MANIBA BHULA NURSING COLLEGE

SUBJECT: NURSING EDUCATION

TOPIC: ESSAY TYPE TEST

SUBMIITED TO: Mrs. KINJAL MISTRY SUBMITTED BY: MS. RINAL D.BARAD
Asst. Professor, F. Y. M.SC. Nursing
Dept. of OBG, MBNC MBNC

SUBMITTED ON: 31/07/2017

 Introduction
The essay type examination seek to to measure the integrated knowledge of the examinees and
reveal certain traits such as originality, imagination, association of ideas, creativity etc. Essay
questions are supply or constructed response type questions and can be the best way to measure
the students higher order thinking skills, such as applying , organizing, synthesizing, integrating,
evaluating, or projecting while at the same time providing a measure of writing skills.
Definition

Essay test is a test that requires the student to compose responses, usually lengthy up to several
paragraphs.

Distinctive Feature of Essay Test

The distinctive feature of essay type test is the freedom of response. Pupils are free to
select, relate and present ideas in their own words.

Uses of Essay Test

1. Assess the ability to recall, organize, and integrate ideas.
2. Assess the ability to express oneself in writing.
3. Ability to supply information.
4. Assess student understanding of subject matter.
5. Measure the knowledge of factual information.

Form of Essay Test

Restricted Response/ Controlled Response.
Extended Response/Uncontrolled Response.

1. Restricted response questions:

The restricted response question usually limits both the content and the response the content
is usually restricted by the scope of the topic to be discussed limitations on the form of response
are generally indicated in the question another way of restricting responses in essay tests is to
base the questions on specific problems. For this purpose, introductory material like that used in
interpretive exercises can be presented. Such items differ from objective interpretive exercise
only by the fact that essay questions are used instead of multiple choice or true or false items.
Because the restricted response question is more structured it is most useful for measuring
learning outcomes requiring the interpretation and application of date in a specific area.
For e.g.
1. Write the life sketch of Quaid-e-Azam in 100 words?
2. State any five definition of education?

Advantages of Restricted Response Questions

Restricted response question is more structured.
Measure specific learning outcomes.
Restricted response provide for more ease of assessment.
Any outcomes measured by an objective interpretive exercise can be measured by a restricted
response essay question.
Limitations of Restricted Response Questions

Restricted response question restricts the scope of the topic to be discussed and indicating the
nature of the desired response which limits student opportunity to demonstrate these behavior.
 2. Extended response questions:

No restriction is placed in students as to the points he will discuss and the type of
organization he will use.
Teachers in such a way so as to give students the maximum possible freedom to
determine the nature and scope of question and in a way he would give response of
course being related topic and in stipulated time frame these types of questions.
The student may be select the points he thinks are most important, pertinent and relevant
to his points and arrangement and organize the answers in whichever way he wishes. So
they are also called free response questions.
This enables the teacher to judge the students abilities to organize, integrate, interpret
the material and express themselves in their own words.
It also gives an opportunity to comment or look into students progress, quality of their
thinking, the depth of their understanding problem solving skills and the difficulties they
may be having. These skills interact with each other with the knowledge and
understanding the problem requires.
Thus it is at the levels of synthesis and evaluation of writing skills that this type of
questions makes the greatest contribution.
E.g.:
Describe at length the defects of the present day examination system.. Suggest ways and
means of improving the examination system.
Global warming is the next step to disaster. Explain

Advantages of Extended Response Questions

This type of essay item is mostly useful in measuring learning outcomes at the higher cognitive
levels of educational objectives such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation levels.

They expose the individual differences in attitudes, values and creative ability.

Limitations of Extended Response Questions

They are insufficient for measuring knowledge of factual materials because they call for
extensive details in selected content area at a time.

Scoring such type of responses is usually difficult and unreliable since the examinees have free
will in the array of factual information of varying degree of correctness, coherence and
expression.

The essay type examinations are advantages as:

They measure complex learning outcomes that cannot be measured by other means.
They are easy to construct and conduct.
They test a teachers efficiency and a students mental ability including thinking and
problem-solving skills, interpretation of facts, synthesis and analysis etc.
They help in organizing ideas and concepts.
They promote application of knowledge in different spheres.
 They are useful to assess the knowledge of language and writing skills of the students.
They provide the students, sufficient independence in answering without hesistance or
binding.
They allow for free and effective expression.
They give the students a good opportunity to express their individual ideas and talents,
creativity and skills of presentation of a concepts.
It eliminate the possibility of the students guessing the correct answer.

