Sample of Good Item

Circle the best answer.

Reality television is a genre of television programming which, it is claimed, presents unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and features ordinary people rather than professional actors. It could be described __________[1] a form of artificial or “heightened” documentary. Although the genre __________[2] in some form or another since the early years of television, the current explosion of popularity dates from around 2000. Reality television covers a __________[3] range of television programming formats, from game or quiz shows which resemble the frantic, often demeaning programmes produced in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s (a modern example is Gaki no tsukai), to surveillance – or voyeurism – focused productions such as Big Brother.

Critics said that the __________[4] “reality television” is somewhat of a misnomer and that such shows frequently portray a modified and highly influenced form of reality, with participants put in exotic locations or abnormal situations, sometimes coached to act in certain ways by off-screen handlers, and with events on screen manipulated through editing and other post-production techniques.

Part of reality television’s __________[5] is due to its ability to place ordinary people in extraordinary situations. For example, on the ABC show, The Bachelor, __________[6] male dates a dozen women simultaneously, travelling on extraordinary dates to scenic locales. Reality television also has the __________[7] to turn its participants into national celebrities, outwardly in talent and performance programs such as Pop Idol, though frequently Survivor and Big Brother participants also reach some degree of celebrity.

Some commentators __________[8] that the name “reality television” is an inaccurate description for several styles of program included in the genre. In competition-based programs __________[9] Big Brother and Survivor, and other special-living-environment shows like The Real World, the producers design the format of the show and control the day-to-day activities and the environment, creating a completely fabricated world in which the competition plays out. Producers specifically select the __________[10], and use carefully designed scenarios, challenges, events, and settings to encourage particular behaviours and conflicts. Mark Brunett, creator of Survivor and other reality shows, has agreed with this assessment, and avoids the word “reality” to describe his shows; he said, “I tell good stories. It is not reality TV. It really is unscripted drama.”

Adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_tv

1        A. to B. by C. as D. with	6        A. a suitable B. an eligible C. a qualified D. a single
2        A. has endured B. has existed C. has occurred D. has happened	7        A. probability B. possibility C. potential D. tendency
3        A. broad B. large C. vast D. wide	8        A. have said B. has said C. had said D. have been saying
4        A. term B. name C. word D. phrase	9        A. for instance B. for example C. just as D. such as
5        A. appeal B. claim C. demand D. proposal	10    A. participants B. members C. partners D. players

Why it is a good item?

This is a good item because it is constructed according to the rules of cloze test. In this sample, the 5^th word will be deleted from the second sentence until the last sentence. The distractors are grammatically correct and they are arranged according to the length. As you can see from the sample, there are no double blanks in a sentence and they are written is systematically.