Measuring student knowledge and skills

Example item with a limited number of response options
A seal has to breathe even if it is asleep. Martin observed a seal for one hour. At the start of
his observation the seal dove to the bottom of the sea and started to sleep. In 8 minutes it
slowly floated to the surface and took a breath.
In 3 minutes it was back at the bottom of the sea again and the whole process started over
in a very regular way.
After one hour the seal was:
a)
at the bottom
b)
on its way up
c)
breathing
d)
on its way down
Figure 10.
Example item with a limited number of response options
Tepla Loroupe won the 1998 Rotterdam marathon. “It was easy”, she said, “the course was quite flat”.
Here you see a graph of the differences in elevation of the Rotterdam marathon course:
[
Differences in level of the course — in metres relative to the starting point
]
What was the difference between the highest and the lowest points of the course?
Figure 11.
Example item with one correct answer and many incorrect answers
Tepla Loroupe won the 1998 Rotterdam marathon. “It was easy”, she said, “the course was quite flat”.
Here you see a graph of the differences in elevation of the Rotterdam marathon course:
[
Differences in level of the course — in metres relative to the starting point
]
What was the difference between the highest and the lowest points of the course?
Figure 11.
Example item with one correct answer and many incorrect answers

---

Measuring Student Knowledge and Skills
54
OECD 1999
One reason for the use of such task formats is that it allows realistic tasks to be devised and the com-
plexity of real-life situations to be reflected in them. Another reason relates to the efficient use of testing
time, cutting down on the time required for a student to “get into” the subject matter of the situation. The
necessity of making each scored point independent of others within the task is recognised and taken into
account in the design of the OECD/PISA tasks. The importance to minimise bias that may be due to the
use of fewer situations is also recognised.
Figure 13 is an example for such an item.