Re: Test Writing

[Larry Smith <larry.smith@SNOW.EDU>]

At 10:40 PM -0500 4/29/02, Kossom wrote:
> First, many multiple choice questions are incredibly vile. Although I am
> fond of Hewitt's text, his multiple choice questions, especially the one
> from the test bank, are the epitome of god-awful corporate textbook
> production.
>
> I am not going to give an example, because I know some will jump in to say
> that I am rotten apple picking (the opposite of cherry picking) but really
> most are terrible. Other test banks are equally bad.

I may be the only one (if so, reply off-list), but I'd be interested in
seeing you pick apart a few of Hewitt's test questions.  I know there are
some ambiguous ones, but I just avoid those; I can also usually find plenty
of (what I thought were) good ones.

> Good mutiple choice questions can be written but it is very hard.

Agreed.  But you seem to be an expert on this, so I'd like to learn from
you.  What problems do you see with most MC questions, and how do you make
good ones?


Thanks,
Larry