Tests and Quizzes

Well-constructed tests and quizzes can do more than capture students' grasp of the material - they provide detailed feedback on teaching and, as some studies suggest, they can increase student learning as well.

For the purposes of this website we will define a quiz as a low-stakes assessment that covers approximately a week’s worth of material. A test, on the other hand, covers several topics at one time and carries a greater percentage of the course grade. Therefore, it is considered a high-stakes assessment. Both have their place in the higher education pantheon of assessment techniques.

When to test?

A common testing schedule involves a midterm and a final exam. However, in Teaching Tips Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers, McKeachie suggests giving a low stakes tests or quizzes early on as, “an early test gets students started, in that they don't delay their studying until the conventional midterm examination, and it will help you to identify problems early, while they are still remediable” (1999, p. 88).

How do I design an effective test?

General tips for designing test questions

  • Grouping items by topic and/or heading will improve student performance (McKeachie, 1999, p. 93).
  • Keep the entire course in mind when developing a test, (e.g., draw on all lectures, discussions, readings, etc.)
  • Try using questions that ask the students to, "predict the outcome of a situation rather than those that simply ask the student to label the phenomenon" (McKeachie, 1999, p. 93).
  • Discuss tests with your students, they will be the best judge as to whether or not a question appropriately challenged them. Keep a file of all your best test questions for consideration in future tests.
The following resources and strategies offer suggestions for constructing quizzes efficiently, equitably, and in ways that enhance learning.

Using Tests to:

If you want to… Then use:
Encourage students to be prepared for class discussion An online quiz due the night before class so the instructor can review answers prior to class time
Encourage students to keep up with readings and class materials A weekly quiz that covers both readings and materials delivered in class
Prepare students for a mid-term or final exam Use an online self-test, un-graded quiz that includes questions similar to those appearing on the exam
Encourage students to attend in-class sessions Provide a graded weekly short quiz taken in the classroom, perhaps dropping the lowest quiz grade when calculating their final grade
Engage students with the material prior to a test or quiz Student-suggested questions encourages more thorough review of course content
If you want to… Then use:
Test students’ ability to apply concepts or skills A case-based test question (a short scenario followed by a mixture of multiple-choice, matching, and essay-type questions)
Test students’ knowledge of key terms or factual data A weekly quiz that includes a mixture of matching, short answer, and multiple-choice questions
Identify which concepts students have difficulty understanding Test/quiz questions missed by a number of students; a non-graded classroom assessments
Identify what your students already know when they first get to class An un-graded test or survey to identify student knowledge and/or misunderstandings of the course material
Minimize the time you spend on grading tests/quizzes Blackboard re-useable question pools to build tests/quizzes
Discourage student cheating on tests Replace the high-stake mid-term or final exam with multiple lower-stakes quizzes
Minimize cheating in an online quiz Randomizing questions option when you build the quiz
Minimize cheating for a face-to-face class Create multiple versions of the test/quiz

Strategies and Resources

General

Multiple choice exams

Essay exams

Giving tests and quizzes online

Discouraging cheating on exams, ideas for deterring and detecting plagiarism from the Teaching Commons.

Additional Readings

Available at the DePaul Library: 371.261 H157D1994 ↓

Haladyna, T. (1994). Developing and validating multiple-choice test items. Hillsdale, N.J. : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Available at Office for Teaching, Learning and Assessment ↓

McKeachie, W. (1999). McKeachie's Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers (10th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

---.(1997). Writing test items to evaluate higher order thinking. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn& Bacon.




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