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Rule 1 to avoid bad storywriting mods#
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We talk about important matters for writers, news affecting writers, and the finer aspects of the writing craft. In addition, the downside to None of the Above is that you can’t tell if the learner really knew the correct answer.Welcome to the home for writers. Also, the All of the Above option can encourage guessing if the learner thinks one or two answers are correct. All of the Above can be an obvious give-away answer when it’s not used consistently. But they may not promote good instruction. I hate this rule because when you run out of distracters, All of the Above and None of the Above can come in handy. Rule #10: Use ‘All of the Above’ and ‘None of the Above’ with caution If a question or its options can be interpreted in two ways or if the difference between options is too subtle, then find a way to rewrite it.
Never use questions or answer options that could trick a learner. Rule #9: Avoid tricking test-takersĪs faulty as they are, tests exist to measure knowledge. Research doesn’t seem to agree on whether 3 or 4 or 5 options is best. Making the number of options consistent from question to question helps learners know what to expect. Rule #8: Keep the number of options consistentĭid you ever have to convince a SME that he or she can’t have answer choices that go to ‘h’ in one question and ‘c’ in the next? It’s something of a user interface issue. When your test is written, go through and reorder where the correct answers are placed, if necessary. Keep correct answers in random positions and don’t let them fall into a pattern that can be detected. Make sure that most of your correct answers aren’t in the “b” and “c” positions, which can often happen. For example, this type of question could confuse test-takers: ‘Which of the following comments would NOT be unwelcome in a work situation?’ Flip it around and write it in the positive form: ‘Which of the following comments are acceptable in a work situation?’ Rule #7: Mix up the order of the correct answers No big news here, right? Don’t use combinations of these words in the same question: not, no, nor, the -un prefix, etc. When I can’t get all four answers to the same length, I use two short and two long. Often the longest answer is the correct one. This can be difficult to achieve, but expert test-takers can use answer length as a hint to the correct answer. ( BTW, this word can also be spelled as “distracter.”) Rule #5: Keep all answer choices the same length If you’re really stuck, get help from your friendly SME. This can be very hard to accomplish, but avoid throwing in those give-away distractors as it detracts from the test’s validity. Rule #4: Make all distractors plausibleĪll of the wrong answer choices should be completely reasonable. This way, the answer options can be short, making them less confusing and more legible. If you’re using a question stem, rather than an entire question, ensure that most of the words are in the stem. Rule #3: Place most of the words in the question stem Words can have many meanings depending on colloquial usage and context. And try to be as accurate as possible in your word choices. Write test questions in a simple structure that is easy to understand. Rule #2: Use simple sentence structure and precise wording You can go beyond this by asking learners to interpret facts, evaluate situations, explain cause and effect, make inferences, and predict results. Multiple choice questions are criticized for testing the superficial recall of knowledge. Rule #1: Test comprehension and critical thinking, not just recall I also interviewed a professor who specializes in writing tests (known as a psychometrician).
Rule 1 to avoid bad storywriting how to#
Here is my best advice for how to write good multiple choice questions. Just in case you’re not familiar with multiple choice terminology, it’s explained in the visual below. This guidance helps ensure the questions are interpreted as intended and the answer options are clear and without hints. The rules covered here make tests more accurate. You need to know how to write good multiple choice questions. If you need to use tests, then you want to reduce the errors that occur from poorly written items. It’s not as exciting as discussing 3D virtual learning environments, but it might be just as important. This is a back-to-basics article about the undervalued and little-discussed multiple choice question.
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