Multiple choice
[2] Multiple-choice testing increased in popularity in the mid-20th century when scanners and data-processing machines were developed to check the result.
However, tests may also award partial credit for unanswered questions or penalize students for incorrect answers, to discourage guessing.
The stem can include extended or ancillary material such as a vignette, a case study, a graph, a table, or a detailed description which has multiple elements to it.
Finally, if test-takers are aware of how to use answer sheets or online examination tick boxes, their responses can be relied upon with clarity.
Overall, multiple choice tests are the strongest predictors of overall student performance compared with other forms of evaluations, such as in-class participation, case exams, written assignments, and simulation games.
[9] Prior to the widespread introduction of SBAs into medical education, the typical form of examination was true-false questions.
In addition, even if students have some knowledge of a question, they receive no credit for knowing that information if they select the wrong answer and the item is scored dichotomously.
If randomly guessing an answer, there is usually a 25 percent chance of getting it correct on a four-answer choice question.
It is common practice for students with no time left to give all remaining questions random answers in the hope that they will get at least some of them right.
Many exams, such as the Australian Mathematics Competition and the SAT, have systems in place to negate this, in this case by making it no more beneficial to choose a random answer than to give none.
This is usually not a great issue, moreover, since the odds of a student receiving significant marks by guessing are very low when four or more selections are available.
However, some test creators are unaware of this and might expect the student to select multiple answers without being given explicit permission, or providing the trailing encapsulation options.
Critics like philosopher and education proponent Jacques Derrida, said that while the demand for dispensing and checking basic knowledge is valid, there are other means to respond to this need than resorting to crib sheets.
[11] Despite all the shortcomings, the format remains popular because MCQs are easy to create, score and analyse.
[12] The theory that students should trust their first instinct and stay with their initial answer on a multiple choice test is a myth worth dispelling.
Researchers have found that although some people believe that changing answers is bad, it generally results in a higher test score.
A test taker's first-instinct attraction to a distractor is thus often a reaction that probably should be revised in light of a careful consideration of each of the answer choices.
