Decide if the following tests meet the criteria for good tests

1 - At the end of the term you will require your class (of 20 students) to answer a 200-question objective test as well as two essay style questions in 300 words (minimum) each.

2 - You ask your class to produce a list of 10 words they learned on their own outside of class and use each in a sentence to show their mastery of the word.

3 - You´ve just decided to give the students a 10-minute test because you´re the substitute teacher and need some time to get things organized before starting class.

I would appreciate the answers from experienced teachers!

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Originally Posted by vistaforever

1 - At the end of the term you will require your class (of 20 students) to answer a 200-question objective test as well as two essay style questions in 300 words (minimum) each.

2 - You ask your class to produce a list of 10 words they learned on their own outside of class and use each in a sentence to show their mastery of the word.

3 - You´ve just decided to give the students a 10-minute test because you´re the substitute teacher and need some time to get things organized before starting class.

I would appreciate the answers from experienced teachers!

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I am not a teacher - sorry! I've been a student, so here's an opinion from a student's perspective.

The first one depends on how much time will the students have. Two hundred questions and two 300-word essays will take some time.

The second is interesting, because the student won't just be showing mastery of the word, but mastery of sentence construction (and the other words in it) as well. However, it doesn't seem to cover as much as final exams usually do. On the other hand, many teachers do offer short finals, so I wouldn't rule it out. Is there anything you might add that would help you gauge your students' mastery of the course material?

Being a substitute is a thankless job. I'd worry that a make-work assignment like your third example will just make your job harder, because it will make the students feel like they're jumping through hoops for no reason. (And students eat substitutes alive.) I'd get myself as organized as possible before the class, and go in with what I have. An interactive exercise could be good.

I teach barely for 6 months and what I did was ask/give them short quiz every after class for me to know if they do understand what we discuss.

The difficulty in commenting is that there's nothing to indicate why you want to use each of the three suggested tests. Also, what level? Taking a look at the first option, students aren't normally required to write 300-word essays / letters / articles / reports / proposals until they get to CPE. Secondly, there really isn't nearly enough detail about each test. You say the first test has 200 objective questions, fine, but are they true/false questions, multiple choice, gap fill? Also, what's being tested? Don't say "everything"! Are there grammar questions, vocabulary questions, reading comprehension questions, word order questions? Also, no listening comprehension? And where's a test of speaking? And then there's the issue of practicality - have you any idea how long this test would take? The writing alone would take about 2 hours. And what about the time spent marking and grading?

As for the second test, who's to say if the student is even consciously aware and then remembers which words he/she picked up outside the classroom. And what kinds of words? And how would you even know? All the questions about level and purpose from the above apply here as well.

And as for number three, testing as a way of simply using up time? You're having a laugh, surely. That's no reason for testing.