Demerits of essay type Examinations

The most common limitation of essay type questions are:
They stress only on intellectual attainment of the students and do not measure their
interest, aptitudes, etc.
They examine the students in only one section of the curriculum. The composition of
essay type examination may not be more appreciable, as factors like handwriting,
language , presentation skills, etc. are influencing it and therefore lead to an error in
interpretation.
They do not aid in harmonious development of personality.
A degree of subjectivity is inevitable in these examinations.
They have limited range of application.
It offers less feedback to teacher.
It takes long time to score.
It presents difficulties in obtaining consistent judgement of performance.
It leaves some scope for guess work by the students and the scoring pattern shows
halo/an anti halo effect ( the first answer and its assessment influences the subsequent
ones.)
Sometimes, the real evaluation of the students may not be possible with such type of
examinations.
There is a risk that the grading of essay responses can be subjective and unreliable.
Sometimes, bluffing a special scoring problem may occur.
It is possible for students to obtain higher scores on essay questions than they deserve
by means of clever bluffing. The ways that students might attempts to influence the
teacher and thus, increase their marks include:
Writing something for every questions
Stressing the importance of the topic covered by the question.
Agreeing with the teachers views whenever it seems appropriate.
Being a name dropper using a famous personalitys name in the test frequently.
Writing on a related topic and fitting it to the question.
Writing in general terms that can fit many questions.

Guideline for construction

The questions should be framed in such a way that the task is clearly and unambiguously
defined and can be completed within the stipulated time.
 It is preferable to set more number of questions requiring short answers of about a page or two
than a few questions requiring long answers of more than five pages.
It is preferable not to give too many or too lengthy questions.
Phrases like Discuss briefly, state everything that you know , etc. should be avoided.
A range of difficulty and complex city should be maintained while setting the questions
according to the level of the students.
It is preferable not to give overall choice on the questions (such as answer any five questions out
of 8) but internal choice between two questions of the similar type can be given. In the previous
one, construction of optional questions of equal difficulty is very difficult. The advantages of the
second option are that the important questions are not skipped out by the students and
comparisons of scores of two students become essay.
Prepare a marking system acceptable to other examiners by prior discussion with a checklist of
specific points against which marks are allotted.
It is better to use point system of scoring based upon those elements that are expected to appear
in the answer.

Sequential steps in the construction of essay type test

Check for the objectives of evaluation clearly.
The objectives should be representative of entire areas of knowledge expected of students.
Sampling of objectives must be done as it provides the basis for developing test items.
Ensure the adequacy of sample.
Give appropriate weight age to each behavioural domain, e.g.
- Knowledge 50%
- Skill 30 %
- Attitude 20%
It is not possible to cover the entire content of the subject in the test..So sampling of the course
content is done.
Prepare a blue print of the test.

Constructing essay type questions

When deciding whether or not to use essay questions in and when developing the questions, the
following guidelines can be considered.
Determine the level at which the thinking is to be assessed ( refer to your objectives and
instructional methods)
Keeping in the mind the reading and writing level of the students.
Use the essay test only for the outcome which cannot be measured by other type of questions.
Two or more questions that are more specific and shorter are preferable to a single longer
questions.
Define the task as specifically as possible without giving away the answers. From the directions
students should be able to tell how the item will be scored ( what is expected in the answer
sheet) and how much weight will be given to essay answers in determining the total test score.
Provide more than one essay item and let the student select which one to answer. The item may
not be of similar difficulty. Good students may select difficult questions not do as well as they
 might have on the easier questions. Some students may not know which question they can
answer best.
Suggest a ( reasonable ) time or page limit for each essay questions.
Decide in advance what you are seeking in the answer. Write a model response and or develop a
scoring system that include the information you will reward in the answer.

Summary
Today we have discussed about the meaning, uses, forms , merits and demerits of essay test and
also we have discussed about the guideline of constructing essay test.

Conclusion
So essay test is the best way to measure the students higher order thinking skills, such as
applying, organizing, synthesizing, integrating, evaluating, or projecting while at the same time
providing a measure of writing skills.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. B.T.Basvanthappa,"NURSING EDUCATION; 2nd Edition.2009, medical publisher pvt. Ltd,
New Delhi, India.(page no.225-233)
2. R. Sudha, NURSING EDUCATION PRINCIPAL ANDCONCEPTS, 3rd Edition,2015,
Jaypee Brother MedicalPublishers Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, India.(page no. 156-162)

Websites:
1. Essay test examination cited on- 29th July, 2017, available from-
https://www.slideshare.net/shaziazamir3/essay-type-test

2. Essay test, cited on- 29th July, 2017, available from-

https://www.slideshare.net/jaesser/essay-36094308