Ask any teacher which part of preparing an exam they would happily skip, and the table of specifications is near the top of the list. Not because it is hard to understand — it is a grid of competencies, item counts, and cognitive levels — but because filling it in by hand means counting every item, checking every percentage, and starting over when one question moves. A table of specifications generator does that counting for you.
This guide explains what a TOS generator actually does, the two different ways one can work, what it must get right before you trust it, and how to check its output in five minutes. If you want to learn to build a TOS manually first, our step-by-step TOS guide with a DepEd sample covers that; this page is about letting software do the tedious part.
The 10-second answer: A TOS generator turns either your plan (competencies, teaching days, item counts) or your finished test into a completed table of specifications — proportional item counts, percentages, cognitive levels, and item placements, with totals that always add up. It saves the counting, not the thinking: you still choose the competencies, and you still check that each item sits at the right cognitive level.
What a table of specifications generator actually does
A TOS has two kinds of content: decisions only a teacher can make, and arithmetic that follows from them. Which competencies to test and how long you spent on each are decisions. How many items that works out to, what percentage each row is, and which item numbers belong to which competency are arithmetic. A generator handles the second kind completely and helps with the first.
In practice, a good generator takes care of:
- Proportional item counts from the teaching days for each competency.
- Percentages for every row, rounded so they still total 100.
- Cognitive-level counts per competency, using Bloom’s revised taxonomy.
- Item placement — the item numbers on the paper that belong to each competency.
- Totals and cross-checks that a hand-built TOS most often gets wrong.
- A print-ready document in a format your coordinator will accept.
Plan-first or paper-first: the two ways a generator can work
TOS generators come in two kinds, and knowing which one you are using explains most of what it can and cannot do. Some start from your plan and write the test to fit it; others start from a test that already exists and describe it. Both produce the same table, from opposite directions.
| Plan-first | Paper-first | |
|---|---|---|
| You provide | Competencies, codes, days, items, level spread | A finished (or generated) test paper |
| It produces | A test written to fit the plan, plus the TOS | A TOS describing the paper |
| Best for | DepEd exams that must follow a competency blueprint | Papers already written, college exams, quick audits |
| Main risk | A competency entered wrongly flows into the test | Levels judged from wording may need adjusting |
Plan-first is the textbook method — blueprint, then items — and it is what most DepEd coordinators expect. Paper-first is honest about how many tests are actually made, and it is invaluable for checking whether an existing paper is balanced at all.
What a good TOS generator must get right
Automation only helps if the result is correct, and a wrong TOS is worse than a slow one because it looks finished. These are the five things to look for before you trust any generator with your exam documents.
Proportional item counts
The generator should give each competency items in proportion to its teaching time, and handle rounding sensibly. If two competencies each come out at 7.5 items, it must round one up and one down so the total stays exact, rather than quietly producing a 49- or 51-item test.
Cognitive levels that match the wording
A level label is only as good as the item it describes. “Identify the parts of the cell” is Remembering no matter which column it is placed in. A generator that writes the items to a planned level should keep to it; one that reads levels from an existing paper should judge them from how each question is worded — and show you where it put each one so you can move any it misjudged.
Accurate item placement
The placement column — “items 1–10,” “items 11–25” — is how a coordinator checks the TOS against the paper. It has to be generated from the final paper, after every edit, or it will point at the wrong numbers. This is the column hand-made TOS documents most often get wrong.
Totals that always add up
The item column must equal the test’s length, percentages must total 100, and every item must appear exactly once. A generator should enforce these automatically; they are the first three things a reviewer checks.
A format your school accepts
DepEd schools generally expect competency codes, teaching days, and the six cognitive levels; colleges often use difficulty bands and course outcomes instead. A useful generator produces the layout your institution uses and exports to Word so you can add school names and signatories.
The arithmetic it automates
It helps to know the calculation the generator is doing, so you can spot a result that looks wrong. Every TOS uses the same proportion.
