A teacher's guide on how to construct/write multiple choice items for students properly.

1. A TEACHER’S GUIDE
TO USING AND
WRITING TEST ITEMS
G R O U P 1 - M U LT I P L E C H O I C E I T E M S

2. CONSISTS OF TWO (2) PARTS:
Stem
&
Response Alternatives

3. EXAMPLE :
Item Stem
Which of the following is a noun?
Response Alternatives
A. Run
B. Book
C. Pretty
D. Above

4. ADVANTAGES AND
LIMITATIONS OF
USING MULTIPLE
CHOICE ITEMS

5. ADVANTAGES
VERSATILITY in measuring all levels of
cognitive ability
HIGHLY RELIABLE test scores
Scoring EFFICIENCY and ACCURACY
OBJECTIVE measurement of student
achievement or ability
A WIDE SAMPLING of content or
objectives
A REDUCED GUESSING FACTOR
compared to true-false items
Different response alternatives which
can provide DIAGNOSTIC FEEDBACK
LIMITATIONS
 DIFFICULT and TIME-CONSUMING to
construct
 Lead a teacher to favor SIMPLE
RECALL OF FACTS
 Place a HIGH DEGREE OF
DEPENDENCE on the student’s
READING ABILITY and teacher’s
WRITING ABILITY

6. SUGGESTIONS
FOR WRITING
MULTIPLE CHOICE
TEST ITEMS
W I T H E X A M P L E S

7. THE STEM
Tip # 1 : When possible, state the stem as a direct question rather than as an
incomplete statement.
Poor : Alloys are ordinarily produced by …
Better : How are alloys ordinarily produced?
Tip # 2 : Present a definite, explicit singular question or problem in the stem.
Poor : Psychology …
Better : The science of mind and behavior is called …
Tip # 3 : Eliminate excessive verbiage or irrelevant information from the stem.
Poor : While ironing her formal, polo shirt June burned her hand accidentally on the
iron. This was due to the transfer of heat because …
Better : Which of the following ways of heat transfer explains why June’s hand was
burned after she touched a hot iron ?

8. THE STEM
Tip # 4 : Include any the stem any word(s) that might otherwise be repeated in each alternative.
Poor : In national elections in the United States, the President is officially …
a. chosen by the people
b. chosen by the electoral College*
c. chosen by members of Congress
d. chosen by the House of Representatives
Better : In national elections in the United States, the President is officially chosen by
a. the people
b. members of congress
c. the electoral College
d. the House of Representatives
Tip # 5 : Use negatively stated questions sparingly. When used, underline and/or capitalize the
negative word.
Poor : Which of the following is not cited as an accomplishment of Arroyo administration?
Better : Which of the following is NOT cited as an accomplishment of Arroyo administration?

9. RESPONSE ALTERNATIVES
Tip # 1 : Make all alternative plausible and
attractive to the less knowledgeable or
skillful student.
What process is most nearly the opposite
photosynthesis?
Poor : Better:
a. Digestion a. Digestion
b. Relaxation b. Assimilation
c. Respiration* c.
d. Exertion d. Catabolism

10. RESPONSE ALTERNATIVES
Tip # 2 : Make the alternative grammatically parallel with each other and consistent with the
stem.
Poor : What would do most to advance the application of atomic discoveries to medicine?
a. Standardized techniques for treatment of patients.*
b. Train the average doctor to apply the radioactive treatments.
c. Remove the restriction on the use of radioactive substances.
d. Establishing hospital staffed by highly trained radioactive therapy specialists.
Better : What would advance the application of atomic discoveries to medicine most?
a. Development of standardized techniques for treatment of patients.
b. Removal of restriction on the use of radioactive substances.*
c. Addition of trained radioactive therapy specialists to hospital staffs.
d. Training the average doctor in application of radioactive treatments.

