Writing Test Items

Planning a Test and Construction of Table of Specifications (TOS)

The most important steps in planning for a test are:
1. Identifying test objectives/lesson outcomes (Bloom’s Taxonomy)
2. Deciding on the type of objective test to be prepared (Teacher’s
decision)
3. Preparing Table of Specifications (TOS)
4. Constructing the draft test items
5. Try-out and Validation
REVISED BLOOM’S TAXONOMY:
Pathway to
Improve Thinking
 What is Bloom’s Taxonomy?

• Bloom’s Taxonomy is a classification of

thinking organized by levels of complexity.
It gives teachers and students an
opportunity to learn and practice a range
of thinking and provides a simple structure
for many different kinds of questions.
What is REVISED BLOOM’S TAXONOMY?
The Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy provides the
measurement tool for thinking. The changes
in RBT occur in three broad categories.
• Terminologies
• Structure
• Emphasis
A.Visual Comparison of Two Taxonomies
(Terminology Changes)

Evaluation Creating
Synthesis Evaluating
Analysis Analyzing
Application Applying
Comprehension Understanding
Knowledge Remembering

1956 2001

(Based on Pohl, 2000, Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn, p.8)

What is a Table of Specifications? 

A Table of Specifications is a two-way chart which describes the

topics to be covered by a test and the number of items or points
which will be associated with each topic.
Significance and components of a Table of Specification

Kubiszyn & Borich, (2003) emphasized the following significance and

components of TOS:
1. A Table of Specifications consists of a two-way chart or grid relating
instructional objectives to the instructional content.
The column of the chart lists the objectives or "levels of skills"
(Gredlcr, 1999) to be addressed;
The rows list the key concepts or content the test is to measure.
According to Bloom, et al. (1971),
"We have found it useful to represent the relation of content and
behaviors in the form of a two dimensional table with the objectives
on one axis, the content on the other”.
2. A Table of Specifications identifies not only the content areas
covered in class, it identifies the performance objectives at each level
of the cognitive domain of Bloom's Taxonomy.

Teachers can be assured that they are measuring

students' learning across a wide range of content and
readings as well as cognitive processes requiring higher
order thinking.
3. A Table of Specifications is developed before the test is
written. In fact it should be constructed before the actual teaching
begins.
4. The purpose of a Table of Specifications is to identify the
achievement domains being measured and to ensure that a fair and
representative sample of questions appear on the test.
Carey (1988) pointed out that the time available for testing depended
not only on the length of the class period but also on students'
attention spans.
How to Construct Table of Specification

1.Determine the desired number of

test items.
 TABLE OF SPECIFICATIONS
_________________ _________________ _________________ _________________
Subject Grade Grading period School Year
DOMAINS
Total Number
Time Of Test items
Topic Spent/
Frequency Remembering Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating
Actual Adjusted

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

TOTAL
50
How to Construct Table of Specification

2. List the topics with the

corresponding allocation of time

• The reference is the budgeted lesson.

 TABLE OF SPECIFICATIONS
_________________ _________________ _________________ _________________
Subject Grade Grading period School Year
DOMAINS
Total Number
Time Of Test items
Topic Spent/
Frequency Remembering Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating
Actual Adjusted

1. 3
2. 4
3. 1
4. 6
5. 8
6. 5
7. 8
8. 2
9. 4
10. 4
45
TOTAL
50
 How to Construct Table of Specification
3. Determine the total number of items per topic by using the formula:
Time Spent / Frequency per topic divided by the total number of
frequency in the grading period times total number of items.

