Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives
When you look at the sample test question page, you will see four questions on each page that cover a particular topic. The value of the points for each question grows from 1 point for the first question to 4 points for the last question. The reason for this can be attributed to the fact that the questions are becoming more difficult. This is how a MaintTest evaluates the depth of knowledge of a candidate. The first question may only ask them to recognize somethng while the last question requires more in-depth analysis in answering the question
You may not be familiar with Bloom's "Taxonomy of Educational Objectives" which, since 1956, has provided guidelines for stating expected levels of learning. Levels in the cognitive domain include:
• Knowledge of facts, terminology, etc.
• Comprehension of meaning
• Application of previously learned information
• Analysis that includes the skill to make inferences, etc.
• Synthesis that includes creative skills
• Evaluation which includes the ability to critique, defend, and reframe
Benjamin Bloom created this taxonomy for categorizing level of abstraction of questions that commonly occur in educational and testing settings. The taxonomy provides a useful structure in which to categorize test questions. The MaintTest generally tests each of the first four levels from basic knowledge to analysis. This gives you that depth on each subject so you can be sure that the depth of knowledge you are looking for in a cabdidate can be assessed.
Competence |
Skills Demonstrated |
Knowledge |
• observation and recall of information
• knowledge of dates, events, places
• knowledge of major ideas
• mastery of subject matter
• Question Cues: list, define, tell, describe, identify, show, label, collect, examine, tabulate, quote, name, who, when, where, etc. |
Comprehension |
• understanding information
• grasp meaning
• translate knowledge into new context
• interpret facts, compare, contrast
• order, group, infer causes
• predict consequences
• Question Cues: summarize, describe, interpret, contrast, predict, associate, distinguish, estimate, differentiate, discuss, extend |
Application |
• use information
• use methods, concepts, theories in new situations
• solve problems using required skills or knowledge
• Questions Cues: apply, demonstrate, calculate, complete, illustrate, show, solve, examine, modify, relate, change, classify, experiment, discover |
Analysis |
• seeing patterns
• organization of parts
• recognition of hidden meanings
• identification of components
• Question Cues: analyze, separate, order, explain, connect, classify, arrange, divide, compare, select, explain, infer |
Synthesis |
• use old ideas to create new ones
• generalize from given facts
• relate knowledge from several areas
• predict, draw conclusions
• Question Cues: combine, integrate, modify, rearrange, substitute, plan, create, design, invent, what if?, compose, formulate, prepare, generalize, rewrite |
Evaluation |
• compare and discriminate between ideas
• assess value of theories, presentations
• make choices based on reasoned argument
• verify value of evidence
• recognize subjectivity
• Question Cues: assess, decide, rank, grade, test, measure, recommend, convince, select, judge, explain, discriminate, support, conclude, compare, summarize |
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