How Do You Write Good Essay Test Questions?
As teachers, constructing strong and solid tests can be a daunting task. Students never want to take tests, but they especially don’t want to take a test that makes little sense or seems to have been thrown together. Create quality essay tests for your students by using careful consideration and planning in your essay question writing. Use clear, directional verbs. Some essays ask students to “discuss” a topic, but that gives them little direction as to how they should approach that topic. Stronger verbs include words like compare, contrast or evaluate. Using words like these will help students understand what you want them to do in their essays. As Indiana University reminds teachers, “Clearly stated questions not only make essay tests easier for students to answer, but also make them easier for instructors to score.” Use essays to measure higher-level thinking skills. Do not ask essay questions that only ask students to remember or summarize. Rather, ask questions that require studen
