How to Write a Midterm Reading Test
Writing a midterm reading test is more daunting and stressful for educators than writing a chapter test or simple pop quiz. Since a midterm gauges the students' knowledge of what they learned during the first half of the semester, teachers must go back through their lesson plans to select curriculum highlights appropriate for including. At the beginning of the semester, start keeping track of the information you want the midterm to cover, to reduce the amount of backtracking you'll need to do later on.
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Instructions
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Sort through your curriculum notes and course materials. Make a list of the main reading topics and objectives that were covered in your class so far. For a reading midterm, such topics may include how to identify the tone of a narrative, or how to differentiate between the plot and subplot.
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Review the reading materials that were assigned to your students. Focus particularly on the materials that the students were tested on, had to write book reports on or that you used in class discussions. These materials will be more familiar to the students and, therefore, it is fair for you to test them on the materials. Avoid testing the students on reading materials that were not highlighted in the course.
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Design the reading midterm to include a combination of testing formats such as multiple choice questions, true and false responses, short answer essays, fill-in-the-blank statements and a written essay at the end. This ensures a well-rounded exam.
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Write out the questions that you want to include on the midterm. Make sure the type of question is appropriate for its format. For instance, requiring students to explain, in their own words, a passage from a book is suitable for a short answer or essay question, but not for multiple choice questions.
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Develop an assortment of questions so that each reading course topic or objective has a few questions for the students to answer. Make the test as balanced as possible, being careful to not overload the students with questions about themes while only asking them one or two questions about character development.
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Extract questions from previous exams that the students took in class. Use these questions to spark new questions, or change them around slightly to make them seem new.
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Refer to the reading textbook for teachers, and select questions that it recommends for testing students. At the end of each chapter of the reading textbook, the book may give sample exam questions based on the information presented in that chapter. Use these to help develop your midterm exam.
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Develop the score system for the exam. Each type of question should have a maximum number of points the students can score. For instance, multiple choice questions may be worth five points each, but the short answer essay may be worth 20 points. It helps to include how many points each section of the exam is worth, so students know how they are being scored.
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Have another teacher review the midterm and give you feedback. Constructive criticism can let you know whether the exam is balanced and fair.
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Tips & Warnings
Help your students prepare for the midterm by building a study guide based on the exam. The sooner you finish writing the reading midterm, the sooner you can pass out the study guide and give students a fair shot at acing the test.
References
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