Academic affairs

Objective Questions

The following resources provide general best-practice information for writing objective test questions.

ERIC Digest: Writing Multiple Choice Items

"The objective of this Digest is to set out some conventional wisdom for the construction of multiple-choice tests, which are one of the most common forms of teacher-constructed tests."

ERIC Digest: More Multiple Choice Item Writing Do's & Don'ts

"What follows here is a fairly comprehensive list of recommendations for writing multiple choice items. Some of these are backed up by psychometric research; i.e., it has been found that, generally, the resulting scores are more accurate indicators of each student's knowledge when the recommendations are followed than when they are violated. Other recommendations result from logical deduction."

Improving Multiple Choice Tests

Information about improving multiple choice tests, including defining the test, identifying its strengths and limitations, and constructing the test.

Objective Questions Overview

A resource providing information about the anatomy of multiple choice tests, desired results, and principles for proper structuring of a multiple choice test.

Short course in writing objective test questions

A document by the Computer Assisted Assessment Centre concerning the construction of objective test questions.

Writing Better Objective Tests

"The objective test is only one of many ways in which students can be evaluated. Tests can be formal or informal, oral or written; and no one form of testing is necessarily better or worse than another. Objective tests, however, do offer some advantages over other forms of testing..."