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📌 Quick Answer — Table of Specifications (TOS)
A Table of Specifications (TOS) is a planning chart that maps every test item to a learning competency and a cognitive level before you write the test. It guarantees your summative test is balanced, valid, and competency-aligned — exactly what DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026 expects. The ILAW generator builds your TOS, examination, and answer key in one click.
Aligned to DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026 · Effective SY 2026–2027 · For all Key Stages
🎯 Build your TOS, summative test & answer key — aligned to DO No. 015, s. 2026
Paste your learning competencies and teaching days. The AI allocates items, spreads them across cognitive levels, and exports a ready-to-print Word file with a matching answer key.
✦ Open the TOS & Summative Test GeneratorNew assessment policy: DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026
DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026 — the Revised Guidelines on Classroom Assessment, Grading System, and Awards and Recognition — takes effect SY 2026–2027 and supersedes DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2015. Confirm your school's transition status with your school head. Throughout this guide, item counts mean items (questions), not points.
A Table of Specifications, often shortened to TOS, is the blueprint of a test. It is a simple grid you prepare before writing any item, and it answers three questions for every question on your exam: which learning competency does this item assess, what cognitive level does it demand, and how many items does that competency deserve. When all three are planned in advance, the finished test is fair, balanced, and genuinely measures what was taught — instead of over-testing one easy topic and skipping another.
Teachers also call it a two-way table of specifications because it lines competencies up against cognitive levels in two directions: down the rows are the competencies, across the columns are the thinking skills. That cross-tabulation is what keeps a summative test from drifting into pure recall. A well-built TOS shows, at a glance, that a learner who studied the term's competencies can pass, and that higher-order thinking is represented where the key stage calls for it.
DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026 reframes classroom assessment as a continuous, learner-centered, and evidence-based process. For summative testing, the order is clear on a few principles that a Table of Specifications directly supports: tests must be competency-aligned, based on lessons actually covered, and built to gather sufficient and valid evidence of learning rather than an excessive number of items. The order's spirit is quality over quantity — fewer, better-targeted questions.
A TOS is how you make that alignment visible and defensible. If an instructional leader or a parent asks why a learner received a particular grade, the TOS demonstrates that each item traced back to a competency taught during the term. It is also the cleanest way to honor the order's emphasis on criterion-referenced, standards-based grading: the test is anchored to the curriculum's competencies, not to how the class happened to perform.
Under the order, the maximum number of items differs by key stage, and Summative Tests are capped at one-half of the corresponding Term Examination. Summative Tests are administered after roughly fifteen (15) days of instruction and must align with the competencies taught in that stretch. Use the ceilings below as planning limits — your TOS distributes those items across competencies.
| Key Stage | Grades | Term Exam (max items) | Summative Test (≤ ½ TE) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | K | No written exam | Developmental assessment |
| KS1 | Grades 1–3 | Flexible / age-appropriate | Flexible |
| KS2 | Grades 4–6 | 40 items | up to 20 items |
| KS3 (JHS) | Grades 7–10 | 50 items (include HOTS) | up to 25 items |
| KS4 (SHS) | Grades 11–12 | 60 items | up to 30 items |
Kindergarten learners are not given a written Term Examination; assessment focuses on observation and developmental progress. Junior High School term exams should include higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). Always confirm specifics with your school's assessment guidelines.
Building a TOS by hand is the part teachers dread, because the arithmetic has to balance perfectly. Here is the exact logic — the same logic the ILAW generator automates:
Done by hand, steps 3 to 6 can eat an entire prep period and still need re-checking when the numbers don't reconcile. That is precisely where automation pays off.
The columns of a two-way TOS are the cognitive levels, usually drawn from the revised Bloom's taxonomy: Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating. Lower key stages lean toward remembering and understanding; junior and senior high school tests should reach into applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating so that higher-order thinking is genuinely measured. Balancing these columns is what separates a rigorous summative test from a memorization quiz — and it is the single most common thing a hand-built TOS gets wrong.
🚀 Generate Your TOS, Summative Test & Answer Key — Aligned to DO No. 015, s. 2026
AI-powered · All Key Stages and subjects · Items allocated by teaching days · Cognitive levels by key stage · Download as a ready-to-print Word file
✦ Open the GeneratorInstead of wrestling with spreadsheets, you fill in a short form: subject or learning area, grade level, term, and your list of learning competencies with the teaching days for each. You can let the tool auto-set the item total by key stage or type your own. From there it does the whole TOS computation — weighting by days, allocating items, and distributing cognitive levels — then writes the full summative test and a matching answer key.
You can choose an all–multiple-choice format or a mixed format with short-response and problem-solving items, pick English or Filipino, and add your DepEd letterhead details (region, division, school, school year, teacher, and school head). The output downloads as an editable Word file, so it is ready to print or fine-tune before exam day. For Kindergarten, the tool recommends developmental, observation-based evidence instead of a written exam — consistent with the policy.
❓ What is a Table of Specifications (TOS)?
A Table of Specifications (TOS) is a planning chart that maps every test item to a learning competency and a cognitive level before the test is written. It shows how many items each competency receives, where those items fall on the test, and how they spread across thinking skills such as remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. The TOS is what makes a summative test valid, balanced, and competency-aligned instead of guessed.
❓ Does DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026 require a Table of Specifications?
DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026 requires summative tests and term examinations to be competency-aligned, based on lessons actually covered, and supported by valid evidence of learning. A Table of Specifications is the standard, practical tool teachers use to prove that alignment, which is why TOS-based test construction fits directly with the order. Always follow any specific format your school or division requires.
❓ How many items should a summative test have?
As a general rule under DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026, each Summative Test should not exceed one-half of the items prescribed for the corresponding Term Examination. The term-exam ceilings are 40 items for Grades 4–6 (KS2), 50 items for Junior High School (KS3), and 60 items for Senior High School (KS4). Kindergarten learners do not take a written Term Examination.
❓ Is a TOS the same as a test blueprint?
Yes. "Test blueprint" and "Table of Specifications" describe the same thing: a plan that decides, before any item is written, which competency each item assesses, what cognitive level it targets, and how many items each competency gets. Some schools also call it a two-way table of specifications because competencies and cognitive levels are crossed in two directions.
❓ Are item counts the same as points?
No. Item counts are the number of questions, not points. A single item can be worth one or more points depending on its type and your rubric. The DepEd item ceilings are expressed in items, so a 40-item exam means forty questions regardless of the total points.
❓ What is the difference between a Summative Test and a Term Examination?
A Summative Test (ST) is given periodically during a term — typically after about fifteen days of instruction — to evaluate the competencies taught in that span. The Term Examination (TE) is the cumulative assessment near the end of the term covering the whole term's competencies. Under the order, a Summative Test should generally have no more than half the items of the corresponding Term Examination.
❓ Can I download the TOS and test as a Word file?
Yes. The ILAW TOS & Summative Test Generator exports a complete, editable Word document containing your Table of Specifications, the examination, and a matching answer key, formatted with your DepEd letterhead details so it is ready to print.
Reference: DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026 — Revised Guidelines on Classroom Assessment, Grading System, and Awards and Recognition for the K to 12 Basic Education Program (official text on deped.gov.ph). This guide is for teacher reference; always follow your school's and division's official assessment instructions.
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