The following material has been adapted from "Assessment Handbook: A Guide for Developing Assessment Programs in Illinois Schools." Illinois State Board of Education, 1995. The first caution is that since each type of test has strengths and weaknesses, teachers have to be careful to use the question formats that do the best job of measuring the skills and knowledge they want to evaluate. A good testing program for a classroom will use a mixture of the formats listed below as well as performance based assessments.

Multiple-Choice Questions

The multiple-choice item consists of two parts:
(a) the stem, which identifies the question or problem, and
(b) the response alternatives. Students are asked to select the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the questions.

Advantages in using multiple-choice items

Multiple-choice items can provide:

• versatility in measuring all levels of cognitive ability
  
• wide sampling of content or learning outcomes in a short amount of time
  
• measurement of sophisticated thinking skills
  
• a reduced guessing factor when compared to true-false items
  
• different response alternatives which can provide diagnostic feedback
  
• highly reliable test scores
  
• scoring efficiency and accuracy

Limitations in using multiple-choice items

Multiple-choice items:

• only measure the outcome of a thought process, not the steps along the way
  
• are difficult and time consuming to construct
  
• lead an instructor to favor simple recall of facts
  
• place a high degree of dependence on the student's reading ability and the instructor's writing ability

Suggestions for writing multiple-choice test items

The stem

1) When possible, state the stem as a direct question rather than as an incomplete statement.

Undesirable: The process of adding light and shadows to a drawing is called
Desirable: Which item describes the process of adding light and shadows to a drawing?

2) Present a definite, explicit and singular question or problem in the stem.

Undesirable: When dancers perform for their own pleasure it is called...
Desirable: Which dance is performed primarily to please the dancers themselves?

3) Eliminate excessive verbiage or irrelevant information from the stem.

Undesirable: Gesture is essential for the actor's portrayal of a character, it should be...
Desirable: In dramatic performance, gestures should be

4) Include in the stem any word(s) that might otherwise be repeated in each alternative.

Undesirable: Movement becomes dance when it is
a. organized and performed with partners
b. organized and performed in space and time
Desirable: Movement becomes dance when it is organized and performed
a. with partners
b. in space and time

5) Use negatively stated stems sparingly. When used, underline and/or capitalize the negative word.

Undesirable: The modern American composer, George Gershwin did not write
Desirable: The modern American composer, George Gershwin did NOT write

Item alternatives

6) Make all alternatives plausible and attractive to the less knowledgeable or skillful student.

Which term is used to provide directions regarding dynamics?

Undesirable:	Desirable:
a. Forte*	a. Forte*
b. Rubato	b. Rubato
c. Lagato	c. Lagato
d. Flute	d. Pizzicato

7. Make the alternatives grammatically parallel with each other, and consistent with the stem.

Which statement best describes pop art?

Undesirable: a. color and form in art b. presenting optical illusions to the viewer c. Artists reacted against realistic forms of painting. d. everyday objects as symbols of mass culture*

Desirable: a. Artists experimented with color and form in their work. b. Artists presented optical illusions to the viewer. c. Artists reacted against realistic forms of painting. d. Artists painted everyday objects as symbols of mass culture*

8. Make the alternatives mutually exclusive.

Shakespeare lived from

Undesirable:	Desirable:
a. 406-456 B.C.	a. 406-456 B.C.
b. 1564-1616*	b. 1564-1616*
c. 1600-1652	c. 1620-1677
d. 1764-1816	d. 1764-1816

10. If you have decided to use a traditional single correct answer format, be sure there is only one correct or best answer.

The two most desired characteristics in a classroom test are validity and

Undesirable: a. precision b. reliability* c. objectivity d. consistency

Desirable: a. precision b. reliability* c. objectivity d. standardization

11. Make alternatives approximately equal in length.

Which costume color might best symbolize the villain?

Undesirable: a. Delicate, rose-like pink b. Black* c. Orange d. Sky blue with a brocade motif of fleur-de-lis

Desirable: a. Pink b. Black* c. Orange d. Blue

12. Avoid irrelevant clues such as grammatical structure, well known verbal associations or connections between stem and answer.

13. Use at least four alternatives for each item to lower the probability of getting the item correct by guessing.

14. Randomly distribute the correct response among the alternative positions throughout the test having approximately the same proportion of alternatives a, b, c, d and e as the correct response.

15. Use the alternatives "none of the above" and "all of the above" sparingly. When used, such alternatives should occasionally be used as the correct response.