Testing terminology: a general quiz

Multiple-choice exercise

Choose the best answer for each question.
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  1. Face validity is a measure of:
    1.   a subjective judgement of a test's fairness.
    2.   how well we can describe what we are testing.
    3.   how well a test is designed.
    4.   how well a test actually targets the desired skills.
  2. A multiple-choice test contains:
    1.   distractors and a common core question.
    2.   a choice of true or false.
    3.   a rubric and some distractors.
    4.   a stem and a number of distractors.
  3. Backwash is:
    1.   the affect of testing on learner performance.
    2.   the effect on the learning / teaching process of a test.
    3.   the affect of teaching on test design.
    4.   the affect of testing on teacher competence.
  4. Criterion referencing is:
    1.   measuring performance against a benchmarked student.
    2.   measuring performance based on overall communicative success.
    3.   measuring performance against a range of predetermined criteria.
    4.   choosing the most useful criteria when standardising test markers.
  5. What is the guess ratio for a multiple-choice test with 5 possible answers to each question?
    1.   25%
    2.   30%
    3.   20%
    4.   33%
  6. The Cambridge First Certificate examination is a:
    1.   performative test.
    2.   diagnostic test.
    3.   proficiency test.
    4.   achievement test.
  7. If 40 out of 100 students get an answer right, that item has a value of 0.4. This is a measure of:
    1.   standard deviation.
    2.   usefulness.
    3.   easiness.
    4.   facility value.
  8. Paraphrase test items require the learner to:
    1.   correct what they read or hear.
    2.   re-express what they hear or read in a different form.
    3.   re-express what they hear or read in their own words.
    4.   summarise what they read or hear.
  9. Validity is a measure of:
    1.   how well a test measures what it is intended to measure.
    2.   how the test will parallel results of other tests.
    3.   how well we can describe the abilities we are testing.
    4.   how fair a test is.
  10. Aptitude testing is:
    1.   assessing communicative success.
    2.   assessing how well learners will be able to acquire the targets.
    3.   assessing intelligence.
    4.   assessing general cognitive ability.
  11. What is the mean score of 18, 20, 22, 24 and 26?
    1.   23
    2.   22
    3.   25
    4.   21
  12. If a test is reliable, this means that:
    1.   the test will be objective.
    2.   the results will be comparable regardless of where and when the test is taken
    3.   the results will be a valid measure of a test-taker's ability in the skill we are testing.
    4.   the test will have a high facility ratio.
  13. Direct testing differs from discrete-point testing because:
    1.   the former gets the learner to undertake the skill being tested, while the latter attempts to test the underlying skills.
    2.   the former attempts to test the underlying skills while the latter gets the learner to undertake the skill being tested.
  14. Benchmarking is:
    1.   the use of a few test scripts to standardise marking.
    2.   ranking students' performance against a set of criteria.
    3.   the use of one student to compare the performance of others.
    4.   establishing a set of usable marking criteria.
  15. Analytic scoring involves:
    1.   scoring for an overall impression.
    2.   breaking down the scores to produce a histogram.
    3.   adding up the marks to get an overall picture.
    4.   scoring a mark for each component of a task.
  16. Achievement tests are:
    1.   tests of general ability to learn language.
    2.   tests designed to influence the teaching programme.
    3.   tests to measure what learners know and don't know.
    4.   tests directly related to a language course designed.
  17. Holistic scoring means:
    1.   marking items independently.
    2.   judging on the basis of an overall impression.
    3.   adding all the scores together.
    4.   assessing by direct testing.
  18. Integrative testing is another description of:
    1.   holistic testing.
    2.   analytic testing.
    3.   discrete-point testing.
    4.   direct testing.
  19. Unique answer items have:
    1.   only true or false answers to select from.
    2.   only one possible right answer.
    3.   only three correct answers in a set of four possible ones.
    4.   no equivalents elsewhere in the test.
  20. True score refers to:
    1.   the learner's score minus an amount for guessing correctly.
    2.   a theoretical measurement of a learner's score excluding any problems of reliability.
    3.   the learner's total score without any subjective marking judgments.
    4.   the score measured as the difference from the mean score of all the test takers.