The purposes of tests, exams and quizzes are to assess the knowledge of the students and to give them feedback on their understanding of the material in the course. Barbara Gross Davis in Tools for Teaching (pp. 239-280) suggests general strategies for constructing and administering tests as follows:
“1. Spend adequate amounts of time developing your tests. …
2. Match your rests to the content you are teaching….
3. Try to make your tests valid, reliable, and balanced….
(A test is valid if the content represents an adequate sampling of the knowledge and skills taught in the course. A test is reliable if it accurately and consistently evaluates a student’s performance.)
4. Use a variety of testing methods…
5. Write questions that test skills over recall. …Measure knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation (Bloom’s taxonomy)
6. Take precautions to avoid cheating….
7. Prepare new exams each time you teach a course…
8. Make up test items throughout the term..
9. Ask students to submit test questions…
10. Cull items from colleagues’ exams
11. Consider making your tests cumulative…
12. Prepare clear instructions…
13. Include a few words of advice and encouragement on the exam…
14. Put some easy items first…
15. Challenge your best students…
16. Try out the timing…
17. Give some thought to the layout of the test…
Allaying Students’ Anxieties About the Tests
18. Make the first exam relatively easy…
19. Avoid “pop” quizzes…
20. Give students advice on how to study…
21. Encourage students to study in groups…
22. Schedule extra office hours before a test…
23. Schedule review sessions before major exams…
24. Ask students how you can help them feel less anxious…
25. Give a diagnostic test early in the term…
26. Attach a pool of final exam questions to the course syllabus and distribute both on the first day of class…
27. Put old exams on file in the department office or library.
28. Distribute practice exams…
29. Before an exam, explain the format to students…
30. Give students advice on how to prepare for the exam…
31. Duplicate extra copies of the exam…
32. Administer the test yourself…
33. Read the instructions aloud at the beginning of class…
34. Plan for “what ifs’…
35. Don’t hover over the class.
36. If there is no clock in the room, keep students apprised of the time.
37. (After the test), devote part of the session to reviewing the answers with students…
38. Make one copy of the answer sheet available at the end of the test …
Letting Students Show What They Know…
39. Give students the opportunity (space) to comment on the test…
40. Include a blank question on the exam for students to show what they were prepared to answer…
41. Include one or more extra-credit questions on the exam…
42. Let students “buy” information from you during an exam…the price is losing points from their total score… after the first 30 minutes.
43. Encourage students to evaluate the exam.
44. Give students a second chance to learn by letting them take home a second copy after the exam and take it as take-home open-book exam
Returning Examinations…
45. Return test papers promptly. ..
46. Use some class time to discuss the overall results..
47. Schedule extra office hours after returning a test…
Arranging Makeup Tests
48. Avoid the need to arrange for makeup tests by giving frequent exams...
49. Give students options on the number of tests they take…
50. Give an additional exam for the entire class at the end of the semester..
51. Hand out essay questions in advance…
52. Give an oral exam as a substitute…
Multiple-Choice and Matching Tests
53. Make sure that at least some test items require a higher-level learning..
54. Give students advice on how to take a multiple-choice or matching test…
55. In multiple-choice test items: In the directions, instruct students to select the “best answer” rather than the “correct answer.” Let students know whether they can guess…
56. In multiple choice test items: Express the full problem in the stem…Put all relevant material in the stem…Keep the stem short…Limit the number of response alternatives…Make the distractors appealing and plausible…Make all choices equal in length and parallel in structure…Avoid trick questions or negative wording…Refrain from using words such as always, never, all or none..Place the choices in some meaningful order…Make the choices grammatically consistent with the stem…Avoid giving “all of the above” or “none of the above”..Vary the position of the best answer…Keep the test length manageable…Take advantage of machine scoring capabilities..
57. For matching test items…Give clear instructions…Keep the two sets of items homogeneous…Try to order the responses…Create more responses than premises…Be conscious of layout and format.
58. For after the test item analysis: Score the exams and evaluate the test items…Look at the difficulty of each item…Look at how well each item discriminates between high and low scorers…Use the results to improve your test…
Short-Answer and Essay Tests
59. Do not use essay questions to evaluate understanding that could be
tested with multiple-choice questions…Give students advice on how
to approach an essay or short-answer test. ..Don’t give students a
choice of questions to answer…Ask students to write more than one
essay…
60. For writing effective test questions: State the questions clearly and precisely…Consider the layout of the question…Write out the correct answer yourself…Decide on guidelines for full and partial credit…
61. For grading and evaluating students’ exams: Read the exams without looking at the students’ names…Skim all the exams quickly, without assigning any grades…Choose examples of exams to serve as anchors or standards…Grade each exam question by question rather than grading all questions for a single student…Avoid judging exams on extraneous factors…Write comments on students’ exams…Read only a modest number of exams at a time…If you can, read some of the papers twice…Place the grade on the last page of the exam…
62. For returning essay exams: Return exams promptly…Review the exam in class…Use groups to discuss test questions…Get feedback from the class about the test…Keep a file of essay questions…

Davis, Barbara Gross (1993) Tools for Teaching. San Francisco,
Jossey-Bass – available in the Johnson Institute library