Writing Assessment Questions

Writing Assessment Questions

Assessment questions should allow students to demonstrate the knowledge and skills laid out in the learning outcomes for the course. It is important to ensure that the phrasing and scope of the question guarantee this.

Top Tips for Writing Assessment Questions

• It is often helpful to develop a table linking outcome and assessment task. It is important to work out what you want to assess and what sort of assessment lends itself best to this. Is it a presentation? A video? An essay? A quiz?
• Consider progression from year-to-year. Does the level of your assessment fit within the overall progression of the degree programme? Students in their final year are likely to be undertaking much more sophisticated assessments than in their first year.
• Think about your wording. Bloom's Taxonomy is useful for working out the different levels of knowledge or skills you may require at different levels and the words which may encourage demonstration of these. Be aware that certain students may respond differently to different words based on their schooling and exam experience. This may influence the level of answer you get.
• Get feedback from colleagues on your questions before you use them with students. It is very easy to create assessments which you think are clear and concise, but which another reader thinks is confusing and ambiguous. Asking someone who does not have your specialist knowledge is a useful way of avoiding confusion.