Writing Quality Multiple Choice

Questions

Facilitated BySara FridleyRegion 3 Education Service Agencysara.fridley@k12.sd.us

QUESTION – ANSWER RELATIONSHIP

Right There

Think and

Search

Writer and Me

On My Own

Answer is in the text, usually in

one sentence

Answer is in text, but not

all in one place

Answer is in text and in

reader’s head

Answer is totally in reader’s

head

LITERAL INFERENTIAL

Types of QuestionsWhat Are You Assessing? Detail/recall Reading

Comprehension Vocabulary Chart/graph

analysis Problem-solving

Inference Predict Author’s purpose Cause & effect

Summative & Formative Assessment Assessment of Learning

(Summative Assessment) How much have students learned as

of a particular point in time?

Assessment for Learning (Formative Assessment) How can we use assessments to help

students learn more?

Assessment of Learning Purpose is

to measure student achievement at a point in time for reporting and accountability

to sort students in rank order to maximize student learning through standardized

tests Results used primarily by

policy makers & program planners educators Parents & students

Assessment for Learning

The purpose is To promote further improvement of student learning

during the learning process To involve students in ongoing assessment of their

own achievement Identify student needs Help students see and hit a target

Results are used primarily by Educators – to adjust teaching Parents & students

Which is your purpose?

OF learning FOR learning

Disadvantages of Multiple Choice Questions

Quality items are difficult and time consuming to develop Tendency for items to focus on low level learning

objectives No credit for partial knowledge Assessment results may be biased by students’ reading

ability and test-wiseness May overestimate learning due to the ability to utilize an

elimination process for answer selection Does not measure the ability to organize and express

ideas

With that in mind . . .

Allows for assessment of a wide range of learning objectives from factual to evaluative understanding

Amenable to item analysis Permits manipulation of difficulty level by adjusting

the degree of similarity among response options Objective nature limits bias in scoring Easily administered to large numbers of students Limits assessment bias caused by poor writing

skills

AND it is the format used on high-stakes tests

General Guidelines for Writing Questions

Keep wording simple and focused Follow rules of grammar Eliminate superfluous material Test mastery of material, not ability to figure out what

you’re asking Avoid clues within items

Grammatical clues Determiners such as “always” and “never”

Don’t lift wording directly from materials write in your own words

Highlight critical words such as MOST, LEAST, EXCEPT

they are easily overlooked

Parts of the MC Question Stem

Provides introductory information Direct question or incomplete

statement Correct Answer

One and ONLY ONE is preferable Distractors

Incorrect response options

General Guidelines for Multiple Choice Questions

State whole question in the stem Keep responses brief and parallel in:

Length Use of specific determiners Grammatical construction Generality

Avoid repetition in response options Limit use of “all” or “none of the above” Be sure there is only one correct or best answer

Best answer items should be worded to ask for BEST

More Guidelines Negative premises are undesirable

may especially disadvantage ESL (English Second Language) students.

The answer to one question should not be obtainable from another question.

Avoid potential sources of bias & distortion Wording stimuli (graphics, pictures, charts)

Use at least 3 distractors to reduce the chance of guessing the correct answer.

Avoid using a pattern for the position of the correct response.

School Bus — Multiple Choice

A school is planning a field trip and will be using school buses to transport the students. A school bus holds 36 students. If 1,128 students are being transported, how many buses are needed?

a. 31 c. 32

b. 31.33 d. 36

Sample Questions

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

A. 2 hours

B. 7 ½ hours

C. 4 hours, 30 minutes

D. 6 hours

E. 5 ¾ hours

Practice question from ACT Prep booklet

Two cyclists start biking from a trail’s start 3 hours apart. The second cyclist travels at 10 miles per hour and starts 3 hours after the first cyclist who is traveling at 6 miles per hour. How much time will pass before the second cyclist catches up with the first from the time the second cyclist started biking?

Practice question from ACT Prep booklet

If a circle has the diameter of 8, what is the circumference?

A. 6.28

B. 12.56

C. 25.13

D. 50.24

E. 100.48

Practice question from ACT Prep booklet

The wound exhibited signs of copious drainage requiring medical intervention.

Copious means

A. Minimal

B. Clarity

C. Maximal

D. Foul

When New York freed its slaves, Isabella had

A. no children

B. five children

C. an education

D. three children

The concept of the plasma membrane as a simple sieve-like structure is not inadequate to explain the

A. passage of gases involved in respiration into and out of the cell

B. ability of the cell to admit selectively some inorganic ions while excluding others

C. Failure of protein molecules to pass through the membrane

D. Inability of the cell to use starch without prior digestion

Released test questions from the 2003 and 2004 California Standards Tests (CSTs).

The details about the princess’s life before her eighteenth birthday imply that she was -

A. Raised to value only material goods

B. Indifferent to the feelings of others

C. Easily bored

D. Both A and C

E. Both B and C, but not A

Sample question from Standardized Test Practice

Purpose of Questions

What are you asking the student to know?

Detail

Where was Susan’s dad stationed overseas?

A. In Albany, New York

B. In Adu Jahm, near Baghdad

C. Among ancient ruins in southern Iraq

D. East of Iraq, in Iran

Sample question from Scholastic Scope

Vocabulary – Multiple Meanings

The subject of today’s lesson is words with multiple meanings. In which sentence does the word subject mean the same thing as in the sentence above?A. Susan’s mother is subject to fainting spells.

B. In Kenya, high school students take 13 subjects at a time.

C. If you disobey traffic laws, you may be subject to arrest.

D. Feel free to change the subject of your report.

Sample question from SAT9 Activities (McDougall-Littell).

Inference Sample

Released test questions from the 2003 and 2004 California Standards Tests (CSTs).

Infer/Predict Sample

Released test questions from the 2005 Massachusetts Standards Tests (CSTs).

Inference

The details about the princess’s life before her eighteenth birthday imply that she was -

A. Raised to value only material goods

B. Indifferent to the feelings of others

C. Easily bored

D. Not interested in getting married

Sample question from Standardized Test Practice

Comprehension Sample

Released test questions from the 2003 and 2004 California Standards Tests (CSTs).

Author’s Purpose

Released test questions from the 2003 and 2004 California Standards Tests (CSTs).

Author’s Purpose

Released test questions from the 2003 and 2004 California Standards Tests (CSTs).

Application Sample

Released test questions from the 2005 Massachusetts Standards Tests (CSTs).

Critical Analysis

You can conclude from the passage that Epimetheus

A. did not want to know the contents of the box.

B. already knew what the box contained.

C. wanted to know what was in the box.

D. never did learn the contents of the box.

Sample question from SAT9 Activities (McDougall-Littell).

Critical Analysis

The poem suggests that John Henry dies from

A. shock.

B. a broken heart.

C. disappointment.

D. pushing himself too hard.

Sample question from SAT9 Activities (McDougall-Littell).

Reading Comprehension

Which of the following questions is answered in the article?

A. What causes heart damage during prolonged space travel?

B. Why might space travelers develop kidney stones?

C. What can space travelers do to avoid becoming depressed?

D. What will the interior of a passenger space plane look like?

Sample question from Standardized Test Practice

Write Questions & Peer Review --- 25 minutes

10-15 minutes Write 4 questions Check guidelines

10-15 minutes Read passage Answer questions Check guidelines Provide feedback

Edit questions if needed