AN ASSIGNMENT

ON

Teaching of Mathematics-I

Submitted to:- Submitted by:-

Dr. R.D. Padmavathy Subha Dey
Assistant Professor Roll No-BED17009
Department of Education BEd 4th Semester
TYPE OF TEST ITEMS:

The test items can be classified into 3 categories:

1. Objective type
2. Short answer type
3. Essay Type

1. OBJECTIVE TYPE:

An objective type of test item is one which the response will be objective.
Objective type test item broadly classified into two:
Supply type (Recall Type): The respondent has to supply the responses.
Selection type (Recognition Type): The respondent has to select the responses from
among the given responses.

There are four types of Objective type test items. These are

a) True – False Items (Alternate Response Type]

b) Multiple Choice Items
c) Matching Type Items
d) Completion Type Test Items

Merits of Objective Type Items:

 A large amount of study material can be tested in a very short period time
 Economy of time.
 Objectivity of scoring.
 No bluffing
 It reduces the subjective element of the examiner to the minimum.
 If carefully planned, it can measure the higher mental process of understanding,
application, analysis, prediction and interpretation.
Demerits of Objective type items:

 Difficulty in preparing good items.

 Problem of guessing.
 Problem of cheating.
 Inefficiency in testing complicated skills
 High printing cost.
 Emphasis on testing superficial knowledge.

2. Short answer type

A question requiring three value points at most may be defined as a short answer
question.
Value points diminish the subjectivity.
Helps in ensuring wide coverage of content.

Merits of Short Answer Type Items

 Large portion of the content can be covered in a test.

 No opportunity for guessing.
 Easy to construct, because it measures a relatively simple outcome.
 It can be made quit objective by carefully fixing the value points.
 Useful in evaluating the ability to interpret diagrams, charts, graphs, etc.
 If carefully prepared, deep level objectives understanding, application and problem
solving skill can be evaluated.

Demerits of Short Answer Type Items

 It is more subjective than the objective type of items.

 It may encourage student to memorize fact and develop poor study habits.
 Mechanical scoring is not possible

3. Essay type

It is free response test item.

Helps in ensuring a wide coverage of content and variety of objectives.
 Helps in evaluating complex skills.

Merits of Essay Type Items:

 Useful to develop student writing skills, particularly the ability to formulate arguments
supported with reasoning and evidence
 Useful in measuring certain abilities and skills.
 Permit the examinee to write down comprehensively what he knows about something.
 Promote originality and creative thinking.
 Possibility of guess work can be eliminated.
 Reduce chance on the spot copying.
 Low printing cost.

Demerits of Essay Type Items:

 It requires extensive time to grade

 It encourages use of subjective criteria when assessing answers
 Minimum validity.
 Lack of reliability.
 No objectivity.
 Rote memory is encouraged.
 It is a time consuming test item.

CONSTRUCTION OF ACHIEVEMENT TEST:

Achievement test is an instrument designed to measure the accomplishment of the learners, in

a specified area of learning, after a period of instruction. Hence, this test developed for the
purpose of testing the achievement of the learners’ can be given at the end of unit, term,
semester, year, etc.

These tests are universally used by teachers mainly for the following purposes:

1) To measure whether the learners have achieved the objectives of the planned instruction;

2) To monitor learners' learning and to provide ongoing feedback to both learners and teachers
during the teaching-learning process;
3) To identify the learners' learning difficulties- whether persistent or recurring; and

4) To assign grades.

Teachers help learners to enable them to develop some abilities, skills and attitudes. After
teaching, learners’ performance need to be evaluated periodically. Teachers construct the tests
to assess the achievement of learners.

Preparing an Achievement Test:

Let us consider the necessary steps in preparing an achievement test:

Planning of the test

Preparation of a blue print
Preparation of test items
Preparation of scoring key and evaluation of the test

Step 1- Planning of the Test: The first step for planning of the achievement test is to develop
a design or framework. For this, you have to:

a. Analyze the course content into different content units and decide the weightage that is
to be given to each in the test;
b. Decide the weightage to be given to different objectives being tested;
c. Decide the weightage to be given to different forms of questions to be used in preparing
a question paper;
d. Decide the weightage to be given to time and marks for different forms of questions;
e. Decide the weightage to be given to the difficulty level in the test.

