Effect of Item Arrangement, Knowledge of Arrangement, and Test Anxiety on Two Scoring Methods

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Abstract
Number right (NR) and elimination (EL) scores were analyzed on 48-item college level mathematics exam that was assembled from pretest data in three forms by varying the item orderings: easy-hard, uniform, random. One-half of the forms contained information explaining the item arrangement and suggesting strategies for taking the test. Several anxiety measures were administered in a balanced order along with the experimental forms to 97 undergraduates. Multivariate ANOVA revealed no significant effects of the independent variables (order, knowledge, anxiety condition) on either cognitive dependent measure (NR or EL) (a = .05). Multivariate ANCOVA, using measures of anxiety as multiple covariates, also failed to show any significant influence (a = .05) on the cognitive dependent measures or a set of perceptional dependent measures. Results suggest that neither test scores nor attitudes are influenced by item order, knowledge thereof, or anxiety level, although factors contributing to the non-significance may have been inherent in the research design because of inadequate power and/or student performance motivation.

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