Teacher use two types of tests in assessing student learning in the cognitive domain: objective test and essay test (Reyes, 2000). An objective test is a kind of test wherein there is only one answer to each item. On the other hand, an essay test is one wherein the test taker has the freedom to respond to a question based on how he feels it should be answered.
Types of Objective Tests
There are generally two types of objective tests: supply type and selection type (Carey, 1995). In the supply type, the student constructs his / her own answer to each question. Conversely, the student chooses the right answer to each item in the selection type of objective test.
Supply types of Objective Tests: The following types of tests fall under the supply type of test: completion drawing type, completion statement type, correction type, identification type, simple recall type, and short explanation type (Ebel & Frisbie, 1998).
• Completion Drawing Type – an incomplete drawing is presented which the student has to complete.
Example: In the following food web, draw arrow lines indicating which organisms are consumers and which are producers.
• Completion Statement Type – an incomplete sentence is presented and the student has to complete it by filling in the blank.
Example: The capital city of the Philippines is __________________.
• Correction Type – a sentence with underlined word or phrase is presented, which the student has to replace to make it right.
Example: Change the underlined word / phrase to make each of the following statements correct. Write your answer on the space before each number.
__________ 1. The theory of evolution was popularized by Gregor Mendel.
__________ 2. Hydrography is the study of oceans and ocean currents.
• Identification Type – a brief description is presented and the student has to identify what it is.
Example: To what does each of the following refer? Write your answer on the blank before each number.
__________ 1. A flat representation of all curved surfaces of the earth.
__________ 2. The transmission of parents’ characteristics and traits to their offsprings.
• Simple Recall Type – a direct question is presented for the student to answer using a word or phrase.
Example: What is the product of two negative numbers?
Who is the national hero in the Philippines?
• Short Explanation Type – similar to an essay test but requires a short answer.
Example: Explain in a complete sentence why the Philippines was not really discovered by Magellan.
Selection Types of Objective Test. Included in the category of selection type, grouping type, matching type, multiple choice type, alternate response type, key list test, and interpreting exercise.
• Arrangement Type – Terms or objects are to be arranged by the students in a specified order.
Example 1: Arrange the following events chronologically by writing the letters A, B, C, D, E on the spaces provided.
_______ Glorious Revolution _______ Russian Revolution
_______ American Revolution _______ French Revolution
_______ Puritan Revolution
Example 2: Arrange the following planets according to their nearness to the sun, by using numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
_______ Pluto _______Jupiter _______ Saturn
_______ Venus _______ Mars
• Matching Type – A list of numbered items are related to a list of lettered choices.
Example: Match the country in Column 1 with its capital city in Column 2. Write letters only.
Column 1 Column 2
________ 1. Philippines a. Washington D. C.
________ 2. Japan b. Jeddah
________ 3. United States c. Jerusalem ________ 4. Great Britain d. Manila
________ 5. Israel e. London
f. Tokyo g. New York
• Multiple Choice Type – this type contains a question, problem or unfinished sentence followed by several responses.
Example: The study of value is (a) axiology (c) epistemology (b) logic (d) metaphysics.
• Alternative Response Type – A test wherein there are only two possible answers to the question. The true – false format is a form of alternative response type. Variations on the true – false include yes – no, agree – disagree, and right – wrong.
Example: Write True, if the statement is true; False, if it is false.
_________ 1. Lapulapu was the first Asian to repulse European colonizers in Asia.
_________ 2. Magellan’s expedition of the Philippines led to the first circumnavigation of the globe.
_________ 3. The early Filipinos were uncivilized before the Spanish conquest of the archipelago.
_________ 4. The Arabs introduced Islam in Southern Philippines.
• Key List Test – A test wherein the student has to examine paired concepts based on a specified set of criteria (Olivia, 1998).
Example: Examine the paired items in Column 1 and Column 2.
On the blank before each number, write:
A = If the item in column 1 is an example of the item in column 2;
B = If the item in column 1 is a synonym of the item in column 2;
C = If the item in column 2 is opposite of the item in column 1; and D = If the item in Columns 1 and 2 are not related in any way.
Column 1 Column 2
_____ 1. capitalism economic system
_____ 2. labor intensive capital intensive _____ 3. Planned economy command economy _____ 4. opportunity cost demand and supply
_____ 5. free goods economic goods
• Interpretive Exercise – It is a form of a multiple choice type of test that can assess higher cognitive behaviors. According to Airisian (1994) and Mitchell (1992), interpretive exercise provides students some information or data followed by a series of questions on that information. In responding to the questions in an interpretive exercise, the students have to analyze, interpret,
or apply the material provided, like a map, excerpt of a story, passage of a poem, data matrix, table or cartoon.
Example: Examine the data on child labor in Europe during the period immediately after the Industrial Revolution in the continent. Answer the questions given below encircling the letter of your choice.