Multiple-choice items

Each form of multiple choice item presented is of value to item writers in some field, some are especially valuable for writers in chemistry. The possible forms are expanding as writers creativity grows and as the modes of presentation improve. Still there are a set of suggestions for writing better items, stated in Haladyna (16) which follow. 

The test comprises 80 multiple-choice items and two (2) open-response items. The multiple-choice section will account for 75 percent of the points available and the constructed-response section will account for 25 percent of the points available. 

The multiple-choice items on the test cover the subareas as indicated in the chart below. The open-response items, for which candidates are typically asked to prepare a written response or to solve a problem, may relate to topics covered in any of the subareas and will typically require breadth of understanding of the chemistry field and the ability to relate concepts from different aspects of the field. Each open-response item is expected to take a typical examinee response time of about 45-60 minutes. 

Subareas Approximate Number of Multiple-Choice Items Number of Open-Response Items... 

The most common format of achievement test items is the multiple-choice question. This is certainly true of commercially developed tests and is becoming true of more and more classroom tests, especially at the college level. Multiple-choice items certainly have a number of limitations, and there is no doubt that students have more freedom of expression on open-ended questions. It is well understood that items requiring generation and construction of responses by students usually produce richer data than simple recall and recognition items. However, multiple-choice tests can be effective if they are carefully developed, and they may be especially... 

In general, the structure itself of the multiple-choice item should not be blamed for a test s deficiencies rather, the way in which the item content is derived, the manner by which items are aggregated, and the theory under which test results are interpreted cause much of the difficulty. As most testing specialists know, it is possible to construct good multiple-choice items that do require a student to demonstrate an understanding of the subject matter. These items are not easy to develop. Their content is usually complex, and their response options are carefully crafted to glean information about the student s knowledge. 

Parts of Multiple Choice Item There are generally two parts of a multiple choice test-item, viz., stem and plausible answers. The stem of the test-item contains the statement of the question or problem. There are some important styles of writing the stem of a multiple choice questions. These are ... 

Cognitive Levels and Multiple Choice Items Generally at the school level, the multiple choice questions in chemistry are related to three cognitive levels, viz., knowledge, comprehension and application. 

Let us take a look at two TIMSS items for population 2 (12-13 year olds). The first (012) is a multiple-choice item asking for simple factual knowledge ... 

The practice exam instrument used in our study utihzes 50 multiple choice items, including 6 items specifically keyed to materials science and/or nanoscience. After each exam item, a mental effort item was inserted into the exam format that asked students to introspect on the degree of menial effort expended on the previous question answered (Figure 1). We used a 5-point Likert scale consistent with the nttmber of available multiple choice options foimd on a typical scantron answer key. 

Figure 4. Example of a two-tier multiple choice item...

After you ve taken the multiple-choice practice exam under timed conditions, count the number of questions you got correct. From this number, subtract the number of wrong answers x A Do not count items left blank as wrong. Then refer to this table to find your probable overall AP score. For example, if you get 39 questions correct, based on historical statistics you have a 25% chance of receiving an overall score of 3, a 63% chance of receiving an overall score of 4, and a 12% chance of receiving an overall score of 5. Note that your actual results may be different from the score this table predicts. Also, remember that the free-response section represents 55% of your AP score. 

When working on a multiple-choice test, the answer selection must be a multiple of the ratio given for the item in question. For example, in the preceding flower example, the number of pink flowers must be a multiple of 15. Eliminate any answer choices that are not a multiple of 15. 

The physical chemistry curriculum reform efforts of the last two decades have succeeded in encouraging some revisions in the material in the lecture and in new or modernized exercises for use in the laboratory. More slowly, the mainstream standardized multiple choice examination has also kept pace with the curricular revisions. The content areas represented on the examination have changed with each successive revision of the examination, as have the types of questions asked. The content areas on the examination have become more representative of modem physical chemistry practice, while the items themselves have become more conceptually based. 

Multiple choice examinations are composed of items in a multiple choice format, in which the stem is the part of the question before the multiple choice options. These formats are characterized by the examinee (student) selecting the best response from a set of options. Within this set of parameters, items can be formed in a number of distinct manners. The two forms, which are thought of as the conventional forms, called complete the sentence and give the correct response do just that. In the first, the stem asks the question in the form of an incomplete sentence and the responses then complete the sentence, for example, "... The properties which must be measured are for the stem and pressure and. .. for a response. The second form might ask What is the original temperature T, in K for the stem and a series of numerical values for the responses. These types of questions are commonly used on standardized examinations in a number of fields including chemistry. Most questions on the physical chemistry examinations are in one of these two forms. 

Both true-false and extended matching types are considered to be multiple choice formats. When combined with options for both are true or neither are true they are useful forms of items in some fields. These formats rarely occur on the physical chemistry examination. Another form which is rarely used asks... 

Following selection and approval of the committee members by the Examinations Institute director, the committee begins work on the lengthy process of writing the examination. Typically, the physical chemistry committee meets at the site of each ACS national meeting until work on the examination is completed. Some of the other examination committees may meet at the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education or the ChemEd conference. At the first committee meeting, the committee will typically discuss and make decisions on several items. The first of these items is which examinations will result at the end of the process. Previous committees have opted to write only a comprehensive examination, or a suite of examinations in thermodynamics, dynamics, and quantum mechanics. A second question is how many questions are needed for each examination, and if the multiple choice format is used, how many responses will be used for each question. For example, the committee writing the 2000 set of examinations chose 40 questions with four responses, while the committee for the 2006 set chose 50 questions with four responses. This decision becomes important because it defines the number of questions that need to be written. 

Osterlind, S.J., Constructing Test Items Multiple-Choice, Constructed-Response, Performance, and Other Formats. 2nd ed. Evaluation in Education and Human Services, Kluwer Academic Publishers Boston, MA, 1998. 

Haladyna, T.M., Developing and Validating Multiple-Choice Test Items. 3rd ed, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Mahwah, NJ, 2004. 

Testbank / / Instructor Supplement This testbank contains over 3000 multiple-choice, true/false and matching questions. It is available in print format, intheTestGen program, in word format and in included in the item library of MasteringChemistry.. 

Accompanying the fifth edition arc both new and expanded supplements that will help instructors with class preparation and help students by providing opportunities for review. In the Instructor s Manual with Test Bank, we provide chapter outlines, learning objectives, InfoTrac College Edition key terms, glossary terms and definitions, uscflil web links, and test items in three formats (multiple choice, truc/false, and essay). 

The test was made to test all the eleven behavioural objectives. It contained 16 test items. There were one or two test items to test each behavioural objective. All the test items are multiple choice tests and seems to be appropriate to test the task required in the behavioural objectives. The language used in writing test items was kept easy enough to be understood by the students. 

This test was used as a pre-test, in which the items are sequenced in the same manner as they would appear in the programme (in the Sequence of Tasks and Behavioural Objectives). The same test can also be used as post-test (though a separate post-test is preferred), whose items should be scrambled, so that they are not in the same order as in the programme. In the multiple choice questions the order of correct responses was random. 

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