Bruce Kuiper

These ideas covered some good ground, with the different types of tests showing different advantages and disadvantages. Writing that great question is satisfying and ultimately helps the student! One thing that should not be forgotten is the readability of format, not just content. That is, using white space effectively, having proper indenting, readable font size and type, and not crowding the margins. These are often forgotten and can result in just as much frustration as a question that's worded poorly.

Does anyone else find test-writing fun? Writing a good test takes a lot of time but if you can write an effective one overall (not to mention fun questions throughout), it is strangely fulfilling. (Especially when the students seem to have fun taking it ...)

This has been a significant part of my development as a teacher -- developing class discussion that is more focused on the student rather than on the specific information I have preopared for class. I don't feel like I'm quite there yet, but I can see how my questioning has involved more redirection, more wait time, less specificity. It takes a little more work but the results have been highly worthwhile.