Question

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the multiple choice item format?

Answer 1

Advantages:

• Scoring is quick and easy, especially if a machine is involved.
• Easy creation of multiple versions, again with machine assistance. Plus, there’s the potential to grow the collection of questions every time the course is taught.

Disadvantages:

A careful reading of some questions can reveal the right answer, and test savvy students will use this to their advantage. It might be the grammatical structure that only fits one answer option or the longer length of the correct response.

With lucky guesses students get credit for correct answers. It looks like they know something they don’t know

Asked for their test preference, most students pick multiple-choice tests. They like them because they think they’re easier. And they are. With a multiple-choice question, the answer is selected, not generated