Why Assessment Structure Matters
Designing valid and effective classroom assessments is crucial for accurately measuring student learning. While multiple-choice questions are popular, other formats like matching type and supply type tests offer unique advantages, particularly for assessing foundational knowledge and, when carefully constructed, higher-order thinking skills. This guide explores the essential rules for creating high-quality matching and supply test items.
1. Mastering the Matching Type Test
The matching type test is essentially a modified multiple-choice format. It consists of two columns: the premises (or stems) in one column (usually Column A) and the responses (or options/choices) in the other (usually Column B). The student’s task is to pair the items that belong together.
Key Rules for Construction:
- Ensure More Responses than Premises (The Rule of Imbalance):
- Rule: Column B (Responses) must always contain more items than Column A (Premises).
- Why: This prevents students from guessing the last remaining answer by the process of elimination, thereby increasing the reliability of the test.
- Example: If Column A has 5 items, Column B should have 6, 7, or more items.
- Maintain Homogeneity:
- Rule: All premises and all responses within a single matching section must be grammatically and conceptually similar. For instance, if the premises are historical figures, the responses should all be accomplishments or descriptors related to historical figures—do not mix figures with chemical formulas.
- Why: If the categories are mixed (heterogeneous), the student can eliminate options too easily based on context, reducing the test’s validity.
- Order and Clarity:
- Rule: The responses in Column B should be arranged logically (e.g., alphabetically, chronologically, or numerically) to help students search efficiently.
- Rule: The entire matching set should fit on a single page to avoid confusion.
The Limitation: Assessing Lower-Order Skills
A common criticism of standard matching tests is that they primarily measure lower-order thinking skills (LOTS), such as knowledge or recall.
- Example: Matching a figure’s name (Rizal) to his descriptive title (National Hero) is simple recall.
Elevating Matching Items: The Data Sufficiency and Comparison Test
A variant that can test higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) involves requiring students to analyze relationships, not just facts. This tests skills like application and judgment.
- Example: Comparison of mathematical or scientific quantities.
- Instructions: Write G if Item A is greater than Item B; L if Item A is less than Item B; E if Item A equals Item B; and D if the relationship cannot be determined.
This format moves the task beyond simple recall, forcing the student to perform a calculation or make a critical judgment before selecting an answer.
2. Best Practices for Supply Type (Completion) Tests
The supply type test, also known as completion or fill-in-the-blank, requires the student to actively recall the answer and supply it into a provided blank space or stem.
Key Rules for Construction:
- Ensure a Single Correct Answer:
- Rule: The stem must be phrased so that only one specific, correct word or phrase can logically complete the sentence.
- Example (Poor): The famous scientist was born in _________. (Too many possible correct answers)
- Example (Better): The scientist who formulated the theory of relativity was born in the year _________. (Specific date required)
- Avoid Excessively Long Blanks:
- Rule: Do not leave multiple blanks in a single sentence, as this can lead to ambiguity and make the question a test of grammatical construction rather than subject knowledge.
- Rule: Place the blank at the end of the statement or near the end, rather than at the beginning, to ensure the context of the question is fully established before the student attempts the answer.
The Limitation: Focus on Recall
Like standard matching, supply tests often default to measuring simple knowledge.
- Example: The study of life and living organisms is called _____________. (Answer: Biology)
Elevating Supply Items: Testing Comprehension and Vocabulary
It is possible to structure supply tests to assess deeper understanding, such as comprehension and vocabulary application.
- Example: Instead of asking for a definition, ask for a synonym using length constraints:
- Instruction: Write an appropriate synonym for each word. The number of blanks indicates the number of letters.
- Metamorphose: _ _ _ _ _ _ (Answer: C H A N G E)
- Flourish: _ _ _ _ (Answer: G R O W)
This requires the student to first understand the definition of the word and then recall a precise synonym that fits the imposed structural constraint.
Both matching and supply tests are invaluable components of a balanced assessment strategy. While they efficiently cover foundational knowledge, teachers must go beyond simple recall when designing items. By using variants like data sufficiency for matching and constraining answers for supply tests, educators can effectively gauge student understanding at higher cognitive levels. Always remember: the quality of the assessment determines the accuracy of the learning measurement.