Weightage of the Content: The first part of the planning phase is to decide about the weightage
to be given to different units.

S. No. Name of Chapters Marks allotted Weightage

1
2
3
Total-

Weightage of Instructional Objectives: After deciding about the weightage to be given to

different units, you have to consider the learning objectives. The test is good only if it is able
to evaluate the achievement of learning objectives decided. Therefore, it is necessary to allocate
appropriate weightage to various objectives like knowledge, understanding, application, skill,
etc.

S. Name of Marks Remembering Understanding Application Analysis

Chapters allotted
No.
1
2
3
Total

Weightage given to different forms of questions: The next step is to decide about the
weightage to be given to different forms of questions. Generally, in an achievement test, a
teacher has to include different types of items (essay, short answer or objectives).

S. No. Type of questions Marks allotted No. Of questions Total Marks %

per question
1 Objective type
2 Very short answer type
3 Short answer type
4 Essay type
Total-

Estimation of Time: For teacher-made achievement tests, the experience of teachers should be
enough for the estimate of time. The teacher should try to analyse and estimate the time
appropriate for different types of questions.

S. No. Type of question Marks Expected time Expected words

allotted (in minutes)
1 Objective type
2 Very short answer type
3 Short answer type
4 Essay type
Weightage to difficulty level: The teacher should decide the difficulty level of the question
paper.
Sl No. Difficulty level Marks allotted %
1 Easy
2 Moderate
3 Difficult
Total-

Step 2: Preparation of a Blue Print: A blueprint is a three-dimensional chart showing

different types of items with marks for each topic/unit and each of the objectives. It shows the
respective weightage of marks for different objectives, and topics and various types of items
as prescribed by the school or in the syllabus or decided by the paper setter.

Step 3-Preparation of Test Items/Questions: Test items form the very basis of testing. A test
constructor should have good knowledge of the subject. The test items should be clear,
unambiguous and according to the objectives. Different types of items - essay, short-answer
and objective types - should be prepared in sufficient numbers. Items of varying difficulty
should also be prepared. Experienced teachers are able to estimate difficulty level by their
judgment.

Step 4- Preparation of Scoring Key and Evaluation of the Test: After preparation of test
items, a review is done on the basis of blueprint requirements to assess the quality of items. It
is time to be confirming the validity, reliability and usability of the test. It helps in the

Sl Name of the O V S L O V S L O V S L O V S L
No. Contents bj S A A b S A A bj S A A b S A A Total
A j A A j A

Remembering Understanding Application Analysis

1
2
3
Total-

identification of defective and ambiguous items, to determine the difficulty level of the test and
to determine the discriminating power of the items. Then only unambiguous and objective
based items are retained.
 To maintain the objectivity and validity of test, you have to provide proper instructions
for marking. Objective type tests have key answers. Their answers and corresponding marks
should be given. Short answer questions are also quite specific in nature and possible points or
ideas in answers should be mentioned with their corresponding marks. Essay type questions
are lengthy and need specificity for uniform marking. Important steps or points of answer
should be explicitly mentioned along with their corresponding marks. The above guidelines for
marking questions make our testing more reliable. These achievement tests are used normally
at the end of term/year as a part of summative assessment. Care should be taken that summative
assessment and unit tests have adequate contribution to overall assessment of the learners.

Uses of Achievement Tests:

The uses of achievement tests are as follows:
(i) Achievement tests are prepared to evaluate the extent to which the aims and objectives of
education have been achieved.

(ii) Achievement tests are used for evaluating and improving the curriculum meant for the
students of different grades.

(iii) Achievement test are designed to identify the students of different categories such as slow
learners, gifted and average students etc. as result of which the teachers or guidance workers
would be able to provide remedial instruction and enrichment programme for the students.

(iv) Achievement tests are helpful for the purpose of identifying and classifying the students in
the various groups on the basis of their achievement merits.

(v) Achievement tests are intended to give promotion to the students to the next higher classes
or new courses considering the obtained result as an yard stick for promotion of the structures.

(vi) Achievement tests are used to provide scholarships, awards or special award of merit to
the students those who perform better in the achievement tests.

