What makes a question paper tick?

Usha Ravi

Another academic year is coming to a close and examinations are round the corner. Teachers are busy preparing question papers for the final exam and this article covers certain important features of how a question paper should be set. A standard question paper can be prepared if the teachers put their heart and soul into it. Setting a question paper for examinations is crucial. A student-centric question paper increases the comfort level of the students and reduces stress. It is as important as preparing for a class and completing the curriculum.

Most teachers, while setting a paper, pick and choose some questions, from the lessons taught or from the syllabus prescribed for the course.

Examinations are conducted to discover whether a child has been able to acquire a certain amount of knowledge and skill. They are used to test the power of clear thinking, quickness of mind, calmness and perseverance. It can also stimulate the students to work hard to achieve their goals.

Despite the fact that CBSE and other boards of India have come out with many examination reforms like CCE, OTBA (Open text-based assessment), etc., most students think that examinations are a necessary evil.

Structure of a question paper
A standard question paper will have a variety of questions such as objective type, very short answer, short answer, and essay/long answer type.

Objective type questions
Multiple choice, matching the options of two columns, correct the following statements, and fill in the blanks fall into this category.

There are two types of multiple choice questions:

• The best answer form – one, or more, or all choices may be correct but one of them is the best answer.
• The correct answer form – it contains three or more choices but only one of them is correct.

Multiple choice questions can test lower order and higher order thinking. They are quick to complete and to mark. In devising multiple choice questions, there are several points to be borne in mind. They are:

• Make the question and requirements unambiguous and in a language appropriate to the students.
• Avoid negatives in statements.
• Avoid clues in the wrong choices.
• Ensure that one option does not contain more information than the other, as this suggests to students that it is the correct option.

For example in following question:
Atoms of elements can:
a) Exist independently
b) Cannot exist independently
c) May or may not exist independently
d) Sometimes exist independently

The above question is unstructured and a student finds it difficult to arrive at the correct option as ‘may or may not exist independently’ and ‘sometimes exist independently’ carry the same meaning.

Multiple choice questions consist of two parts, the stem which contains the problem and options or responses, i.e., the list of answers. The incorrect responses are distracters and the correct answer is the ‘key’. These types of questions can be made more challenging by making all choices almost the same. It can be used for assessing the accuracy of a calculation.
For example,
36 km/h can be represented as
a) 10m/s b) 100m/s
c) 1000m/s d) 10000m/s (meters/second)

True/false items
True/false items are useful in that they are quick to devise and easy to score. They offer students a fifty-fifty chance of being correct simply by guessing. The following points can be kept in mind while setting a true/false question:
• Avoid generalized statements (as they are usually false).
• Avoid negatives and double negatives in statements.
Example – A porcupine has armour – like plates for protection.
• Ensure that statements can be either only true or only false. For example,
Earth is at rest/Earth is in motion is ambiguous.
• Write statements in simple language.

Matching items
This is used for measuring associations between statements and facts. Every matching test should consist of homogeneous items. For example,
1) Healthy muscles Feed on wood ( )
2) Termites Lay eggs in water ( )
3) Mosquito Feed on snakes ( )
4) Eagles Water bird ( )
5) Duck Playing outdoors ( )

In the above list ‘healthy muscles’ does not fit into the category as others are insects/birds. Avoid an equal number of responses and premises. Have one or more responses than premises. This will minimize guessing. We have to ensure that all items of the test should be on the same page.

Fill in the blanks
In this type of testing, guessing is minimized because a specific response is required. As it is a recall of facts, it may be time-consuming for a child. The test will need to address the intended and unintended clues that may be provided in it.
• The number of blanks might indicate the number of words required.
• The number of dots might indicate the number of letters required.
• The length of the blanks might indicate the length of the response required.

Some guidelines for constructing fill-ups are:
• Make the blanks close to the end of the sentence.
• Only make blanks for key words or concepts rather than trivial words.
• Ensure that students know exactly the kind and specificity of the answer required.

Assessment of the difficulty index
The difficulty index of a test can be calculated using the formula (according to Louis Cohen, Keith Morrison) = A/N x 100

where A = Number of students who answered the particular question incorrectly and N = the total number of students who attempted the question. For example, if 12 out of 20 students attempted the question incorrectly then the formula would work out to be 12/20×100 = 60%. The maximum difficulty index is 100%. If the difficulty index is more than 67% or less than 33%, then the particular question is too difficult or too easy respectively.

