PART 5

•  The distracters are chosen in such a way  that they are attractive to those who do not know the answer or  are guessing but at the same time, have no appeal to those who  actually know the answer.
• Guidelines in Constructing Multiple Choice Items  

  1. Do not use unfamiliar terms and phrases. The ability of the  item to discriminate or its level of difficulty should stem  from the subject matter rather than from the wording of the  question.
• 2.Do not use modifiers that are vague and whose meanings  can differ from one person to the next such as: much, often,  usually, etc.  

  Example: Much of the processes of photosynthesis takes place  in the  

  a. Bark  

  B.Leaf  

  c. Stem  

  • The qualifier “much” is vague and could have been replaced  by more specific qualifiers like: “90% of the photosynthetic  process” or some similar phrase that would be more precise.
• 3. Avoid complex or awkward word arrangements. Also, avoid  use of negatives in the stem as this may add unnecessary  comprehension difficulties.  

   

  Example: (Poor) As President of the Republic of the  Philippines, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino would stand next to  which President of the Philippine Republic subsequent to the  1986 EDSA Revolution?  

   

  (Better) Who was the President of the Philippines after  Corazon C. Aquino?
• 4.Do not use negatives or double negatives as such statements tend to be confusing. It is  best to use simpler sentences rather than sentences that would require expertise in  grammatical construction.

  Example: (Poor) Which of the following will not cause inflation in the Philippine economy?  

   

  (Better) Which of the following will cause inflation in the Philippine economy?  

   
• 5.Each item stem should be as short as possible; otherwise you  risk testing more for reading and comprehension skills.  
• 6. Distracters should be equally plausible and attractive.  

   

  Example: The short story May Day’s Eve was written by which  Filipino author?  

  a.Jose Garcia Villa  

  b.Nick Joaquin  

  c. Genoveva Edrosa Matute  

  d.Robert Frost  

  e. Edgar Allan Poe  

   

  • If distracters had all been Filipino authors, the value of the  item would be greatly increased. In this particular instance, only  the first three carry the burden of the entire stem since the last  two can be essentially disregarded by the students.
• 7.All multiple choice options should be grammatically consistent with the stem.  Example: As compared to the autos of the 1960s autos in the 1980s __________.  

   

  a.traveling slower  

  b. bigger interiors  

  c. to use less fuel  

  d. contain more safety measures  

   
• 8.The length, explicitness, or degree of technicality of alternatives should not be  the determinants of the correctness of the answer. The following is an example of  this rule:  

   

  Example: If the angles of two triangles are congruent, then the triangles are:  

  a. congruent whenever one of the sides of the triangles are congruent

  b. similar  

  c. equiangular and therefore, must also be congruent  

  d. equilateral if they are equiangular  

   

  • The correct choice “b” may be obvious from its length and explicitness alone.  

   
• 9.Avoid stems that reveal the answer to another item.  

   

  Example:  a. Who will most strongly disagree with the progressivist who claims that the  child should be taught only that which interests him and if he is not  interested, wait till the child gets interested?
• 10.Avoid alternatives that are synonymous with others or  those that include or overlap others.  

   

  Example: What causes ice to transform from solid state to  liquid state?  

   

  a. Change in temperature  

  b. Change in pressure  

  c. Change in the chemical composition  

  d.Change in the heat levels
• 11. Avoid presenting sequenced items in the same order as in  the text.  
• 12. Avoid use of assumed qualifiers that many examinees may  not be aware of.
• 13. Avoid use of unnecessary words or phrases, which are not relevant to the  problem at hand (unless such discriminating ability is the primary intent of  the equation).

   

  Example: The side opposite the thirty degree angle in a right triangle is equal  to half the length of the hypotenuse. If the sine of a 30-degree is 0.5 and its  hypotenuse is 5, what is the length of the side opposite the 30-degree angle?  

  a. 2.5  

  b. 3.5  

  c. 5.5  

  d. 1.5  
• 14.  Avoid use of non-relevant sources of difficulty such as  requiring a complex calculation when only knowledge of a  principle is being tested.  

   

  • Note in the previous example, knowledge of the sine of the 30-  degree angle would have led some students to use the sine  formula for calculation even if a simple approach would have  sufficed.  
• 15. Pack the question in the stem. Here is an example of a  question which has no question. Avoid it by all means.  

   

  Example: The Roman Empire __________.  

  a.  had no central government  

  b.  had no definite territory  

  c.  had no heroes  

  d.  had no common religion
• 16. Use the “none of the above” option only when the keyed  answer is totally correct. When choice of the “best” response  is intended, “none of the above” is not appropriate, since the  implication has already been made that the correct response  may be partially inaccurate.  
• 17. Note that the use of “all of the above” may allow credit for  partial knowledge. In a multiple option item, (allowing only  one option choice) if a student only knew that two (2) options  were correct, he could then deduce the correctness of “all of  the above”. This assumes you are allowed only one correct  choice.  

   
• 18. Better still use “none of the above” and “all of the above”  sparingly. But best not to use them all.
• 19. Having compound response choices may purposefully increase difficulty of an item. The  difficulty of a multiple choice item may be controlled by varying the homogeneity or degree of  similarity of responses. The more homogenous, the more difficult the item because they all look  like the correct answer.  

   

  Example:  (Less Homogenous)  Thailand is located in:  

  a. Southeast Asia  

  b. Eastern Europe  

  c. South America  

  d. East Africa  

  e. Central America