Assessments represent an important component of undergraduate courses because they affect how students interact with course content and gauge student achievement of course objectives. To make decisions on assessment design, instructors must understand the affordances and limitations of available question formats. Here, we use a crossover…

A study compared response strategies and error patterns of 272 college freshmen on chemistry test items in multiple choice and constructed response formats. Analysis of test data indicated no significant difference in solution strategies used or types of errors committed across test formats. However, interviews with 21 participants revealed…

A study investigated the variability of language performance on different types of testing task, global versus discrete-focus. Three tests (cloze, multiple-choice, and fill-in-the-blank) were developed to measure learners' knowledge of five verb forms. The tests, containing corresponding items designed to elicit equivalent structures, were…

A study investigated the problem of systematic oversights by students taking language passage correction (PC) tests. In these tests, students are asked to correct errors inserted in written prose passages. When errors are not overtly marked, students often overlook them. This study examined patterns of oversight in two PC tests used to evaluate…