Very often, an organization wants to test the effectiveness of their training by administering some type of test at the end of the training. Unfortunately, most trainers are not trained to write quiz questions. It is much more than just writing 20 questions about the content. You can skew test results (and thus get inaccurate feedback on training effectiveness) if test questions are not designed correctly.
In this first of three articles on designing good test questions, we’ll look at multiple choice questions and how best to design them.
Usually, when someone doesn’t have the ability to write multiple choice questions, the correct answer will always be the longest one; try to be aware of this and keep your answers the same length.
It is MUCH easier to provide 3 alternatives than 4. Keep it simple. Your answers should include one correct answer and one incorrect but plausible answer.
One of the ways to ensure that you have plausible but incorrect answers is to ensure that each of your choices is logically consistent.
Check all the answers that are primary colors:
Right
Red
Blue
White
orange
Wrong
Red
Blue
White
ponies
Your plausible but incorrect answers don’t have to be terribly difficult; keep in mind that you are evaluating people who have new knowledge and limited skills/experience. stump of the unqualified person. Similarly, the correct answer should not jump off the list.
If your answer begins with a vowel, the previous question must end with “a(n)”; if it ends with year – which is grammatically correct – the question itself automatically causes the student to choose the answer that begins with the vowel.
Example: Example: The Interstate is also known as:
Freeway
Highway
Road
Do you see/hear how to end the question with year forces you to choose Expressway?
All options must begin with similar phrases or sentence structures.
For example:
Right
The time to cross the street is:
A. When the traffic light turns green
B. After looking both ways
C. If the way is clear
Wrong
The best time for fly fishing is:
One morning
b.late
C. from April to May; after the ice pack has melted
Careful with All of the above. If you are going to provide “all of the above” (or “none of the above”) as one of your choices, you must include it in EVERYBODY Choices If you have 15 multiple choice questions and only 1 or 2 have a “none of the above” option, that’s a clear sign that the correct answer is none of the above.
These guidelines for developing well-written multiple-choice test questions should help ensure that you can accurately gauge your student’s level of learning.