess your work, and reducing chances of confusion or error Time Yourself on Each Question : Time management is crucial in an essay test. Allocate a specific amount of time to each question, taking into account the marks they carry. Ensure you leave ample time for revising and editing your responses. Practicing this strategy can prevent last-minute rushes and result in a more polished essay. Did you know that Vaia was rated best study app worldwide! Frequently Asked Questions About Essay Tests How do you answer an essay question, when taking an essay test what is the first step, what type of test is an essay test, what is the first sentence in an essay, what are the six elements of an essay. Privacy Overview Election 2024 Entertainment Newsletters Photography AP Buyline Personal Finance AP Buyline Shopping Press Releases Israel-Hamas War Russia-Ukraine War Global elections Asia Pacific Latin America Middle East Delegate Tracker AP & Elections 2024 Paris Olympic Games Auto Racing Movie reviews Book reviews Financial Markets Business Highlights Financial wellness Artificial Intelligence Social Media Navajo Nation plans to test limit of tribal law preventing transportation of uranium on its land FILE - , ore pile is the first to be mined at the Energy Fuels Inc. uranium Pinyon Plain Mine Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, near Tusayan, Ariz. Navajo President Buu Nygren vowed to carry out a plan to enact roadblocks to prevent the transportation of uranium ore through the reservation while the tribe develops regulations to cover what are the first major shipments of uranium through its land in years. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File) FILE - The front entrance at the Energy Fuels Inc. uranium Pinyon Plain Mine is shown on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, near Tusayan, Ariz. Navajo President Buu Nygren vowed to carry out a plan to enact roadblocks to prevent the transportation of uranium ore through the reservation while the tribe develops regulations to cover what are the first major shipments of uranium through its land in years. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File) FILE - Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren addresses a crowd at an indoor sports arena, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023, in Fort Defiance, Ariz. Navajo President Buu Nygren vowed to carry out a plan to enact roadblocks to prevent the transportation of uranium ore through the reservation while the tribe develops regulations to cover what are the first major shipments of uranium through its land in years. (AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca, File) Copy Link copied PHOENIX (AP) — The Navajo Nation planned Tuesday to test a tribal law that bans uranium from being transported on its land by ordering tribal police to stop trucks carrying the mineral and return to the mine where it was extracted in northern Arizona. But before tribal police could catch up with two semi-trucks on federal highways, they learned the vehicles under contract with Energy Fuels Inc. no longer were on the reservation. Navajo President Buu Nygren vowed to carry out the plan to enact roadblocks while the tribe develops regulations over the first major shipments of uranium ore through the reservation in years. “Obviously the higher courts are going to have to tell us who is right and who is wrong,” he told The Associated Press. “But in the meantime, you’re in the boundaries of the Navajo Nation.” The tribe passed a law in 2012 to ban the transportation of uranium on the vast reservation that extends into Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. But the law exempts state and federal highways that Energy Fuels has designated as hauling routes between the Pinyon Plain Mine south of Grand Canyon National Park for processing in Blanding, Utah. Still, Nygren and Navajo Attorney General Ethel Branch believe the tribe is on solid legal footing with a plan for police to block federal highways, pull over drivers and prevent them from traveling farther onto the reservation. Energy Fuels said it began hauling the ore as planned Tuesday and had informed federal, state, county and tribal officials more than 10 days ago about the legal requirements, safety, emergency response and the imminent shipping of uranium ore, though it didn’t give a specific date. Spokesman Curtis Moore said no one said that wasn’t sufficient. “Tens of thousands of thousands of trucks have safely transported uranium ore across northern Arizona since the 1980s with no adverse health or environmental effects,” the company’s president and chief executive, Mark Chalmers, said in a statement. ”Materials with far greater danger are transported every day on every road in the county. Ore is simply natural rock. It won’t explode, ignite, burn or glow, contrary to what opponents claim.” The Arizona Department of Transportation and the Arizona Department of Public Safety, which have jurisdiction on state and federal highways through the reservation, didn’t immediately return email messages seeking comment. The Kaibab National Forest where the mine is permitted said it was notified after hauling began Tuesday morning, then contacted tribes, local officials and others, spokeswoman Brienne Pettit said. The forest also requested advanced notification, she said. Officials with Coconino County and the Navajo Nation said Energy Fuels verbally agreed — but is not required to — give communities along the route at least a week’s notice before any truck hauled uranium through them. Nygren said the tribe got a notification Tuesday that trucks had left the mine site and were driving