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A multiple-choice question (MCQ) (ERWIN) Selective Type
It is composed of two parts:
1. a stem that identifies the question or problem,

2. 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.
The advantages of using MCQs for assessment The disadvantages of using MCQs for assessment
1. easy to mark and can even be scored by a 1. the limited types of knowledge that can be
computer. assessed by multiple choice tests. Multiple
2. attractive assessment approach for large choice tests are best adapted for testing
classes. well-defined or lower-order skills. Problem-solving
3. If item writers are well trained and items are and higher-order reasoning skills are better
quality assured, it can be a very effective assessed through short-answer and essay tests.
assessment technique. 2. multiple choice tests is possible ambiguity in the
4. multiple choice tests often require less time to examinee's interpretation of the item. Failing to
administer for a given amount of material than interpret information as the test maker intended
would tests requiring written responses. can result in an "incorrect" response, even if the
taker's response is potentially valid.
3. The term "multiple guess" has been used to
describe this scenario because test-takers may
attempt to guess rather than determine the
correct answer.
Note: Well designed MCQs allow testing for a wide breadth of content and objectives and provide an
objective measurement of student ability.
The following suggestions for designing MCQs are organized into three sections:
1) general strategies, 2) designing stems, and 3) designing alternatives.
General strategies
1) 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.
2) 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.
3) 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.
4) 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.
5) 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.
6) 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. For example:
The University of Waterloo does NOT have a building of this name?

a.) B.C. Matthews Hall c.) I.L. Neilson Hall
b.) Carl A. Pollock Hall d.) Douglas Wright Engineering Building
Designing stems (2nd Reporter)
1) Express the full problem in the stem. When creating the item, ask yourself if the students would be able
to answer the question without looking at the options. This makes the purpose of the question clear.
2) Put all relevant material in the stem. Do not repeat in each of the alternatives information that can be
included in the stem. This makes options easier to read and understand, and makes it easier for students
to answer the question quickly.
3) Eliminate excessive wording and irrelevant information from the stem. Irrelevant information in the stem
confuses students and leads them to waste time:
A number of books have been published about the University of Waterloo. These books fall into various
genres such as photographic histories, biographies of prominent people involved with the University, and
accounts of the history of individual departments. Among them was a book whose author is known as
"Simon the Troll". What is the title of this book?
a.) Dreaming in Technicolor c.) Of Mud and Dreams
b.) Water Under the Bridge d.) Images of Waterloo
*Most of the stem is not necessary to answer the question. A better question would be:
What is the title of the book about Waterloo written by “Simon the Troll”?
a.) Dreaming in Technicolor c.)Of Mud and Dreams
b.)Water Under the Bridge d.)Images of Waterloo
Designing alternatives (Alecer)
1) 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.
2) 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.
3) 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.
Waterloo Counselling Services provides workshops about: It is unlikely

a.) cooking skills c.) *study skills that students
b.) hockey refereeing d.) fire safety and prevention would
choose
options a, b,
Waterloo Counselling Services provides workshops about: or d, even if
they didn’t
a.) preparing for marriage c.) * study skills
know the
b.) presentation skills d.) psychotherapy research answer.
A better
question
would have
4) Make the choices gramatically consistent with the stem. Read the stem and each of the choices aloud
to make sure that they are grammatically correct. plausible links
between the
5) Avoid using “all of the above”. If “all of the above” is an option and students know two of the options
stem and the
are correct, the answer must be “all of the above”. If they know one is incorrect, the answer must not
distractors:
be “all of the above”. A student may also read the first option, determine that it is correct, and be
misled into choosing it without reading all of the options.
6) Avoid using “none of the above”. The option “none of the above” does not test whether the student
knows the correct answer, but only that he/she knows the distractors aren’t correct.
7) Refrain from using words such as always, never, all, or none. Most students know that few things are
universally true or false, so distractors with these words in them can often be easily dismissed.
8) Avoid overlapping choices. Make the alternatives mutually exclusive. It should never be the case that if
one of the distractors is true, another distractor must be true as well.
9) Avoid questions of the form “Which of the following statements is correct?” There is no clear question
being asked, and the choices are often heterogeneous. Such questions are better presented in the
form of True/False questions.

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A multiple-choice question (MCQ) (ERWIN) Selective Type

It is composed of two parts:

1. a stem that identifies the question or problem,

The University of Waterloo does NOT have a building of this name?

Designing alternatives (Alecer)

Waterloo Counselling Services provides workshops about: It is unlikely

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