Develop test items yourself!

A template for creating tests has been uploaded to the library. Tests prepared according to this standard are used both in the ecology course and in the vertebrate zoology course. The features of testing and the types of tasks are described here. The template is intended for extramural master's students and specialists who are completing teaching practice and will practice writing tests, as well as for those students who want to earn additional points toward the course credit by developing test items. The template is a Word-2003 table. Each row of the table corresponds to one test item. The first column contains the tasks themselves (questions); the second contains fragments of the answer sheet; the third contains a fragment of the answer key with the correct answers. Creating test items. In each column of the template table there is text to which the corresponding styles have been applied. Only the first column of the table uses four styles of different numbered lists: numbering of items, numbering of choice options, designation by lowercase or uppercase letters. Reassigning these styles is a troublesome task. The easiest way to create new rows is as follows. Select an appropriate row from those already in the table (corresponding to the same type of task that needs to be created), copy that row, and insert the copy into the table. The new row can then be edited to create the required task. This will preserve all necessary styles. If, for some reason, the numbering of the required lists becomes corrupted, it should be restored using the Word editor tool "Format Painter" (with the icon that looks something like a paintbrush). Note: within the cells of the first column there may be other tables inserted into them, allowing images and tasks to be placed rationally within the cells. The cells of these internal tables are made "invisible" (no borders are defined for them), which makes them invisible when printed. Make sure that, when editing tables, the word processor displays the borders of invisible tables; then you will be able to arrange your materials properly. Tables are also inserted in the second and third columns, containing cells for answers. When creating a test item, you should leave the required number of rows and cells in the second and third columns. If it is necessary to increase the number of rows, select one of them, copy and paste it, and then, if needed, add or remove letters. In the last column, write the answer you consider correct. Creating tests. A test is a set of items used to assess the achievements and abilities of the people being tested. To form a test, you need to assemble a certain set of items and arrange them in a particular order. For this purpose, leave in the table only the rows that correspond to the required items. By cutting and pasting rows, arrange them in the required order. Do not forget to save the file under a new name! Then you need to make three files from the resulting table. The first is the task sheet (as well as the subsequent sheets shown here). To make it, you need to: - delete the last two columns from the table; - change the page settings to portrait rather than landscape orientation; - expand the table to the full width of the page; - if necessary, adjust the tasks so that they fit well in the cells, enlarge the illustrations so that they are legible, etc.; - add a title above the table (to do this, place the cursor at the very beginning of the first cell and press Enter). The second file is the answer sheet. Since it is made from the same table as the task sheet, the row order in both cases is the same. You need to leave only the second column, and then do the following: - place the cursor in the first cell; press Enter - a blank space will appear above the row with cells; - move the cursor to the blank space inside the main table and choose the command "Convert to Text" (specify the paragraph mark as the separator and be sure to uncheck the option "nested tables" so as not to destroy the rows with answer cells!); - remove unnecessary paragraph marks, combining the rows with answer cells into one table; - add space for the sheet header, providing fields for the date, group, and student surname (or some other fields); - copy all the contents of the file and paste it two or three times (when printing answer sheets in portrait orientation, three sheets fit on one page; in landscape orientation, four fit); - arrange the text into the required number of columns, setting the start of each column (with spaces or column breaks); - right-click the first cell of the second and subsequent sheets and choose the option "Restart numbering". However, you do not necessarily have to remove the outer table from the answer sheet. In that case, the sheet will look somewhat different from the samples. The answer key is prepared in the same way. What remains is to print the task sheets in the quantity determined by the number of students taking the test simultaneously (that is, the size of the largest group), and the number of answer sheets determined by the total number of students. There is no need for many answer keys: one per variant of the tasks is sufficient. The checking procedure using the sheet is described in the manual. At present, in the vertebrate zoology and ecology course, a different checking method is used, with students' answers entered into a computer and the percentage of correct answers calculated automatically.