Moving Along

My first "mini" block is almost over and I am gearing up for tests next Monday and Wednesday. Cardio has been a great course, mainly because our instructor is excellent. Heme/onc... well lets just say it is hard.

One year into medical school, I have essentially become a professional multiple choice test taker. One thing you must learn is how to grind through, and exploit, poorly written test questions. In medical school, most of the professors are NOT full time teachers. They come in for a month or two out of the year and teach their material. The questions they come up with have taught me that multiple choice test writing is a skill that comes to some naturally, and others not so much.

My friend Patrick found this sarcastic quiz online that highlights what I mean.

Can you answer these 6 questions about multiple-choice questions?

Posted in Instructional design, Writing tips by Cathy Moore on 27 August 2007

1. I opened a course on a topic I know nothing about, clicked through without reading anything, and took the assessment. I passed! What does that suggest?

1. I am a genius!
2. The assessment was too easy.
3. Maybe the course was too easy, too.
4. Maybe the course didn’t even need to be written.
5. b, c, and d

2. In a multiple-choice question, when is the longest answer the correct answer?

1. Rarely
2. Sometimes
3. It’s almost always the correct answer, and it’s often stuffed with new information that should have gone in the main part of the course but we forgot so now we’re putting it in the quiz because we can’t possibly leave out the tiniest detail
4. Occasionally

3. When is “All of the above” the correct answer?

1. With alarming regularity
2. When we try to cover too much in one question
3. When we use a question to teach instead of assess
4. All of the above

4. When is it NOT a good idea to avoid negative questions?

1. Never
2. Sometimes
3. Always
4. What?

5. How often is the correct answer a?

1. Usually
2. Frequently
3. Often
4. Almost never, because if a is the right answer, then the learner doesn’t have to read all the other options we spent so much time writing and revising, and where’s the ROI in that?

6. We can confuse learners when we:

1. fail to actually complete the sentence we started in the question.
2. inconsistent grammar in the options.
3. sometimes we veer off into another idea entirely.
4. wombats.

My tests are filled with questions like these, where half the battle is making sure you understand what it is you are being asked. Oh well... 4 months to go!

Source: http://blog.cathy-moore.com/2007/08/can-you-answer-these-6-questions-about-multiple-choice-questions/