(vii) Achievement tests are useful in helping students to choose suitable subjects or courses
according to their achievement levels.
(viii) Achievement tests are used to enable the parents to know strength and weaknesses in the
context of their academic achievements as a result of which the parents can be able to provide
special help and guidance to their children.

(ix) Achievement tests are used as a supplementary means to give hints about the aptitude of
the students to some extent as they say about present standard of the students in a subject or
subjects.

(x) Achievement tests are helpful for the teachers to enable them to know strength and
weaknesses of students in different subjects and skill as a result of which the teacher can be
able to prepare their students for different competitions so far competitions of different subjects
or courses are concerned.

Limitations of Achievements Tests:

Achievement tests have the following limitations:
(i) In most of cases it is found that the subject masters are not good achievement test
constructors as they do not possess required knowledge about rules and regulations of test
construction as a result of which the prepared tests do not serve purposes.

(ii) Achievement tests like teacher made tests do lack validity and reliability which do not serve
expected purposes of test.

(iii) Achievement tests like short periodical tests sometimes discourage the students and create
disappointment among students.

(iv) Sometimes achievement tests do not give accurate result as they are affected by several
factors like health condition of students, outside disturbances at the time of examination and
mental condition of the students etc.

(v) Achievement tests like essay tests do lack uniformity of scoring as they are subjective in
nature.

(vi) Achievement tests like standardized tests are time consuming as well as costly affair.
Diagnosis learning difficulties and find remedial measures:

When a teacher finds that during a course of instruction, in spite of adopting various modern
methods, devices the pupil is facing various learning difficulties, he/she wants to discover the
specific area of weakness of the pupil in a given course of instruction. After diagnostics, the
teacher has to apply remedial measures.

Importance of Diagnosis in Mathematics Teaching:

Diagnosis of weaknesses and difficulties of student and providing proper remedy for the
removal of their difficulties are the integral part of an effective teaching. In Mathematics
teaching, the process of diagnosis and instruction proceed simultaneously. Diagnosis helps in
detecting the weaknesses of students and makes efforts to know the reasons behind them. On
knowing the reasons their occurrence can be removed by proper remedial teaching. For the
construction of effective diagnostic tool in mathematics it is different fields. The remedial
programme can be effective if teacher is able in realizing the point which has been missed by
the student to comprehend. The effectiveness of remedial and corrective teaching depends upon
the correctness and extent of the skills essential for the success in mathematics as identified by
diagnosis.

The preventive function of diagnosis is also very important. If once it is detected that
the weaknesses learning are related in some way with any general or specific ability of student,
the teacher may use preventive measure for it in further. Therefore, diagnosis has an important
place in teaching of Mathematics.

Steps for construction of Diagnostic Test:

In the construction of diagnostic tests following steps are to be followed:

 Fixing of objectives and outline of topics.

 Content analysis- In logical order

(i) Order of topics

(ii) Order of learning steps

 Fixing of order of difficulty of the content

 Decision about types of items
 Modification in the items of the test
  Analysis of logical order of the content
 Preparation of final draft of the test

Diagnostic test in Mathematics:

For the construction of diagnostic test in mathematics, the basic essentials are:

a) Clarity of specific aims of mathematics

b) Analysis of fundamental skills essential for the achievement in mathematics
c) Preparation of subject matter to make efficient in these fundamental skills.

Few diagnostic test has been developed for the diagnosis of errors done by students in
arithmetical computations. These tests could be developed due to clarity of objectives of
arithmetic, it is essential to be efficient in the operation of its four fundamental skills addition,
subtraction, multiplication and division.

The four standard diagnostic tests of mathematics are:

a) The Compass Diagnostic Test

b) Diagnostic test for Fundamental process in Arithmetic
c) Diagnostic Test and Self-Help in Mathematics
d) Diagnostic and Attainment Test

Remedial teaching in Mathematics:

Remedial measures should be adopted to remove the weaknesses and difficulties experienced
by the student in a specific field of Mathematics. We can detect the weaknesses of the student
through diagnostic test. So the diagnostic test is only a means of finding out the weaknesses
and difficulties of students. If some emotional or physical factors are responsible for the
weaknesses, then efforts should be made to eliminate these factors. After eliminating these
factors, remedial teaching should be done. The mathematics teacher may also prepare
corrective material for this purpose. Thus, by remedial teaching the success can be achieved in
removing the weaknesses of the students.