Teacher Made Test & Standardized Test :

Carefully constructed teacher-made tests and standardised

tests are similar in many ways. Both are constructed on the
basis of carefully planned table of specifications, both have
the same type of test items, and both provide clear
directions to the students.

Still the two differ. They differ in the quality of test items,
the reliability of test measures, the procedures for
administering and scoring and the interpretation of scores.
No doubt, standardised tests are good and better in quality,
more reliable and valid.

But a classroom teacher cannot always depend on

standardised tests. These may not suit to his local needs,
may not be readily available, may be costly, may have
different objectives. In order to fulfill the immediate
requirements, the teacher has to prepare his own tests
which are usually objective type in nature.

Teacher-made tests are normally prepared and administered

for testing classroom achievement of students, evaluating
the method of teaching adopted by the teacher and other
curricular programmes of the school.

Teacher-made test is one of the most valuable instrument

in the hands of the teacher to solve his purpose. It is
designed to solve the problem or requirements of the class
for which it is prepared.

It is prepared to measure the outcomes and content of local

curriculum. It is very much flexible so that, it can be adopted
to any procedure and material. It does not require any
sophisticated technique for preparation.

Features of Teacher-Made Tests:

1. The items of the tests are arranged in order of difficulty.

2. These are prepared by the teachers which can be used for

prognosis and diagnosis purposes.

3. The test covers the whole content area and includes a

large number of items.

4. The preparation of the items conforms to the blueprint.

5. Test construction is not a single man’s business, rather it

is a co-operative endeavour.

6. A teacher-made test does not cover all the steps of a

standardised test.

7. Teacher-made tests may also be employed as a tool for

formative evaluation.
8. Preparation and administration of these tests are
economical.

9. The test is developed by the teacher to ascertain the

student’s achievement and proficiency in a given subject.

Steps/Principles of Construction of Teacher-made Test:

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A teacher-made test does not require a well-planned

preparation. Even then, to make it more efficient and
effective tool of evaluation, careful considerations arc
needed to be given while constructing such tests.

The following steps may be followed for the

preparation of teacher-made test:
1. Planning:
Planning of a teacher-made test includes:
a. Determining the purpose and objectives of the test, ‘as
what to measure and why to measure’.

b. Deciding the length of the test and portion of the syllabus

to be covered.

c. Specifying the objectives in behavioural terms.

d. Deciding the number and forms of items (questions)

according to blueprint.
e. Having a clear knowledge and understanding of the
principles of constructing essay type, short answer type and
objective type questions.

f. Deciding date of testing much in advance in order to give

time to teachers for test preparation and administration.

g. Seeking the co-operation and suggestion of co-teachers,

experienced teachers of other schools and test experts.

2. Preparation of the Test:

Planning is the philosophical aspect and preparation is the
practical aspect of test construction. All the practical aspects
to be taken into consideration while one constructs the tests.
It is an art, a technique. One is to have it or to acquire it. It
requires much thinking, rethinking and reading before
constructing test items.

Different types of objective test items viz., multiple choice,

short-answer type and matching type can be constructed.
After construction, test items should be given lo others for
review and for seeking their opinions on it.

The suggestions may be sought even from others on

languages, modalities of the items, statements given, correct
answers supplied and on other possible errors anticipated.
The suggestions and views thus sought will help a test
constructor in modifying and verifying his items afresh to
make it more acceptable and usable.
After construction of the test, items should be arranged in a
simple to complex order. For arranging the items, a teacher
can adopt so many methods viz., group-wise, unit-wise, topic
wise etc. Scoring key should also be prepared forthwith to
avoid further delay in scoring.

Direction is an important part of a test construction. Without

giving a proper direction or instruction, there will be a
probability of loosing the authenticity of the test reliability.
It may create a misunderstanding in the students also.

Thus, the direction should be simple and adequate to

enable the students to know:
(i) The time for completion of test,

(ii) The marks allotted to each item,

(iii) Required number of items to be attempted,

(iv) How and where to record the answer? and

(v) The materials, like graph papers or logarithmic table to

be used.

Uses of Teacher-Made Tests:

1. To help a teacher to know whether the class in normal,
average, above average or below average.

2. To help him in formulating new strategies for teaching

and learning.
3. A teacher-made test may be used as a full-fledged
achievement test which covers the entire course of a subject.

4. To measure students’ academic achievement in a given

course.

5. To assess how far specified instructional objectives have

been achieved.

6. To know the efficacy of learning experiences.

7. To diagnose students learning difficulties and to suggest

necessary remedial measures.