Time Spent / Frequency per Topic Total Number of items

Total Frequency in the grading period

Example:

3 50 = 3.33
45
 TABLE OF SPECIFICATIONS
_________________ _________________ _________________ _________________
Subject Grade Grading period School Year
DOMAINS
Total Number
Time Of Test items
Topic Spent/
Frequency Remembering Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating
Actual Adjusted

1. 3 3.33
2. 4 4.44
3. 1 1.11
4. 6 6.66
5. 8 8.88
6. 5 5.55
7. 8 8.88
8. 2 2.22
9. 4 4.44
10. 4 4.44
45 49.95
TOTAL
50
How to Construct Table of Specification

4. Round off the value to become

whole numbers.
 TABLE OF SPECIFICATIONS
_________________ _________________ _________________ _________________
Subject Grade Grading period School Year
DOMAINS
Total Number
Time Of Test items
Topic Spent/
Frequency Remembering Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating
Actual Adjusted

1. 3 3.33 3
2. 4 4.44 4
3. 1 1.11 1
4. 6 6.66 7
5. 8 8.88 9
6. 5 5.55 6
7. 8 8.88 9
8. 2 2.22 2
9. 4 4.44 4
10. 4 4.44 4
45 49.95 49
TOTAL
50
How to Construct Table of Specification

5. Adjust or Balance by either

adding or subtracting (any of the
topic totals) so that the sum will
amount to the desired number of
test items.
 TABLE OF SPECIFICATIONS
_________________ _________________ _________________ _________________
Subject Grade Grading period School Year
DOMAINS
Total Number
Time Of Test items
Topic Spent/
Frequency Remembering Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating
Actual Adjusted

1. 3 3.33 3
2. 4 4.44 4
3. 1 1.11 1+1
4. 6 6.66 7
5. 8 8.88 9
6. 5 5.55 6
7. 8 8.88 9
8. 2 2.22 2
9. 4 4.44 4
10. 4 4.44 4
45 49.95 49
TOTAL
50
How to Construct Table of Specification

6. Scatter the items per topic per domain

• Determine the number of items per

complexity / level of cognitive domain.
In this case, we have already a
pre-computed value of 30-20-20-30
(10-10-10)
 TABLE OF SPECIFICATIONS
_________________ _________________ _________________ _________________
Subject Grade Grading period School Year
DOMAINS
Total Number
Time Of Test items
Topic Spent/
Frequency Remembering Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating
Actual Adjusted

1. 3 3.33 3
2. 4 4.44 4
3. 1 1.11 1+1
4. 6 6.66 7
5. 8 8.88 9
6. 5 5.55 6
7. 8 8.88 9
8. 2 2.22 2
9. 4 4.44 4
10. 4 4.44 4
45 15 10 10 5 5 5 49.95 49
TOTAL
30% 20% 20% 30% ( Higher-order Thinking) 50
 How to Construct Table of Specification
7. On the basis of your experience / analysis start allocating the
items with respect to the total number of items per domain and the
total number of items per topic beginning with the higher-order
thinking domains down to remembering. It is suggested that the
order of complexity from creating to remembering is not altered.

• Review the topics, reflect on previous experiences, and imagine

the teaching learning processes (TLP) that can go with the
topics. You may use teaching guides and other similar materials.

• Be mindful of the total points per topic.

 TABLE OF SPECIFICATIONS
_________________ _________________ _________________ _________________
Subject Grade Grading period School Year
DOMAINS
Total Number
Time Of Test items
Topic Spent/
Frequency Remembering Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating
Actual Adjusted

1. 3 3.33 3
2. 4 4.44 4
3. 1 1.11 1+1
4. 6 1 6.66 7
5. 8 2 8.88 9
6. 5 5.55 6
7. 8 2 8.88 9
8. 2 2.22 2
9. 4 4.44 4
10. 4 4.44 4
45 15 10 10 5 5 5 49.95 49
TOTAL
50
 TABLE OF SPECIFICATIONS
_________________ _________________ _________________ _________________
Subject Grade Grading period School Year
DOMAINS
Total Number
Time Of Test items
Topic Spent/
Frequency Remembering Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating
Actual Adjusted

