GUIDELINES FOR ITEM WRITING General Guidelines •
•
•
Each item should reflect one content area o What is the important content the students should know? o Do not test trivial content Use your test blueprint! o Identify the relevant test objective that the item is measuring Use correct grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling o For question format items: § The stem should be a complete question and end with a “?” § If the item options are a complete sentence, they should start with a capital letter and end in a period. § If the options are not a complete sentence, then you do not need punctuation o For incomplete stems: § The stem should be an incomplete sentence § Do not put punctuation at the end of the stem unless it belongs § The options should be lowercase and should end in a period Guidelines for Writing the Item Stem •
Keep the stem as brief as possible o Be clear and concise o Avoid “window-­‐dressing” o Minimize reading time o Stems that are unnecessarily wordy or contain unneeded information can confuse test takers •
Be sure the stem contains the main idea of your item •
When possible, avoid using negative words o I.e., not, never, except, least, false o An exception is the “Negative Format” item § First try to write the item as another format •
Use terms like often, frequently, rarely, and occasionally with caution o These words have different interpretation for different examinees •
Avoid being over specific or over general •
Avoid opinion based items o Qualify any opinions •
Use a visual stimulus in the item stem only if it is necessary o I.e., A graph, chart, picture, diagram etc. o Including a stimulus that is not necessary can detract from the purpose of your item Guidelines for Writing the Options •
Vary the position of the key o Assign the location of the key first •
Make the distractors plausible o What are the common mistakes students make or the common misconceptions they have? o Do not use funny distractors •
Place the options in a logical order o Numerical, chronological, shortest to longest, etc. •
Avoid using specific determiners o Always, never, only, etc. •
Move any phrases that are repeated in all options to the stem Keep the options independent from one another In general, avoid using “none of the above” and “all of the above” o None of the above § Often not plausible to students § Measures the ability to recognize incorrect answers o All of the above o If a student can identify that two alternatives are correct, then they know that “all of the above” is the correct answer •
•
Guidelines for Writing the Options: Giving Away the Correct Answer •
Avoid making the key too long or too specific Avoid one item giving away the answer to another item •
Avoid repeating words in the stem and the key •