SIMPLE

What is a simple True or False?

Alternative choice test in which the student or

examinee indicates whether each of several

statements is true or false.

• Binomial- choice test that have only two (2)

option such as : True or False, Right or wrong,

Good or Better and so on.

A student who knows nothing of the content of

the examination would have 50% chance of

getting the answer by sheer guesswork,

although correction for guessing formula exist.

CONSTRUCTING A TRUE-FALSE TEST

Here are some rules:

Rule 1.

Do not give a hint (inadvertently) in the body of

the question.

Example:

The Philippines gained its independence

in 1898 and therefore celebrated its centennial

year in 2000.

Rule 2.

Avoid using the words “always”, “never”,

“often” and other adverbs that tend to be either

always true or always false.

Example:

Christmas always falls on

Sunday because it is a Sabbath

day.

Rule 3.

Avoid long sentences as these tend to be

“true”. Keep sentences short.

Example:

Tests need to be valid, reliable

and useful, although, it would require

a great amount of time and effort to

ensure that tests possess these test

characteristics.

The following example illustrate

what can go wrong in long

sentences:

Example:

Tests need to be valid, reliable and useful

since it takes very little amount of time, money

and effort to construct tests with these

characteristics.

Rule 4.

Avoid trick statements with some minor

misleading word or spelling anomaly, misplaced

phrases, etc.

Example:

The Principle of our school is Mr. Albert P.

Panadero.

Rule 5.

• Avoid quoting verbatim from reference materials

or textbooks.

Rule 6.

Avoid specific determiners or give-away

qualifiers. Students quickly learn that strongly

worded statements are more likely to be false

than true, for example, statements with

“never”, “no”, “all” or “always”. Moderately

worded statements are more likely to be true

than false. Statements with “many”, “often”,

“sometimes”, “generally”, “frequently” or

“some” should be avoided.

Rule 7.

With true or false questions, avoid grossly

disproportionate number of either true or false

statements or even patterns in the occurrence

of true and false statements.