north through Flagstaff. Energy Fuels, the largest uranium producer in the United States, recently started mining at the Pinyon Plain Mine for the first time since the 1980s, driven by higher uranium prices and global instability. The industry says uranium production is different now than decades ago when the country was racing to build up its nuclear arsenal. No other sites are actively mining uranium in Arizona. Chalmers said uranium ore mined from Pinyon Plain is transported in tightly covered vehicles that have placards indicating the contents are radioactive. The shipments, driven by licensed and trained operators, comply with regulations and law, he said. Mining during World War II and the Cold War left a legacy of death, disease and contamination on the Navajo Nation and in other communities across the country, making any new development of the ore a hard pill to swallow. The Havasupai tribe is among the tribes and environmentalists that have raised concerns about potential water contamination. Republicans have touted the economic benefits the jobs would bring to the region known for high-grade uranium ore. In 2013, the Navajo Nation told another uranium producer that it would deny access to a ranch that surrounded a parcel of Arizona state trust land where the company planned to mine. At the time, the tribe cited a 2005 law that banned uranium mining on its lands and another 2006 law that addressed transport. The mining never occurred, although it also needed other things like a mineral lease and environmental permits. Stephen Etsitty, executive director of the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency, said the tribe had been meeting with Energy Fuels since March to coordinate emergency preparedness plans and enact courtesy notifications. Based on those meetings, Etsitty said the tribe didn’t expect Energy Fuels to transport uranium through the Navajo reservation for at least another month or until the fall. On Tuesday, he said the tribe found out indirectly about the trucks, leaving officials frustrated on what is primary election day in Arizona. Moore, the company spokesman, said Energy Fuels is required to notify the tribe of any spills or accidents. Etsitty said accidents involving trucks carrying hazardous or radioactive material occur on average once every three to five years on the reservation. But the possibility requires the tribe to notify emergency responders along the route. Because the material being transported from the mine is uranium ore, rather than processed ore, the risk of radiation exposure is lower, Etsitty said. “It is a danger, but it would take a longer period of time for somebody to get acute exposure at a spill site,” he said. “Precautions still need to be taken.” Tim Walz's military record: What to know about potential VP's National Guard service Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday, choosing a progressive yet plain-spoken VP candidate from America’s heartland to help her win over rural, white voters. “I’m pleased to share that I’ve made my decision: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will join our campaign as my running mate,” Harris said via text to supporters. “Tim is a battle-tested leader who has an incredible track record of getting things done for Minnesota families. I know that he will bring that same principled leadership to our campaign, and to the office of the vice president.” We look at Walz, a 60-year-old U.S. Army National Guard veteran, and his military career over the years. More: Tim Walz is Kamala Harris' VP pick: Minnesota governor named running mate: Live updates How long was Walz in the military? Walz served in the military for 24 years, enlisting in the Nebraska National Guard at 17 in 1981 and then transferring to the Minnesota National Guard in 1996. He retired in 2005 to begin his successful run for the U.S. House, representing Minnesota as command sergeant major, among the highest ranks for enlisted soldiers. His battalion went on to deploy to Iraq shortly after Walz's retirement. Walz specialized in heavy artillery and had proficiency ribbons in sharpshooting and hand grenades. But during the 21 years that Walz spent working with large artillery pieces, he suffered hearing loss and tinnitus in both ears, Minnesota Public Radio reported. He was allowed to continue his service after undergoing surgery, which partially resolved his hearing loss. Where did Walz serve, and what did he do in the National Guard? During his service, Walz responded to natural disasters, including floods and tornadoes in Minnesota and Nebraska, and was deployed overseas for months at a time, according to MPR. In 2003, he was sent to Italy, where he served with the European Security Force to support the war in Afghanistan. He was also stationed in Norway for joint training with other NATO militaries. Walz told MPR that he reenlisted in the National Guard after the September 11 attacks but never saw active combat in his years in the military. Stars and Stripes reported in 2020 that Walz credited his Army experience with helping him steer Minnesota through the COVID-19 pandemic as governor. As governor of Minnesota, Walz is commander in chief of the 13,000-soldier Minnesota National Guard. “I’m certainly proud of my military service, but it’s one piece of me,” he told Minnesota Public Radio in 2018. “It doesn’t define me.” Reuters and USA TODAY reporter Tom Vanden Brook contributed to this story. Advertisement Where Tim Walz Stands on the Issues As governor of Minnesota, he has enacted policies to secure abortion protections, provide free meals for schoolchildren, allow recreational marijuana and set renewable energy