October 18, 2013 Designing objective tests 1
DESIGNING
ENGLISH
OBJECTIVE TESTS
AT UPPER-
SECONDARY
SCHOOLS
October 18, 2013 Designing objective tests 2
TYPES OF
OBJECTIVE TESTS
1. Matching Items
E.g. Match the jobs with their definitions
a. farmer 1. This person looks after
young children.
b. dentist 2. This person has pigs, cows
and sheep.
c. babysitter 3. This person keeps our teeth
white, clean, and healthy.

Answer: a-2; b-3; c-1
October 18, 2013 Designing objective tests 3
TYPES OF
OBJECTIVE TESTS
2. Supply Items
E.g. The relative pronoun WHO is used to
replace a _______.

Answer: person
3. Short answer
E.g. What is the superlative form of GOOD?


are supposed to measure.
•
Fairness: Items do not unfairly
advantage or disadvantage certain
groups or people
•
Sensitivity: Items avoid offensive or
upsetting language, situations or actions
•
Difficulty: Items are written at
appropriate levels of difficulty
October 18, 2013 Designing objective tests 7
TYPES OF MCQs
1. Select correct answer
2. Select incorrect answer
3. Fill in the blank
4. Match 1 or 2
5. Mismatched
6. Sequence of events
October 18, 2013 Designing objective tests 8
1. Select correct
answer
Choose the correct passive transformation of the
following sentence.
The others told the new students where to sit.
A. The new students were told where to sit.
B. The others were told where to sit by the
students.
C. Where to sit was told to the new students
by the others.

answer it.
A. One/ the
B. The/ one
C. One/ another
D. The/ another

Answer: A
October 18, 2013 Designing objective tests 12
5. Mismatched
Which adjective is mismatched with its
antonym?
A. consistent; unconsistent
B. like; unlike
C. sympathetic; unsympathetic
D. kind; unkind

Answer: a
October 18, 2013 Designing objective tests 13
6. Sequence of
events
Having finished the work, he turned off the computer
and left the office after checking all the windows to
make sure they were locked.
The right sequence of action is:
A. Finished the work; turned off the computer; left the
office; checked the window
B. Finished the work; turned off the computer; checked the
windows; left the office
C. Finished the work; left the office; turned off the
computer; checked the window

d. open an accounts