As an English teacher, just like in any other domain, you will have to create your own tests at some point to evaluate your students. To do so, you can use a simple word document and write your questions on it, or, what I suggest you, is to use an on-line test maker.
The one I will talk about today is called Easy TestMaker. The reason why I chose this test maker among the numerous available on the web is quite simple: its name bears the word “Easy”. After having tested the functionalities of the test maker, I agreed with its developer or developers and I confirm that this tool is user-friendly and easy to use. Now let me explain you how it works and how it can save you time when preparing a test.
First step, go to http://www.easytestmaker.com/. Then, create an account. You can either pay a monthly or annual fee to have access to additional features, but first, I will focus on what you can do with the free version of the test maker and explain its additional features later on. Once logged in, you will face an empty page with some options on top of the screen. In the future, this empty page will hold the list of all the tests you will have created.
For the moment, the only option you have is to click on “Create New Test”. What makes this website so easy to use is that there are not many options available. This can be seen as a good or a bad thing, but for the purpose it serves, that is, to create exams, I think that the simpler the better. So now that you have clicked on “Create New Test”, you will find the heading section and all the types of question that are possible to create with this tool on the left side of the screen: section heading, short answer, multiple choice, true or false, matching, fill in the black, and copy question. Click on whichever you want and follow the steps on each tabs. The only problem I have had with this is that the grading for each question will not appear on the questionnaire. If this is an issue to you, you can always write the grading as a signature in Adobe Reader once the final version is converted into a pdf file. Once saved in your list of tests and exported into Adobe Reader, you can print your tests and distribute them to the students.
If you wish to have an on-line version of your tests for students to have access to it from the computer lab, it is possible, but sadly, you will have to pay. This is one of the additional features that are not included in the free version. To have access to the additional content, there are two types of subscription to choose from. Both are annual payments. The “Plus Edition” is 35.00$ and does not add much content for the price. Merely an access to folders to classify your tests and some customization for font. The “Premium Edition”, however, enhance the account to a much more interesting level. Basically, for 60.00$, it unlocks the possibility to import images in the test and to publish your exams on-line to have your students do them from the computer and get their marks instantly.
Also, this kind of tool may save you some time. Rather then wondering how to align borders and how to space things in a word document, the software will do it for you. Furthermore, if you wonder which kind of questions to ask, having a visual support of different question types is helpful.
To conclude, the purpose of this blog was to initiate you to the concept of test makers. There are plenty of them available on Internet. It is up to you to decide whichever suits you best. The Easy TestMaker is probably not the best test maker, but it is a good one to start with to see if you enjoy this kind of tool.
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