KIMMY RAE M. ALBUNAG
 
“CORRECT ANSWER” OR “BEST ANSWER”
Multiple Choice- A multiple-choice question (MCQ) is composed of two parts: a stem that identifies the question or problem, and a set of alternatives or possible answers that contain a key that is the best answer to the question, and a number of distractors that are plausible but incorrect answers to the question.
 
General Strategies 
  • Write questions throughout the term. Multiple-choice question exams are challenging and time-consuming to create. You will find it easier if you write a few questions each week, perhaps after a lecture when the course material is still fresh in your mind. 
  • Instruct students to select the “best answer” rather than the “correct answer”. By doing this, you acknowledge the fact that the distractors may have an element of truth to them and discourage arguments from students who may argue that their answer is correct as well. 
  • Use familiar language. The question should use the same terminology that was used in the course. Avoid using unfamiliar expressions or foreign language terms, unless measuring knowledge of such language is one of the goals of the question. Students are likely to dismiss distractors with unfamiliar terms as incorrect. 
  • Avoid giving verbal association clues from the stem in the key. If the key uses words that are very similar to words found in the stem, students are more likely to pick it as the correct answer. 
  • Avoid trick questions. Questions should be designed so that students who know the material can find the correct answer. Questions designed to lead students to an incorrect answer, through misleading phrasing or by emphasizing an otherwise unimportant detail of the solution, violate this principle. 
  • Avoid negative wording. Students often fail to observe negative wording and it can confuse them. As a result, students who are familiar with the material often make mistakes on negatively worded questions. In general, avoid having any negatives in the stem or the options. In the rare cases where you use negatives be sure to emphasize the key words by putting them in upper case, and bolding or underlining them.
 
 
 
Designing Alternatives
  • Limit the number of alternatives. Use between three and five alternatives per question. Research shows that three-choice items are about as effective as four or five-choice items, mainly because it is difficult to come up with plausible distractors. 
  • Make sure there is only one best answer. Avoid having two or more options that are correct, but where one is “more” correct than the others. The distractors should be incorrect answers to the question posed in the stem. 
  • Make the distractors appealing and plausible. If the distractors are farfetched, students will too easily locate the correct answer, even if they have little knowledge. When testing for recognition of key terms and ideas keep the distractors similar in length and type of language as the correct solution. When testing conceptual understanding, distractors should represent common mistakes made by students. 
 
Tips for Writing Good Multiple Choice items:
Avoid
Do Use
In the stem:
  • Long / complex sentences
  • Trivial statements
  • Negatives and double-negatives
  • Ambiguity or indefinite terms, absolutestatements, and broad generalization
  • Extraneous material
  • Item characteristics that provide a clue to the answer misconceptions
In the choices:
  • Statements too close to the correct answer
  • Completely implausible responses
  • ‘All of the above,’ ‘none of the above’
  • Overlapping responses (e.g., if ‘A’ is true)
In the stem:
  • Your own words – not statements straight out of the textbook
  • Single, clearly formulated problems
In the choices:
  • Plausible and homogeneous distracters
  • Statements based on common student
  • True statements that do not answer the questions
  • Short options – and all same length
  • Correct options evenly distributed over A, B, C, etc.
  • Alternatives that are in logical or numerical
    then ‘C’ is also true) order
  • At least 3 alternatives
Suggestion: After each lecture during the term, jot down two or three multiple choice questions based on the material for that lecture. Regularly taking a few minutes to compose questions, while the material is fresh in your mind, will allow you to develop a question bank that you can use to construct tests and exams quickly and easily.