Taking Multiple Choice Tests / Exams
Studying for a
multiple choice test or exam requires a special method of preparation
distinctly different from an essay exam.
Multiple choice exams
ask a student to recognize a correct answer among a set of options that
typically include 3 or 4 wrong answers (called distracters), rather than asking the student to produce a
correct answer entirely from his/her own mind.
For many reasons, students
often consider multiple choice exams easier than essay exams. Perhaps
the most obvious reasons are that:
- The correct answer is guaranteed to be among the
possible responses. A student can score points with a lucky guess.
- Many multiple choice exams
tend to emphasize basic definitions or simple comparisons, rather than
asking students to analyze new information or apply theories to new
situations.
- Because multiple choice
exams usually contain many more questions than essay exams, each question
has a lower point value and thus offers less risk.
Despite these
factors, however, multiple choice exams can actually be very difficult
and are in this course.
Consider that:
- Because multiple choice
exams contain many questions, they force students to be familiar with a
much broader range of material than essay exams do.
- Multiple choice exams also
usually expect students to have a greater familiarity with details such as
specific dates, names, or vocabulary than most essay exams do. Students
cannot easily "bluff" on a multiple choice exam.
- Finally, because it is much
more difficult for a teacher to write good multiple choice questions than
to design essay questions, students often face higher risks due to
unintended ambiguity.
To prepare for a multiple choice exam, consider the following steps:
- Begin
studying early
Multiple choice exams tend to focus on details, and you cannot retain many details effectively in short-term memory. If you learn a little bit each day and allow plenty of time for repeated reviews, you will build a much more reliable long-term memory.
- Make sure that you thoroughly
understand everything that your instructor emphasized in class.
Pay particular attention to fundamental terms and concepts that describe important events or features, or that tie related ideas and observations together. These are the items that most commonly appear on multiple choice exams.
- As you study your class
notes and your assigned readings, make lists and tables and
use visual / graphical
representations to represent what you have learned.
Concentrate on understanding multi-step processes, and on ideas, events, or objects that form natural sequences or groupings. Look for similarities and differences that might be used to distinguish correct choices from distracters on an exam.
If your class texts highlight new
vocabulary or key definitions, be sure that you understand them. Sometimes new
words and concepts are collected at the end of a chapter. Check to be sure that
you have not left any out by mistake.
Do not simply memorize the book's definitions. Most instructors will
rephrase things in their own words as they write exam questions, so you must be
sure that you really know what the definitions mean.
- Brainstorm possible
questions with several other students who are also taking the course.
- Practice using sample
questions, seek out study guides and previous exams.
Answering Multiple Choice Questions:-
There are many strategies for maximizing your success on multiple choice exams.
The best way to improve your chances, of course, is to study carefully before
the exam. There is no good substitute for knowing the right answer. Even a
well-prepared student can make silly mistakes on a multiple choice exam, or can
fall prey to distracters that look very similar to the correct answer.
Here are a few tips
to help reduce this possibility:
- Before you begin taking the
exam, enter all pieces of required information on your answer sheet
If you are so eager to start that you forget
to enter your name and PID, your results may never be scored. Remember: your
instructor will not be able to identify you by handwriting or similar text
clues.
- Always cover up the possible
responses with a piece of paper or with your hand while you read the stem, or body of the question.
Try to anticipate the correct response before you
are distracted by seeing the options that your instructor has provided. Then,
uncover the responses.
- If you see the response that
you anticipated, circle it and then check to be sure that none of the
other responses is better.
- If you do not see a response
that you expected, then consider some of the following strategies to
eliminate responses that are probably wrong.
None of these strategies is infallible. A smart instructor will avoid
writing questions for which these strategies work, but you can always hope for
a lapse of attention.
1. Responses that use
absolute words, such as "always" or "never" are less likely
to be correct than ones that use conditional words like "usually" or
"probably."
2. "Funny"
responses are usually wrong.
3. "All of the
above" is often a correct response. If you can verify that more than one
of the other responses is probably correct, then choose "all of the
above."
4. "None of the
above" is usually an incorrect response, but this is less reliable than
the "all of the above" rule. Be very careful not to be trapped by
double negatives.
5. Look for grammatical
clues. If the stem ends with the indefinite article "an," for
example, then the correct response probably begins with a vowel.
6. The longest response may
be the correct one, because the instructor tends to load it with qualifying
adjectives or phrases.
7. Look for verbal
associations. A response that repeats key words that are in the stem is likely
to be correct.
8. If all else fails,
choose response (b) or (c). Many instructors subconsciously feel that the
correct answer is "hidden" better if it is surrounded by distracters.
Response (a) is usually least likely to be the correct one.
If you cannot answer a question within a minute or
less, skip it and plan to come back later. Transfer all responses to the answer
sheet at the same time, once you have marked all questions on your exam. (If
you try to do several things at once, you increase the probability of making a
mistake. Saving the relatively mindless job of filling in bubbles until the
last step reduces the probability of making silly errors.)
- Be sure that you have filled
the appropriate bubbles carefully IN PENCIL.
Your instructor will probably never take a close
look at your answer sheet, so if you fail to fill in bubbles completely or if
you make stray marks, only the computer will notice, and you will be penalized.
Erase any accidental marks completely.
- Take the time to check your
work before you hand in the answer sheet.
Unlike an essay exam, on which you may later appeal
a grade on the grounds that the instructor misunderstood your response, a
multiple choice exam offers you no opportunity for "partial credit."
If you filled the wrong bubble, your answer is 100% wrong.
An example from a Human Geography class test:-
Question: On a world scale, livestock perform many functions.
Identify the least important one.
A) draft power
B)
milk and meat
C)
manure
D)
personal status
E)
building materials
Answers
A), B), and C) are obviously correct. You have reduced the five possible
answers to two: D) or E). Even without knowing the correct answer, you can pick
the correct answer. If livestock provide three -- A), B), and C -- important
things, then livestock must also give the owners of livestock personal
status (D). Now you are left with building materials (E) -- stuff used to
construct shelter -- a rather limited use of livestock, given that trees, mud,
and stones are far more effective ways of building shelter. The least
important use of livestock is, therefore, building materials (E)! Congratulations,
you have thought through the correct answer.
An example from Cultural Landscapes class test:-
Question: Institutions have geographical manifestations, which include all but one of the following:
A)
location
B)
ecological
C)
material structures
D)
spatial patterns
E)
social hierarchy.
Answers A) and D) are
obviously correct. Material structures (C) are buildings, in
contrast to non-material structures, such as "the law" or "the
family," -- which means then that E) social hierarchy can't be
correct. Furthermore, cultural landscapes include buildings and all
structures, e.g., walls, fences, billboards, freeways. C) is, then, also correct.
Places also include environmental elements of topography, climate, and
vegetation. So, B) is also correct. Congratulations, you have thought through
the correct answer.