Testing terminology: a general quiz

Multiple-choice exercise

Choose the best answer for each question.
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  1. If a test is reliable, this means that:
    1.   the results will be a valid measure of a test-taker's ability in the skill we are testing.
    2.   the test will be objective.
    3.   the test will have a high facility ratio.
    4.   the results will be comparable regardless of where and when the test is taken
  2. Integrative testing is another description of:
    1.   holistic testing.
    2.   direct testing.
    3.   discrete-point testing.
    4.   analytic testing.
  3. Achievement tests are:
    1.   tests to measure what learners know and don't know.
    2.   tests designed to influence the teaching programme.
    3.   tests directly related to a language course designed.
    4.   tests of general ability to learn language.
  4. Analytic scoring involves:
    1.   breaking down the scores to produce a histogram.
    2.   scoring for an overall impression.
    3.   scoring a mark for each component of a task.
    4.   adding up the marks to get an overall picture.
  5. Aptitude testing is:
    1.   assessing how well learners will be able to acquire the targets.
    2.   assessing general cognitive ability.
    3.   assessing communicative success.
    4.   assessing intelligence.
  6. 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 actually targets the desired skills.
    4.   how well a test is designed.
  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.   facility value.
    2.   standard deviation.
    3.   usefulness.
    4.   easiness.
  8. Holistic scoring means:
    1.   marking items independently.
    2.   assessing by direct testing.
    3.   judging on the basis of an overall impression.
    4.   adding all the scores together.
  9. 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.
  10. Benchmarking is:
    1.   establishing a set of usable marking criteria.
    2.   the use of a few test scripts to standardise marking.
    3.   ranking students' performance against a set of criteria.
    4.   the use of one student to compare the performance of others.
  11. True score refers to:
    1.   the learner's score minus an amount for guessing correctly.
    2.   the learner's total score without any subjective marking judgments.
    3.   a theoretical measurement of a learner's score excluding any problems of reliability.
    4.   the score measured as the difference from the mean score of all the test takers.
  12. Validity is a measure of:
    1.   how well we can describe the abilities we are testing.
    2.   how fair a test is.
    3.   how well a test measures what it is intended to measure.
    4.   how the test will parallel results of other tests.
  13. Criterion referencing is:
    1.   choosing the most useful criteria when standardising test markers.
    2.   measuring performance against a range of predetermined criteria.
    3.   measuring performance based on overall communicative success.
    4.   measuring performance against a benchmarked student.
  14. What is the mean score of 18, 20, 22, 24 and 26?
    1.   21
    2.   25
    3.   23
    4.   22
  15. What is the guess ratio for a multiple-choice test with 5 possible answers to each question?
    1.   30%
    2.   25%
    3.   20%
    4.   33%
  16. Backwash is:
    1.   the affect of testing on teacher competence.
    2.   the affect of teaching on test design.
    3.   the affect of testing on learner performance.
    4.   the effect on the learning / teaching process of a test.
  17. Paraphrase test items require the learner to:
    1.   summarise what they read or hear.
    2.   re-express what they hear or read in a different form.
    3.   correct what they read or hear.
    4.   re-express what they hear or read in their own words.
  18. 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.
  19. The Cambridge First Certificate examination is a:
    1.   performative test.
    2.   diagnostic test.
    3.   achievement test.
    4.   proficiency test.
  20. A multiple-choice test contains:
    1.   distractors and a common core question.
    2.   a stem and a number of distractors.
    3.   a choice of true or false.
    4.   a rubric and some distractors.