Table of Specifications
Table of Specifications
As a teacher, you will often have to set test papers at the end of a unit The number of marks you allocate will be based on (a) the time
of instruction or a course. The results from these tests should provide you required to teach each topic, (b) the relevance of topic to learning other
with enough information about how effective your teaching has been. The topics and/or subjects, and (c) how important each topic is to students’ later
test results should also provide your students with information about how activities.
well they have achieved the objectives of the course. As a first step, allocation of marks for each topic as a percentage can
be calculated based on the time allocated for each topic with reference to the
To be able to provide yourself and your students with this total time available for the entire subject. These allocations, however, need to
information, your tests must be both valid and reliable. Remember that be modified based on the consideration of the relevance of individual topic to
content validity is one of the important factors to be considered when you the learning of other topics/subjects and its importance to activities at a later
construct a test. To achieve content validity in your tests, you must write date.
items which cover or sample:
a. the content of your course, and MODIFIED
b. the different abilities of your students. TOPIC TIME MARKS ALLOCATION
ALLOCATIONS
Heat 14 hours (14/80) × 100=17.5% 17%
You will find, however, that it is very difficult to over all the Light 16 hours (16/80) × 100=20.0% 18%
instructional objectives and all the content of your course in the limited time Sound 12 hours (12/80) × 100=15.0% 16%
you have available for testing. What you can do, therefore, is to assign Magnetism 14 hours (14/80) × 100=17.5% 17%
relative weightage or importance, to a sample of particular topics or Electricity 24 hours (24/80) × 100=30.0% 32%
objectives. Remember that this sample must be representative. TOTAL 80 hours 100.0% 100%
To help you determine whether your sample is representative or not, 3. Determine the levels of ability necessary for each topic.
a table of specification (ToS) is used. A table of specification shows how 4. Allocate percentage marks for different abilities in each topic.
much weightage is given to different topics and for each student’s ability to ABILITIES
be tested. TOPIC
Higher
TOTAL
Knowledge Comprehension Application than
Constructing a Table of Specifications Application
Heat 6% 6% 2% 3% 17%
The following steps will help you construct a table of specification. Light 8% 6% 2% 2% 18%
The example used here is for first year Physics leading to diploma course in Sound 4% 6% 2% 4% 16%
Electrical Engineering. Magnetism 6% 4% 4% 3% 17%
Electricity 6% 8% 10% 8% 32%
1. List the topics to be tested and the amount of time spent in teaching Total 30% 30 20% 20% 100%
each topic. In this example, highest weightage has been given to application (A)
TOPIC Heat Light Sound Magnetism Electricity TOTAL and higher than application (HA) abilities in the topic of electricity. This is
TIME 14 hrs. 16 hrs. 12 hrs. 14 hrs. 24 hrs. 80 hrs. because in its subsequent years, Electrical Engineering requires students to
apply the principles of electricity.
5. Determine the type of test to be given. 7. Determine the marks for each topic, each level, and type of
item/question.
Usually, selection type of test items is written for testing students’
knowledge, comprehension, and application. Higher – order abilities are A new table of specification can now be prepared which shows the
usually tested by supply type questions, such as essay and problem – solving breakdown of actual marks allocated for each topic, level, and type of
questions. Small sub – sections of supply type questions may also be used to items/questions.
test the related lower abilities, i. e., knowledge, comprehension and
application. SELECTION TYPE
SUPPLY TYPE ITEMS
TOPIC ITEMS
6. Determine the proportion of marks for selection and supply type K C A Total K C A HA Total
items/questions. Heat 3 3 1 7 3 3 1 3 10(1)
Light 4 3 1 8 4 3 1 2 10(1)
You might decide that to build sufficient reliability into your test, Sound 2 3 1 6 2 3 1 4 10(1)
you will have a ratio of objective terms (selection) and subjective questions Magnetism 3 2 2 7 3 2 2 3 10(1)
(supply) of 40:60. The next step is to decide how many marks are to be Electricity 3 4 5 12 3 4 5 8 20(2)
Total 40 60
allocated to selection type and supply type questions for each ability level.
Assume that the total marks for the test is 100. Referring to the table
8. Determine the number of items/questions to be included.
in Step 4, you will realize that 20 marks will be allocated to higher than
application (HA) abilities to be tested by supply type questions and 80 marks
will be allocated to knowledge (K), comprehension (C), and application (A)
abilities to be tested both through selection and supply questions. Remember
also that the test should have a proportion of selection: supply as 40:60.
K, C, A HA Total
Selection type items 40 0 40
Supply type items 40 20 60
Total 80 20 100