1. 3 1 3.33 3
2. 4 1 1 4.44 4
3. 1 1.11 1+1
4. 6 1 1 6.66 7
5. 8 2 2 8.88 9
6. 5 2 5.55 6
7. 8 2 8.88 9
8. 2 2.22 2
9. 4 1 4.44 4
10. 4 1 4.44 4
45 15 10 10 5 5 5 49.95 49
TOTAL
50
 TABLE OF SPECIFICATIONS
_________________ _________________ _________________ _________________
Subject Grade Grading period School Year
DOMAINS
Total Number
Time Of Test items
Topic Spent/
Frequency Remembering Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating
Actual Adjusted

1. 3 1 1 3.33 3
2. 4 1 1 1 4.44 4
3. 1 1.11 1+1
4. 6 2 1 1 6.66 7
5. 8 2 2 8.88 9
6. 5 2 5.55 6
7. 8 2 2 8.88 9
8. 2 1 2.22 2
9. 4 2 1 4.44 4
10. 4 1 1 4.44 4
45 15 10 10 5 5 5 49.95 49
TOTAL
50
 TABLE OF SPECIFICATIONS
_________________ _________________ _________________ _________________
Subject Grade Grading period School Year
DOMAINS
Total Number
Time Of Test items
Topic Spent/
Frequency Remembering Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating
Actual Adjusted

1. 3 1 1 3.33 3
2. 4 1 1 1 4.44 4
3. 1 1 1.11 1+1
4. 6 2 2 1 1 6.66 7
5. 8 2 2 2 8.88 9
6. 5 2 2 5.55 6
7. 8 2 2 2 8.88 9
8. 2 1 2.22 2
9. 4 2 1 4.44 4
10. 4 1 1 1 4.44 4
45 15 10 10 5 5 5 49.95 49
TOTAL
50
 TABLE OF SPECIFICATIONS
_________________ _________________ _________________ _________________
Subject Grade Grading period School Year
DOMAINS
Total Number
Time Of Test items
Topic Spent/
Frequency Remembering Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating
Actual Adjusted

1. 3 1 1 1 3.33 3
2. 4 1 1 1 1 4.44 4
3. 1 2 1.11 1+1
4. 6 2 1 2 1 1 6.66 7
5. 8 3 2 2 2 8.88 9
6. 5 2 2 2 5.55 6
7. 8 3 2 2 2 8.88 9
8. 2 1 1 2.22 2
9. 4 1 2 1 4.44 4
10. 4 1 1 1 1 4.44 4
49.95 49
TOTAL 45 15 10 10 5 5 5
50
 Item Placement

A. Items 1-15 (Type of Question is to measure remembering

which cut across all topics within the grading period.)

B. Items 16-25 (Type of Question is to measure

understanding…)

C. Items 26-35 (Type of Question is to measure applying…)

D. Items 36-40 (Type of Question is to measure analyzing..)

E. Items 41-45 (Type of Question is to measure evaluating…)

F. Items 46-50 (Type of Question is to measure creating…)

 Benefits
Benefitsof
ofthe
theTable
Tableof
ofSpecification
Specification
1. Test Items are proportionally distributed to all topics in the grading
period (Number of time spent in the topic is proportional to the
number of items from the topic which means that the more time that
the teacher spend in the topic, the more test questions should be
constructed from that topic)
a. This ensures that the techer has to cover all topics listed/
budgeted in the grading period.
b. There is therefore sense or urgency.

c. Remediation becomes spontaneous.

d. Assures high “Time on task” rate.

 Benefits of the Table of Specification

2. Items are significantly scattered along Bloom’s Taxonomy

(Complexity) / cognitive domain with respect to a desired percentage
which may adhere to the Psychology of learning and evaluation.

a. Assures that all levels of complexity (R-C) are given emphasis.

b. Assures varied learning activities inside the classrooms.

c. Ensures that Higher-order Thinking skills are developed across all

levels
 Benefits of the Table of Specification

3. It is easier to construct a test question because the TOS serves as

a blueprint.

• In fact the teacher, (provided she has mastery of her lesson and
with the aid of the TOS), she can construct test questions without
using any textbooks and there is assurance that test questions are
constructed in her own words and therefore the test questions
appeal or relate better to the pupils/ students.