Items for a competency = (days for that competency ÷ total days) × total items
Percentage = items for that competency ÷ total items × 100
For a 40-item test over 16 days, a competency taught for 6 days gets 6 ÷ 16 × 40 = 15 items, which is 37.5% of the test. Done by hand for eight competencies, then repeated across six cognitive-level columns, that is where the evening goes. Done by a generator, it takes no time at all — and it is redone instantly when you change the number of items.
How to check an automated TOS in five minutes
Even a reliable generator deserves a quick review before the TOS goes to your coordinator. This five-minute routine catches nearly every problem worth catching.
- Read the competency rows. Is every competency one you actually taught this term, with the right code?
- Check the days. Do they reflect days taught, including lost days, rather than the budget of work?
- Add the totals. Items equal the test length; percentages equal 100.
- Spot-check five items. Pick five item numbers, find them on the paper, and confirm each sits under the right competency and a sensible cognitive level.
- Look at the level spread. If almost everything is Remembering, the test needs higher-order items, whatever the table says.
Blank template, spreadsheet, or generator?
Teachers usually reach for one of three tools, and each has a place. The right choice depends on how many tests you make in a term and how much of the work you want to keep doing by hand.
| Tool | What it does for you | What you still do |
|---|---|---|
| Blank Word template | Gives you the layout | Every count, percentage, level, and placement |
| Spreadsheet with formulas | Computes items and percentages from days | Levels, placements, and keeping it in sync with the paper |
| TOS generator | Counts, levels, placements, totals, and the formatted document | Choosing competencies and reviewing the result |
A template is fine for a one-off quiz. For two summative tests and a term exam per subject, per term, the generator pays for itself in the first week of exams.
Building a TOS automatically in Skoolari
Skoolari includes both kinds of TOS generator — plan-first for DepEd and paper-first for colleges — because the two systems expect different documents. Here is how each one works.
DepEd mode: competency-based, plan-first
Open the Assessment tool in a subject folder and choose the TOS-Based — competency-aligned generation mode. For each competency, enter the statement, its code, the days you spent on it, and the number of items. Then set how many items sit at each of the six cognitive levels — Remembering through Creating — or press Auto-balance for a spread that leans toward the lower levels. Upload your module (PDF, Word, PowerPoint, or text) and generate.
Skoolari writes the test to that plan and produces the Table of Specifications from it: competency, code, days, items, percentage, the cognitive-level breakdown per competency, and the item placement on the paper. The TOS is a separate teacher’s copy you can print or download, so it never ends up stapled to the learners’ paper by mistake. The full process for the term exam is in our guide to the periodical test with answer key and TOS.
College mode: from your paper, paper-first
In College mode, generate an assessment in the Generate tab — you can edit the items first — and press TOS. Skoolari reads the finished paper and builds the table: coverage rows from the source each item was drawn from, Easy, Average, and Difficult bands, and each item placed under a level of thinking judged from how the question is worded. Check those level placements, download the Word file, and add your college, department, and signatory lines.
The College TOS is available on the Starter and Pro plans; the plans page has the details.
Frequently asked questions
Teachers trying a TOS generator for the first time tend to ask the same few questions. The short answers are below.
Will my coordinator accept a generated TOS?
A TOS is judged on its content, not on how it was typed. If the competencies, days, counts, levels, and placements are correct and in your school’s format, it is a valid TOS. Review it as carefully as one you made by hand, because you are the one signing it.
Can it make a TOS for a test I already wrote?
That is what a paper-first generator is for. In Skoolari’s College mode, the TOS is built from the paper shown in the Generate tab, including any edits you make to the items. For DepEd plan-first tests, enter the plan and the test is written to match it.
Which cognitive levels should I use?
Most DepEd schools use the six levels of Bloom’s revised taxonomy: Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating. Some schools group them into easy, average, and difficult instead. Use whatever your school prescribes; our Bloom’s question stems help you write items at each level.
Do I still need to understand how a TOS works?
Yes. A generator saves the arithmetic, but you decide what goes in, and you are the one who will spot a competency that was never taught or an item labelled at the wrong level. Ten minutes with a test construction guide makes every generated TOS easier to review.
Check your school’s or division’s required TOS format and cognitive-level scheme before submitting, as these can differ between schools.