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| Assessment Formats | 1. Quiz
A quiz is a fast evaluation that is used to hold students responsible for assignments and be sure whether they have learned what they need to know. The majority of quizzes are objective in nature, with multiple choice questions. You can give subjective written quizzes, but they should be geared toward short answers. If you give a subjective quiz, you may think about grading for content only (not counting spelling or grammar) since your most important ideas are a quick check.
2. Test
A test is an evaluation of students' knowledge in a given area. The significant thing to keep in mind here is not to test just because of the feeling you have to do this. Test students when it is suitable and when students are prepared for it. You should also test them on what you have taught them. When it comes to a concluding evaluation of any sort, you should test students on what you actually are expecting them to have learned. Tests typically include both objective and subjective questions in the following formats:
- Multiple choice
- Matching
- True/false
- Fill-in-the-blank
- Essay or short-response questions, some of which may be based on primary-source documents
You should select the format that is the best to use, given the knowledge to be tested. For instance, if you have a part about a lot of people and their achievements, it may be used for a matching format. A section that has a lot of realistic material would be the best for a multiple-choice or true/false format. Fill-in-the-blank questions are good if you have a lot of vocabulary terms.
One more proposition is to differ your tests by sections of the topics of the component being tested: section one gets multiple choice section two gets matching, and so on. Double testing may be also used. Asking about a subject once in a multiple-choice question and then again in a matching or true/false question. This may be suitable on occasion, for the reason that sometimes a dissimilar approach can help students realize something. On the other hand, it is better to avoid it as you usually have limited space and time for a test.
3. Essay
Writing good essay questions is a topic in itself. You should ask a question suitable to the testing situation. There is the dissimilarity between essays that are written at home and classroom tests that are essay-only or part-essay and part-objective. If the essay is not a take-home test, time is the most important factor. This is chiefly true if you are working in shorter periods. You need to find a question that is "big" enough to write an essay about, but not so big that it cannot be answered in the time that you have allotted for it.
If you have a 45-minute period for a test that is multiple choice and essay, a student may have 20 minutes to write that essay. You need to ask something that can be addressed well in that time, and it is almost certainly not sensible to ask for more than two or three paragraphs. If you need and can afford more time, you may think about giving the objective part one day and the subjective one the next day.
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