goals. Share full article By Maggie Astor Aug. 6, 2024 Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the newly announced running mate to Vice President Kamala Harris, has worked with his state’s Democratic-controlled Legislature to enact an ambitious agenda of liberal policies: free college tuition for low-income students, free meals for schoolchildren, legal recreational marijuana and protections for transgender people. “You don’t win elections to bank political capital,” Mr. Walz wrote last year about his approach to governing. “You win elections to burn political capital and improve lives.” Republicans have slammed these policies as big-government liberalism and accused Mr. Walz of taking a hard left turn since he represented a politically divided district in Congress years ago. Here is an overview of where Mr. Walz stands on some key issues. Mr. Walz signed a bill last year that guaranteed Minnesotans a “fundamental right to make autonomous decisions” about reproductive health care on issues such as abortion, contraception and fertility treatments. Abortion was already protected by a Minnesota Supreme Court decision, but the new law guarded against a future court reversing that precedent as the U.S. Supreme Court did with Roe v. Wade, and Mr. Walz said this year that he was also open to an amendment to the state’s Constitution that would codify abortion rights. Another bill he signed legally shields patients, and their medical providers, if they receive an abortion in Minnesota after traveling from a state where abortion is banned. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber?  Log in . Want all of The Times?  Subscribe . 363 IMAGES Example Of Limitation Of Study In Research Paper How To Write The Research Limitations Section Of Your Masters 21 Research Limitations Examples (2024) Example Of Limitation Of Study In Research Proposal Limitations Example for Internship Report Free Essay Example 340 words Example Of Limitation Of Study In Research Paper COMMENTS Essay Type Test: Advantages, Disadvantages, Limitations The essay-type tests are less objective and so they lack validity. 2. Cramming Habit. Essay type of test increases the child's cramming habit capacity. 3. Lack Of Relaibility. These tests lack the dependability of essay-type tests is low as compared to various multiple-choice questions or objective-type questions. 4. Essay Test: Types, Advantages and Limitations 11. It should be a power test rather than a speed test. Allow a liberal time limit so that the essay test does not become a test of speed in writing. 12. Supply the necessary training to the students in writing essay tests. 13. Questions should be graded from simple to complex so that all the testees can answer atleast a few questions. 14. Advantages, Disadvantages of Different Types of Test Questions Advantages. Save instructors the time and energy involved in writing test questions. Use the terms and methods that are used in the book. Disadvantages. Rarely involve analysis, synthesis, application, or evaluation (cross-discipline research documents that approximately 85 percent of the questions in test banks test recall) Limit the scope of ... Essay Test: The Ultimate Guide with The Best Strategies Advantages and Limitations of an Essay Test. Essay tests offer numerous benefits but also have certain limitations. The advantages of an essay test are: They allow teachers to evaluate students' abilities to organise, synthesise, and interpret information. They help in developing critical thinking and writing skills among students. PDF PREPARING EFFECTIVE ESSAY QUESTIONS This workbook is the first in a series of three workbooks designed to improve the. development and use of effective essay questions. It focuses on the writing and use of. essay questions. The second booklet in the series focuses on scoring student responses to. essay questions. The Essay Test: A Look at the Advantages and Disadvantages Abstract. Essay tests, at best, are easily constructed, relatively valid tests of higher cognitive processes; but they arehard to score reliably. They can beimproved by using objectives, scoringguides, and other test constructionand scoring aids. Short Answer & Essay Tests Short Answer & Essay Tests. Strategies, Ideas, and Recommendations from the faculty Development Literature. General Strategies. Do not use essay questions to evaluate understanding that could be tested with multiple-choice questions. Save essay questions for testing higher levels of thought (application, synthesis, and evaluation), not recall ... Essay Tests Essay Tests. There are basically two types of exams: Objective - requires answers of a word or short phrase, or the selection of an answer from several available choices that are provided on the test. Essay - requires answers to be written out at some length. The student functions as the source of information. Strengths & Limitations of Short Answer & Essay Questions Short answer and essay questions give insight into a student's ability to generate a response in an assessment. Learn the basics of test-taking, and identify the strengths and limitations that ... Essay Exams Essay Exams. Essay exams provide opportunities to evaluate students' reasoning skills such as the ability to compare and contrast concepts, justify a position on a topic, interpret cases from the perspective of different theories or models, evaluate a claim or assertion with evidence, design an experiment, and other higher level cognitive skills. Tips for Creating and Scoring Essay Tests Restricted Response - These essay questions limit what the student will discuss in the essay based on the wording of the question. For example, "State