Essay type questions
Blooms’ Taxonomy advocates that tests should be objective centric rather than content-centric. The hierarchy of Taxonomy can be depicted in the
following manner:
Knowledge ? Comprehension ? Application ? Analysis ? Synthesis ? Evaluation

Knowledge is defined as a recall of facts. It is the psychological process of remembering. Knowledge specifics include generalization of principles, definitions, and theories. Knowledge-based questions contain what, who, when, which, and where.

List, outline, describe, contrast, compare, explain, discuss, develop, summarize also come under this objective.

Comprehension is the ability to grasp the meaning of the material. It represents the lowest level of understanding. Classify, verify, generalize, asking for example, discriminate, and differentiate also come under this objective.

Application is the ability to use the learned material in new and concrete situations. Establish, infer, result analysis, predict the result from the given data, and compare, come under this objective.

Synthesis – Learning outcomes in this area stress creative behaviour with major emphasis on the formulation of new patterns and structures.

Important points to be remembered while setting a paper:

• The teacher must make a mental note of the points to be tested while teaching. This helps the teacher to get a best question paper.
• He/she must prepare a specification grid clearly indicating the skills, abilities, knowledge, and recall to be tested.
• He/she must devote plenty of time in consulting the syllabi.

Characteristics of a good question paper

• Must follow a blueprint which includes type of questions, objectives, and learning outcomes.
• Questions should be thought-provoking and evenly distributed over the entire course. Difficult as well as easy questions should find a place in the question paper.
• There should be a correlation between the content and time allotted for completion.
• Standard of marking should be fixed in order to minimize variability in marking.
• Rectify teaching and learning errors.
• Check for mastery of concepts.
• Encourage critical thinking.
• Stimulate interaction between student and teacher as well as among students.
• The questions need to be properly directed.
• The language should be clear, precise, and unambiguous.
• When choice is allowed, the difficulty level of alternative questions must be saved.
• Choice questions must be of equal difficulty.

Marking work
Make clear to students the purpose of the marking and the criteria linked to the purpose of the task to be marked:
Make clear the success criteria for the work
(knowledge, understanding, application, presentation).

Provide rich, constructive, positive, criterion-referenced and high quality feedback indicating the areas that require improvisation.

Feedback through grading
The researchers (Black and William, authors of ‘Inside the Black Box’) have found that students were often confused by the use of grades and found it difficult to recognize the difference between effort and attainment of grades. A simple praise (a tick mark, good, or excellent) was unhelpful and they suggest that the teacher should give narrative comments, (eg., concentrate on technical words in definition, good numerical aptitude, mastered a particular chapter well or concentrate on equations/derivations) because the narrative feedback encourages the students to engage in quality work while grades or marks encourage them to look for ways to get the best grades rather than what they need to do to improve their learning.

Some sample questions are given below. They are unstructured and can be framed differently.

Question	Ambiguity
1. An object has moved through a distance. Can it have zero displacement? If yes, support your answer with an example.	‘If yes’ in the third part of the question shows the obvious answer which is ‘yes’ and it can be avoided
2. Give reasons for thee following: a) Both boiling and evaporation convert a liquid into vapours. State the difference.	The beginning of the question is ‘give reasons’ and it cannot be accompanied by another question at the end. This confuses the students
Write two differences between axon and dendrite	Question can be reframed as ‘write any two differences’ if there are more than two differences’, write ‘the differences’ if there are only two differences’

Oral examination
Qualities like candidates’ alertness, intelligence, special interests, and mastery of acquired knowledge can be better tested by viva voce tests. It also evaluates a student’s cognitive and psychomotor abilities. It helps a teacher to identify a student’s limitations and weaknesses and to take remedial action. The examiner can also probe into the answers given by the students during a viva voce by asking some more questions.

Considering all the above facts, paper setting is a huge task for a teacher and he/she has to take adequate caution before setting a question paper, whether it is for a small or for a large group.

References
1. Evaluation, tests and measurement by JC Agarwal.
2. A guide to teaching Practice by Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison.

The author has worked in different schools and has been examination-in-charge for the past two decades. She can be reached at usha.raviiyer@gmail.com.