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Writing Quality Multiple Choice
Questions
Facilitated BySara FridleyRegion 3 Education Service [email protected]
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