Types of Test

by Jasper S. Gaboc

1. Types of Test

2. Numerous types of test are used in school. There are different ways of categorizing test namely: ease of quantification in response, mode of preparation, mode of administration, test constructor, mode of interpreting results and nature of response.

3. As to mode of response , test can either be oral, written or performance. Oral test- It is a test wherein the test taker gives his answer orally. Written test- it is a test where answers to questions are written by the test taker. Performance test- it is one which the test taker creates an answer or a product that demonstrates his knowledge or skill, as in cooking and baking.

4. Cooking( performance test)

5. As to ease of quantification of response , test can either be objective or subjective. Objective test- it is a test paper and pencil test wherein students’ answers can be compared and quantified to yield a numerical score. This is because it requires convergent and specific response.

6. Subjective test- It is a paper-and-pencil test which is not easily quantified as students are given the freedom to write their answer to a question, such as an essay test. Thus, the answer to this type of test is divergent.

7. As to mode of administration , tests can either be individual or group Individual test- It is a test administered to one student at a time. Group test- It is one administered to a group of students.

8. As to test constructor , tests ca be classified into standardized and unstandardized Standardized Test- It is a test prepared by an expert or specialist. This type of test samples behavior under uniform procedures.

9. Questions are administered to students with the same directions and time limits. Results in this kind of test are scored following a detailed procedure based on its manual and interpreted specified norms and standards.

10. Unstandardized test- it is one prepared by teachers for use in the classroom, with no established norms for scoring and interpretation of results. It is constructed by a classroom teacher to meet a particular need.

11. As to mode of interpreting results , tests can either be norm-referenced or criterion-referenced. Norm-referenced test- it is a test that evaluates a student’s performance by comparing it to performance of a group of students on tha same test.

12. Criterion-referenced test- it is test that measures a student’s performance against an agreed upon or pre-established level of performance.