11. RESPONSE ALTERNATIVES
Tip # 3 : Make the alternatives mutually exclusive.
Poor : The daily minimum required amount of milk that a 10-year old child should drink
is
a. 1-2 glasses
b. 2-3 glasses*
c. 3-4 glasses*
d. At least 4 glasses
Better : What is the daily minimum required amount of milk a 10-year old child should
drink?
a. 1 glass
b. 2 glasses
c. 3 glasses*
d. 4 glasses

12. RESPONSE ALTERNATIVES
Tip # 4 : When possible, present alternatives in some logical order (chronological, most
to least, alphabetical).
At 7 a.m. two trucks leave a diner and travel north. One truck averages 42 miles per
and the other truck averages 38 miles per hour. At what time will they be 24 miles
Undesirable : Desirable:
a. 6 pm a. 1 am
b. 9 pm b. 6 am
c. 1 am c. 9 am
d. 1 pm* d. 1 pm

13. RESPONSE ALTERNATIVES
Tip # 5 : Be sure there is only one correct or best response to the item.
The two most desired characteristics in a classroom test are validity and
Poor :
a. Precision
b. Reliability*
c. Objectivity
d. Consistency*
Better :
a. Precision
b. Reliability*
c. Objectivity
d. Standardization

14. RESPONSE ALTERNATIVES
Tip # 6 : Make alternative approximately equal in length.
Poor : The most general cause of low individual incomes in the United States is
a. Lack of valuable productive services to sell*
b. Unwillingness to work
c. Automation
d. Inflation
Better : What is the most general cause of low individual incomes in the United States?
a. A lack of valuable productive services to sell.*
b. The population’s overall unwillingness to work.
c. The nation’s increase reliance on automation.
d. An increasing national level of inflation.

15. RESPONSE ALTERNATIVES
Tip # 7 : Use at least four alternatives for each item to lower the probability of getting
the correct by guessing.
Tip # 8 : Randomly distribute the correct responses among the alternative positions
throughout the test having approximately the same proportion of the alternatives a, b,
d and e as the correct response.
Tip # 9 : Use the alternative NONE OF THE ABOVE and ALL OF THE ABOVE sparingly.
When used, such alternatives should occasionally be used as correct response.

16. DIFFERENT TYPES OF MULTIPLE
CHOICE TEST ITEMS
Knowledge Comprehension Application

17. KNOWLEDGE ITEMS
Measure the degree to which previously learned material has been remembered.
Focus on simple recall of information.
Concerned with measurement of terms, facts, or other specific areas of knowledge.

18. Examples :
Outcome : Identifies the meaning of a noun.
Placement test is the same as:
a. Diagnostic Test*
b. Formative Test
c. Summative Test
Outcome : Identifies the order of events.
What is the first step in constructing an achievement test?
a. Decide on the test length.
b. Prepare the table of specifications.
c. Identify the intended learning outcomes.

19. COMPREHENSION ITEMS
Typically measure the lowest level of understanding.
Determine whether the students grasped the meaning of the material without
requiring them to apply it.
Comprehension can be measured by requiring students to respond to various ways
but it is important that the items contain some novelty (Gronlund, 1998).

20. Examples :
Outcome: Identifies an example of a term.
Which one of the following statements contains a specific determiner?
a. Australia is a continent.
b. China’s population is increasing.
c. America has some big industries.
d. Philippines is re-discovered by Magellan.
Outcome: Identifies an example of a concept or a principle.
Which of the following is an example of a criterion-referenced interpretation?
a. Anna earned the highest score in English.
b. Coralyn set up her laboratory equipment in five minutes.
c. Edna’s test score was higher than 50 percent of the class.

21. APPLICATION ITEMS
Measure understanding but at the higher level than comprehension items.
Students demonstrate whether they grasp the meaning of the material and can apply
them to concrete situations that are new to them.
Determine the extent to which students can transfer learning and use them in solving
new problems.

22. Examples :
Outcome : Improves defective test items.
Directions: Read the following test item and then indicate the best change to make to
improve the item.
Which one of the following types of learning outcomes is most difficult to evaluate
objectively?
a. A concept
b. An application
c. An appreciation
d. None of the above
The best change to make would be to:
1. Remove the indefinite articles “a” and “an” from the alternatives.
2. Replace “none of the above” with “an interpretation”.*
3. Use letters instead of numbers for each alternative.
4. Change the stem to incomplete-statement form.

23. L I F E I S A M A T T E R O F
C H O I C E S , A N D E V E R Y
C H O I C E Y O U M A K E M A K E S
Y O U .
– J O H N C . M A X W E L L