8. To certify, classify or grade the students on the basis of

resulting scores.

9. Skillfully prepared teacher-made tests can serve the

purpose of standardised test.

10. Teacher-made tests can help a teacher to render

guidance and counseling.

11. Good teacher-made tests can be exchanged among

neighbouring schools.

12. These tests can be used as a tool for formative,

diagnostic and summative evaluation.
 13. To assess pupils’ growth in different areas.

Meaning of Standardised Test:

Standardised tests arc carefully constructed tests which
have uniformity of procedure in scoring, administering and
interpreting the test results. A standardised test is generally
made by a professional tester or a group of testers.

Standardized tests are not restricted to use in a school or a

few schools but to larger population, so that many schools
can use such types of tests to assess their own performance
etc. in relation to others and the general population for
which the test has been standardised.

Generally these tests are “norm-referenced tests that

measure the pupils’ level of achievement in various
content and skill areas by comparing their test
performance with the performance of other pupils in
some general reference group.”
C.V. Good:
A standardised test is a test for which content has been
selected and checked empirically, for which norms have
been established, for which uniform methods of
administering and scoring have been developed and which
may be scored with a high degree of objectivity.

V.H. Noll:
A standardised test is one that has been carefully
constructed by experts in the light of acceptable objectives
or purposes; procedure for administering, scoring and
interpreting scores are specified in detail so that no matter
who gives the test or where it may be given, the result
should be comparable; and norms or average for different
age or grade levels have been pre-determined.

It requires more thinking, planning, exact preparation,

scoring, analysis and refinement. It is a complex and
multidimensional work.

Standardised tests are those tests which are constructed by

individual or by a group of individuals and are being
processed and universalised for all the situations and for all
the purposes.

A standardised test is widely acclaimed if its content is

carefully designed, carefully phrased and simultaneously
pretested. Standardised tests are prepared not for a
particular local situation but for all the situations inside and
outside the educational institutions.

A standardised test is one which passes through the

following process:
(i) Standardisation of the content and questions:
Due weightage is given to the content and objectives. Items
are to be prepared according to the blue-print. Relevant
items are included and irrelevant items are omitted, giving
due consideration to item difficulty and discriminating value.
Internal consistency is also taken into account.

(ii) Standardisation of the method of administration:

Procedure of test administration, conditions for
administration, time allowed for the test etc., are to be
clearly stated.

(iii) Standardisation of the scoring procedure:

To ensure objective and uniform scoring, the adequate
scoring key and detailed instruction for method of scoring is
to be provided.

(iv) Standardisation of interpretation:

Adequate norms to be prepared to interpreted the results.
Test is administered over a large sample (representative
one). Test scores are interpreted with reference to norms.
Derivation of norms is an integral part of the process of
standardisation.

Characteristics of Standardised Tests:

Some characteristics of these tests are:
1. They consist of items of high quality. The items are
pretested and selected on the basis of difficulty value,
discrimination power, and relationship to clearly defined
objectives in behavioural terms.
2. As the directions for administering, exact time limit, and
scoring are precisely stated, any person can administer and
score the test.

3. Information needed for judging the value of the test is

provided. Before the test becomes available, the reliability
and validity are established.

4. A manual is supplied that explains the purposes and uses

of the test, describes briefly how it was constructed,
provides specific directions for administering, scoring, and
interpreting results, contains tables of norms and
summarizes available research data on the test.

5.No two standardized tests are exactly alike. Each test

measures certain specific aspects of behaviour and serves a
slightly different purpose. There are some tests with similar
titles measuring aspects of behaviour that differ markedly,
whereas other tests with dissimilar titles, the measure the
aspects of behaviour that are almost identical. Thus, one has
to be careful in selecting a standardised test.

Uses of Standardised Tests:

1. Standardised test assesses the rate of development of a
student’s ability. It provides a basis for ascertaining the level
of intellectual ability-strength and weakness of the pupils.

2. It checks and ascertains the validity of a teacher-made

test.
3. These tests are useful in diagnosing the learning
difficulties of the students.

4. It helps the teacher to know the casual factors of learning

difficulties of the students.

5. Provides information’s for curriculum planning and to

provide remedial coaching for educationally backward
children.

6. It also helps the teacher to assess the effectiveness of his

teaching and school instructional programmes.

7. Provides data for tracing an individual’s growth pattern

over a period of years.

8. It helps for organising better guidance programmes.

9. Evaluates the influences of courses of study, teacher’s

activities, teaching methods and other factors considered to
be significant for educational practices.