10 Rules For Writing Multiple Choice Questions: The eLearning Coach.
Nice post here on writing good multiple choice questions. Click through for the details.
- Test knowledge comprehension, not just recall
- Use simple sentence structure and precise wording
- Place most of the words in the question stem
- Make all distractors plausible
- Keep all answer choices the same length
- Avoid double negatives
- Mix up the order of the correct answers
- Keep the number of options consistent
- Avoid tricking test-takers
- Use ‘All of the Above’ and ‘None of the Above’ with caution
And one closing comment; it should be fairly obvious that learners don’t recall everything you stuff into your training. (You shouldn’t be stuffing it in the first place, right!?) So use the questions to reinforce the topics that you need them to remember.
Mike Taylor 