Do's and Don'ts for Writing Good Assessment Questions
Do |
Don't |
| Ask only one question in each item. | Try to assess more than one idea, fact, or concept in a question. |
| Have only one correct answer for each item. | Use grammatical cues. |
| Make sure the question asks about important rather than trivial content. | Create patterns with the responses. |
| Make the wording in the question and responses clear and concise. | Use negative terms in questions. |
| Keep the response categories consistent in both type and length. | Give partial information in a question. |
| Make sure all the response choices are plausible for the question asked. | Never use "None of the Above" as a distractor. |
| Place answers in a logical order. | |
| Cite an authority or theory if a question is controversial or debatable. | |
| Give clear directions for how to respond to the item. | |
| State how the item will be scored and what will be included (grammar, spelling, etc.) | |
| Decide how you will score the responses before you have started looking at the responses. | |
| Make sure all assessment questions pertain to the learning objectives in the lesson. |
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