Chapter 9 - Instructional Media: Chalkboards to Video - CGISS

eview and judgment of student responses and, therefore, take
longer to score and may be scored more subjectively, even by the
same reviewer. Unless graders are available, it is very difficult to
give long open-ended exams and provide timely feedback in a
high-enrollment course. Exams that consist mainly of limitedchoice
items are usually more practical under these
circumstances.
Test Construction
Constructing good limited-choice exams takes much longer than
open-ended exams because items must contain the pertinent
information students need to answer the question, a set of
appropriate distractors, and the correct answer. In addition, none
of the information should include clues that point to the correct
answer or be written in a way that unnecessarily confuses student
reading and interpretation of the item. Open-ended exams, on the
other hand, may be constructed quickly and easily because they
usually consist of one or two direct statements or questions asking
students to respond in writing. The chances of providing unwanted
clues are greatly reduced, and there is no opportunity to confuse
students with distractors that may be too close to the right answer.
Length of Exam and Student Response Time
Whether using limited-choice or open-ended exams, instructors
should consider how much time students might need to respond
thoughtfully to the test items. One frequent complaint from
students is that they knew the material but there were so many
items that they could not answer every question or could not take
time to provide thoughtful answers. Asking a colleague or a
graduate student who has taken the course to complete the test
may give you some estimate of how many items can be completed
during the time provided.
Reusability of Exam Items
In general, exams consisting of a large number of limited-choice
items are easier to reuse than those consisting of only a few essay
questions. More items are more difficult for students to remember
and transmit to those who will take the exam later (if the printed
exam does not get into circulation). If a large item bank is built and
different exams can be randomly generated from the same pool of
questions, limited-choice items are highly reusable.
Prevention of Cheating
Limited-choice exams provide more opportunities for cheating than
do open-ended exams since single letters or numbers are far
easier to see or hear than extensive text. Cheating on limited-
Section: Student Assessment 158 Chapter 12: Testing Issues