When tests are developed for instructional purposes to assess the effects of educational programs, or for educational research purposes, it is very important to conduct item and test analyses. Writing good test items is a creative exercise and its selection requires proper skill and care. Effective item writing as well as the simple statistical techniques of item analysis can improve classroom tests which help in building high reliability and validity into a test in advance. The researchers made a pilot study of 45 items given to 300 eighth standard students before finalizing the items for the final test. The average difficulty factor and the average discriminating index of the finalized 30 items are 0.56 and 0.52, variance is 74.92, reliability is 0.93, validity is 0.96 and standard error is 2.19. The results revealed that a test can be improved through the selection, substitution or revision of items. It is hoped that this instrument will help the teachers to determine the weaknesses of their students in learning mathematics.

item, difficulty factor, discriminating index, upper group and lower group of students.