The results of a practical clinical examination in podiatric medicine administered to fourth-year students are presented. The examination could become the prototype of a Part III practical clinical examination under the auspices of the National Board of Podiatry Examiners. Its feasibility is established and problems and issues are discussed.…

Discusses problems which arise when a discipline such as music uses more than one learning domain. Points out the difficulty in developing music skills while trying to achieve cognitive goals such as those outlined in Bloom's taxonomy. Examines whether such a taxonomy can help in sequencing learning in the music classroom. Provides suggestions for…

Discusses the Document Based Question (DBQ) as a way of assessing critical thinking skills. Examines several weaknesses with this type of test item and offers suggestions for overcoming them. Advocates the method continue to be used. (JDH)

Considers the nature and types of questions that are asked on English as a second language grammar in various undergraduate examinations of an Indian university and shows that many questions are vague, ambiguous, ineffective, and occasionally couched in ungrammatical language, thus defeating the objective of the tests. (Author/CB)

Notes that essay responses allow students to display the broadest range of cognitive skills. Considers ways of improving essay exams and claims that evaluating essay questions necessitates maintaining the author's anonymity, predetermining the method of awarding points, and scoring papers in a random order. (MM)

Presents five problems on organic stereochemistry in the form of an open-book quiz meant for senior undergraduates and graduate students in chemistry. Provides some acceptable solutions to the problems. (TW)

Scores based on the number of correct answers were compared with scores based on dangerous responses to items in the same multiple choice test developed by American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery. Results showed construct validity for both sets of scores. However, both scores were redundant when evaluated by correlation coefficient. (Author/JAZ)

This experimental study was conducted to: (1) provide further information on the susceptibility to special preparation of three Graduate Record Examination analytical item types; (2) determine the efficacy of self-study test familiarization materials for these types; and (3) ascertain the effects of several different components of special…

During 1969 the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement began a series of cross-cultural studies to investigate the workings of multiple-choice achievement tests and student guessing behaviors. Empirical models to correct for guessing are discussed in terms of test item difficulty, number of response choices,…

Research on the potential effects of different item arrangement schemes on item statistics is reviewed for three separate periods. Earliest studies investigated the simple main effect of item order on test performance. The late 1960s emphasized interactions between item order and examinees' characteristics. Current concern focuses on item…

Discusses features of a microcomputer program, SCOREIT, used at New Orleans' Loyola University and several high schools to score and analyze test results. Benefits and dimensions of the program's automated test and item analysis are outlined, and several examples illustrating test and item analyses by SCOREIT are presented. (MBR)

Description of an objective method for assigning weights to questions on examinations includes discussions of classical test theory, knowledge organization, and how task analysis can be used to identify knowledge elements required to solve specific problems, rank them, and assign objective weights to exam questions using a Pareto distribution (7…

Discusses criticism leveled at intelligence tests, including cultural and ethnic bias, charges related to content validity, and the ongoing debate of the relative influence of heredity and environment. Many popular attacks are misguided. (RM)

Describes development of a test using slides and corresponding multiple-choice questions for second-year occupational therapy students in child studies course. Reasons for choosing the test format are discussed and an outline of test construction procedures is given. An evaluation of the test indicates problems encountered and benefits gained.…

PLANA is a training program for subject matter analysis and construction of instructional objectives. This investigation tries to find out whether education students in the PLANA program differ from other students on planning instruction processes. (BW)