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Unit 28 : Objective Type Test : Advantages and Limitations

5. Discriminative : The questions in these tests are spread out on the whole course and are of Notes
several types. Some questions have to be answered using recall, some have to be answered by
knowledge, and some questions have to be answered using logic and prudence; so the
classification of the students done on their basis can be reliable.
6. Practicability : Making objective test questions is a difficult task. It takes time to construct so
many questions (often 100-100, 200-200). Marking them too takes time. So now in order to save
effort, only multiple choice questions are constructed and their answers are marked on an
answer-sheet which can be evaluated by computer. Thus, the construction, administration and
evaluation of these tests have become practicable.

28.5 Limitations of Objective Test

Despite having all the merits of a good test, these tests are not devoid of some shortcomings.
1. Measurement of Cognitive Aspect Only : These tests basically help to measure the cognitive
aspect of the students; these are unsuitable for the measurement of the conative and affective
aspects.
2. Measurement of Memory Power Only : These tests generally examine the power of memory,
the students have to hardly use the higher mental faculties such as logic and thinking.
3. No Measurement of Language skill and Expression Power : These tests do not help in the
measurement of language skill and power of expression of the students, so we cannot rely on
them for language tests. It is considered to be the biggest demerit of these tests.
4. Difficulty in Construction of Questions : According to some scholars, it is very difficult to
construct the objective questions for these tests. They consider it a demerit of these tests. We
are, however, of the view that these questions can be constructed easily by taking a little
interest and care. It depends on interest and practice.
5. Administrative Difficulty : Some scholars are of the view that these tests cannot be administered
easily; according to them, these tests are expensive and present difficulties in evaluation.
However, our experience is that these tests are less expensive than the essay-type tests and
their evaluation can also be done easily. We have already written that these tests can be evaluated
with the help of computer.
6. Fluke Answers : Some people opine that these tests can be answered in a fluke. It is true, but
we have already invented a statistical method to control it, which is called negative marking.
7. Use of Unfair Means : It is often heard that the students can easily copy in these tests. In our
view, this demerit has occurred due to inexperienced people. The fact is that if a student copy
from a book or notebook, he cannot answer all questions in the prescribed time. Of course, the
students can easily copy if someone prepares the answer-sheet for him. But it is not a demerit
of the test, but that of the administrators of the test.

Self Assessment
2. State whether the following statements are ‘true’ or ‘false’
(i) Objective tests are generally made to measure the knowledge of the students.
(ii) The questions in objective type tests do not cover the whole course.
(iii) Objective type questions do not help in the measurement of language skill.
(iv) These tests can be easily copied in exams.

28.6 Summary
• An objective test item is defined as one for which the scoring rules are so exhaustive and
specific that they do not allow scorers to make subjective inferences or judgements; thereby,
any scorer that marks an item following the rules will assign the same test score.

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