the main differences between John Adams' and Thomas Jefferson's beliefs about federalism," is a restricted response. What the student is to write about has been expressed to them within the question. The Disadvantages of an Essay Test Time is one of the most well known disadvantages of essay testing. Instructors must read every essay, grading the content and composition, while making a judgment on how thorough the answer is. This painstaking process creates hours of grading. The exact number depends on the grader. Students usually wait a few days or more to receive essay ... The Essay-Type Test One of the real limitations of the essay test in actual practice that it is not measuring what it is assumed to measure. Doty lyzed the essay test items and answers for 214 different items. by teachers in fifth and sixth grades and found that only twelve. items, less than 6 percent, "unquestionably measured something. Essays Essays provide valuable feedback to you. Sometimes objective test scores do not portray your students' learning. Essays, however, can reveal the depth and breadth of students' knowledge, as well as erroneous conclusions that are drawn. Essay questions require less time to prepare. Improving Your Test Questions Quiz Answers. 1. TRUE. Essay items are generally easier and less time consuming to construct than are most objective test items. Technically correct and content appropriate multiple-choice and true-false test items require an extensive amount of time to write and revise. Limitations of the Study Claiming limitations is a subjective process because you must evaluate the impact of those limitations. Don't just list key weaknesses and the magnitude of a study's limitations. To do so diminishes the validity of your research because it leaves the reader wondering whether, or in what ways, limitation(s) in your study may have impacted the ... Objective Type Test: Meaning, Merits and Limitations An essay test may be objective-centered or objective-based, though it may be difficult to score it objectively. An objective type test, on the other hand, can always be scored objectively, though it may not be objective-centered if it is not planned with reference to the objectives of instruction. ... Limitations of Objective Type Test: 1 ... PDF HOW TO WRITE BETTER TESTS to use. Two-thirds of the faculty surveyed said they preferred the essay format but could not use it because of the size of their classes. They used essay tests only in small classes. 3. Time Available to Prepare and Score Test It takes a long time to score an essay test. By contrast, it takes a long time to construct a multiple-choice test. How to write Essay questions Tips for creating Essay Questions. Only add a few essay questions per Test. Keep essay questions per Test specific to one or two topics. Ask the question in your own words. Leave opinions at home when grading. Inform users ahead of time of how grading will be completed. Provide customized feedback per student. Make the question clear. PDF How to Prepare Better Multiple-Choice Test Items: Guidelines for er the distinction the students must make in order to identify the correct answer. Multiple-choice items are amenable to item analysis, which enables the tea. er to improve the item by replacing distractors that are not functioning properly. In addition, the distractors chosen by the student may be used to. iagnose m. The Sahm Rule Recession Indicator Definition and How It's Calculated Limitations of the Sahm Rule . As Sahm has pointed out in her newsletter, the rule is "empirical regularity," not a proposition. She emphasized that this means that the rule can also be broken. What does science tell us about boxing's gender row? Research is shedding light on different chromosomal make-ups and what advantages they may bring to sport. Essay Test: The Ultimate Guide with The Best Strategies Advantages and Limitations of an Essay Test. Essay tests offer numerous benefits but also have certain limitations. The advantages of an essay test are: They allow teachers to evaluate students' abilities to organize, synthesize, and interpret information. They help in developing critical thinking and writing skills among students. Navajo Nation plans to test limit of tribal law preventing 1 of 3 | . FILE - , ore pile is the first to be mined at the Energy Fuels Inc. uranium Pinyon Plain Mine Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, near Tusayan, Ariz. Navajo President Buu Nygren vowed to carry out a plan to enact roadblocks to prevent the transportation of uranium ore through the reservation while the tribe develops regulations to cover what are the first major shipments of uranium through ... Tim Walz's military career: What to know about potential VP's service Democratic vp pick Tim Walz served for decades in the Army National Guard, serving in the U.S. and overseas. Angela Rayner scraps plans to limit social housing applications to long Angela Rayner scraps plans to limit social housing applications to long-term British residents Labour ends plans by Michael Gove to introduce a 'UK connection test' to limit social housing to ... Where Tim Walz Stands on the Issues As governor of Minnesota, he has enacted policies to secure abortion protections, provide free meals for schoolchildren, allow recreational marijuana and set renewable energy goals. It's official: Donald Trump is the GOP's presumptive presidential A redux of the Biden-Trump faceoff will test the limits of campaign finance and decorum in a modern presidential contest. Trump is currently in the lead, both in national and battleground polling ... essay homework paper phd project resume review speech thesis