cover a lot of turf -->survey a wide variety of material in
very little time -- SAMPLING -- students can write 60 m-c in an hour but
only 1 essay
means they are generally more reliable
students can't bluff their way around the question as you can
"write around" the question in an essay --> teachers hate giving
0 for an essay even when it doesn't say anything on topic
writing skills, spelling and neatness don't get in the child's way
-my friend the dyslexic loves multiple choice......
by same token, spelling neatness don't get in the marker's way either
-old Social Studies exams, 50% of the varience in student's mark could be
accounted for by spelling and mechanics even though these were not supposed
to matter -- so markers can be prejudicial
Can use statistical analysis on individual quesitons or groups
of questions to identify:
-strengths and weakness of test (before handing it back)
-specific strengths and weakness of individual students
- topics that need to be retaught; areas where course needs work
unbiased in sense that teachers' preconceptions of students'
work can not influence marking
answer key is unambiguous so tow observers come to smae conclusion,
unlike essay where same essay can range from 0 to 100%
"there's that right-winger arguing in favor of Hitler again"
fairly used as pre-tests -- since fast and you're probably not
looking for higher thinking so much as knowledge of the area
-- or diagnostic testing where you can reuse year after year because
individual not in class
fast to mark:
- so can do large groups, especially when teacher's time is limited
