Strategies for Writing Better MCQs

An often cited 2002 paper on the topic of MCQs contains a thirty-one item list of guidelines for creating effective exams. The complete list is included below. 

Haladyna et al. “A Review of Multiple-Choice Item-Writing Guidelines for Classroom Assessment Links to an external site..”  Applied Measurement in Education, 15(3), 309–334, 2002

For a more focused approach to creating effective exams, I draw from Parkes and Zimmaro's 2016 book. Here's a few of their strategies for achieving their two guiding principles: increasing exam validity and decreasing the cognitive load for students. 

• Avoid Window Dressing: leave out item information that is not connected with content or the actual assessment process
• Beware Copy and Paste: avoid taking language out of context from sources like the textbook
• Watch Your Language: use appropriately complex language and avoid negatives
• Stem-Twisting: use direct questions as often as possible
• It’s Nice to Have Options:  develop plausible and well-formatted options

The following video describes those strategies in detail and provides examples. 

 

 

TABLE 1 

A Revised Taxonomy of Multiple-Choice (MC) Item-Writing Guidelines 

_____________________________________________________

 

Content concerns 

1. 1. 1. Every item should reflect specific content and a single specific mental behavior, as called for in test specifications (two-way grid, test blueprint). 
      2. Base each item on important content to learn; avoid trivial content. 
      3. Use novel material to test higher level learning. Paraphrase textbook language or language used during instruction when used in a test item to avoid testing for simply recall. 
      4. Keep the content of each item independent from content of other items on the test. 
      5. Avoid over specific and over general content when writing MC items. 
      6. Avoid opinion-based items. 
      7. Avoid trick items. 
      8. Keep vocabulary simple for the group of students being tested.
         

         Formatting concerns 

         9. Use the question, completion, and best answer versions of the conventional MC, the alternate choice, true-false (TF), multiple true-false (MTF), matching, and the context-dependent item and item set formats, but AVOID the complex MC (Type K) format. 
         10. Format the item vertically instead of horizontally. 
         
         

         Style concerns 

         11. Edit and proof items. 
         12. Use correct grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. 
         13. Minimize the amount of reading in each item. 
         
         

         Writing the stem 

      9. Ensure that the directions in the stem are very clear. 
      10. Include the central idea in the stem instead of the choices. 
      11. Avoid window dressing (excessive verbiage). 
      12. Word the stem positively, avoid negatives such as NOT or EXCEPT. If negative words are used, use the word cautiously and always ensure that the word appears capitalized and boldface.

Writing the choices 

1. 1. 18. Develop as many effective choices as you can, but research suggests three is adequate. 
      19. Make sure that only one of these choices is the right answer. 
      20. Vary the location of the right answer according to the number of choices. 
      21. Place choices in logical or numerical order. 
      22. Keep choices independent; choices should not be overlapping. 
      23. Keep choices homogeneous in content and grammatical structure. 
      24. Keep the length of choices about equal. 
      25. None-of-the-above should be used carefully. 
      26. Avoid All-of-the-above. 
      27. Phrase choices positively; avoid negatives such as NOT. 
      28. Avoid giving clues to the right answer, such as 
      29. Specific determiners including always, never, completely, and absolutely. 
      30. Clang associations, choices identical to or resembling words in the stem. 
      31. Grammatical inconsistencies that cue the test-taker to the correct choice. 
      32. Conspicuous correct choice. 
      33. Pairs or triplets of options that clue the test-taker to the correct choice. 
      34. Blatantly absurd, ridiculous options. 
      35. Make all distractors plausible. 
      36. Use typical errors of students to write your distractors. 
      37. Use humor if it is compatible with the teacher and the learning environment.

Haladyna et al. “A Review of Multiple-Choice Item-Writing Guidelines for Classroom Assessment Links to an external site..”  Applied Measurement in Education, 15(3), 309–334, 2002