Types of Achievement Tests Which Are Preferred By Outstanding Students at Al-Hussein Bin Talal University

Abstract

The present study aims to identify the prominent types of tests preferred by outstanding  students at Al Hussein Bin Talal University in eight faculties. The study sample consisted of (100) students in the faculties of - Educational Sciences, Arts and Science. They were selected randomly from the study population consisting from eight faculties including all students who have obtained  (84) and above, rating excellent during the second semester of the academic year 2009/2010. The results showed  that  59% of the students prefer multiple choice tests, and 36% prefer essay tests, while 5% of the respondents prefer performance tests.
The study also showed that 72% of the outstanding students who preferred multiple choice tests are students of the Faculty of Educational Sciences, and that 16% of the outstanding students who preferred multiple choice tests are from the Faculty of Arts, while outstanding students from the Faculty of Science who preferred multiple choice tests form 12% of the sample. In addition, 41% of the outstanding students who preferred essay tests are from the Faculty of Educational Sciences and 59% of the outstanding students who preferred the essay tests are from the Faculty of Arts. On the hand, all students who preferred performing tests are from the faculty of Science.
With regard to the differences between males and females, it is found that 44% of the outstanding males prefer multiple choice tests while 58% of the outstanding females prefer multiple choice tests. It is  noted that 33% of the outstanding males prefer essay tests compared with outstanding females  of whom 40% prefer essay tests. Also 23% of outstanding males prefer performance tests, while 2% of the outstanding females prefer performing tests.

Keywords: outstanding, multiple choice tests, Achievement tests, Essay, Performance, sample????????