How Prepare Question Paper

Suppose you are asked to prepare the question paper for the forthcoming Annual Examination in the subject of your choice at the college level. Describe the steps that you would follow while preparing the question paper.

  Questioning is a powerful technique of classroom instruction. Through this technique, the teacher transacts a lot of learning experience. The teacher asks question and use responses given by the students are strengthened and elaborated. Questions can be used to find out how well students understand a particular block of information, to shift student's attention from one point to another, to increase retention of important points by isolating and emphasizing them, and to put students in the right direction before starting assignments. Effectiveness of questions is more important factors while making a question paper of college level.  While preparing the question paper following steps shall be taken:

 1. I shall first explore the contents/lectures, scope and chapters which are taught in the classroom. Evaluation is process of observing and analysis of the learner’s capabilities and their learning experiences.  Each learner has different levels of competencies; therefore, contents for my question paper shall be within the student’s competencies level so that they can be judge what they knew rather than what I knew.

 2. It is prime competence of the teacher that she/he should know about the learning level of her/his students.  This is why; I shall never consider the contents in the question paper beyond the scope units taught.

 3. The understanding of basic principles, theories and data of a subject is more important for a student.  Therefore, the question paper shall include question related to basic principles and theories.

 4. In my question paper, questions shall be clear and precise. There should not be any ambiguity in the question. For example, a question like "what about Buddhism?" does not convey any meaning to the students. It would be better to ask "How does Buddhism differ from Jainism?"

 5. My questions shall be clear with suitable pause and termination. This helps students to think about their answer.

 6. I kept responsive questions in my question papers. It may be of any type from multiple choice type to one word substitution, fill in the blank, short note type, precise reading or long answer type.

 7. To check the competence level of students about what they have learned, questions of critic type or a simple essay type shall also be included.

8. To check the learner’s ability of under standing about the topic he had been taught, my question papers shall also include the questions of  categories, like i) Knowledge type, ii) Comprehension type, iii) Application type, iv) Analysis type, Synthesis type or vi) Evaluation type may also be included.

 9. During the preparation of question paper, the essential functions of the question may also include as possible. The essential functions are 1) Probing questions, 2) Open-ended questions, 3) Convergent questions and 4) Divergent questions.