Writing Better Tests

  1. Examples of Poor Multiple Choice Questions

POOR / Problem
Which of the following is not a character in The Odyssey?
  1. Telemachus
  2. Penelope
  3. Laertes
  4. Persephone
/ By failing to underscore the word "not" a student may read quickly and misunderstand the question
Which animal is a mammal that can fly?
  1. Moth
  2. Bat
  3. Arachnid
  4. Vulture
/ "Arachnid" may be an unfamiliar term for students and it is more technical than the other terms presented
Which of the following terms refers to the tempo of a piece of music?
  1. Forte
  2. Decrescendo poco y poco
  3. Piano
  4. Largo
/ There is an imbalance in the length of choices, with one much longer than the rest
What is the definition of bellicose?
  1. War-like
  2. Attractive
  3. Pretty
  4. Beautiful
/ B-D are too similar, making it obvious the answer is A
Schizophrenic disorders affect approximately what percent of the American public?
  1. 1%
  2. 1.5%
  3. 2%
  4. 3%
/ The percentages are too similar/too close together
The first time a company issues new stock to the public is referred to as an:
  1. initial public offering
  2. price earnings ratio
  3. stock split
  4. interest rate hike
/ The article "an" leads to discarding 2 choices even if you don’tknow the answer
A varietal wine refers to:
  1. a wine that is labeled with the different varieties of grapes used to produce it
  2. a wine that is labeled with the different years in which its grapes were harvested
  3. a wine that is labeled with thepredominant grape used to produce it
  4. a wine that is labeled with the different vineyards where it was produced.
/ "a wine that is labeled with the" should be in the stem instead of every answer. Too wordy!
The calculated mean of a sample is:
  1. never equal to the mean of the population
  2. always equal to the mean of the population
  3. always equal to the population median
  4. an estimate of the population mean
/ Don't use never or always since they are almost never the right answer.
  1. Examples of Poor True False Questions

POOR / Problem
It never rains in southern California / Don't use absolutes
Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Springfield, Missouri / Don't use more than one concept in a question (born in cabin, born in Springfield, Missouri)
It was not Thomas Jefferson who first signed the declaration of independence. / Huh? Don't use negatives unless you stress them.
In the realm of antidisestablishmentarianism, it is true that it denotes opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England. / Watch out for fancy vocabulary and strange sentence structure.