|
|
- What are MCQs?
- Structure of MCQs
- Advantages of MCQs
- Disadvantages of MCQs
- More on MCQs - Download the full pdf
WHAT ARE MCQs?
Multiple choice questions (MCQs) are a form of assessment for which students are asked to select one or more of the choices from a list of answers.
STRUCTURE OF MCQs
MCQ consists of a stem and a set of options. The stem is usually the first part of the assessment that presents the question as a problem to be solved; the question can be an incomplete statement which requires to be completed and can include a graph, a picture or any other relevant information. The options are the possible answers that the student can choose from, with the correct answer called the key and the incorrect answers called distractors.
ADVANTAGES OF MCQs
- Good MCQs should be objective so there will be no ambiguity in marking due to subjective factors in the questions. Objective MCQs are easy to mark (a set of answer sheets is all required from the assessor) and thus do not required experienced tutor to mark them.
- MCQs take less time to complete, with shorter assessment time required, more questions can be assessed. Feedback is fast.
- MCQs can be administer into on-line assessments, such online assessments can be very effective, and can prompt correct answers directly after completion with clarification and reasoning on the answers.
- Factors irrelevant to the assessed material (such as handwriting and clarity of presentation) do not come into play in a multiple choice assessment, and so the candidate is marked purely on their knowledge of the topic. (Wikipedia accessed 13 Jun 08
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_choice)
- MCQs have high reliability, validity and manageability.
DISADVANTAGES OF MCQs
- MCQs are typically used for assessing knowledge only, students may often customize MCQs with rote learning. If assessors wish to use MCQs to assess deeper learning, careful attention (and many practices) on appropriate questions are required to administer.
- MCQs have a reputation of being easy and thus students tend to receive higher marks in comparison to other assessments such as essays, reports, presentations etc. This is likely because these assessments usually have a “glass ceiling” around the 80% mark. Care must be taken to design MCQs which have the same level of difficulty as other assessments. Obviously, students are unlikely to complain if they receive high marks in a formative MCQ assessment, but for summative assessment, if a different assessment method is used (which is usually the case), then students should be given clear assessment procedures and expectations. It is advisable to give practices on other assessments if such assessments are used for summative assessment.
- Guessing – with MCQs there is a possibility of guessing the correct answer, there are numerous methods to penalize students from guessing such as negative marking (not recommended as sometimes produce negative effects to students who know the answers), more options to answers, adopting mathematical strategies to normalise marks, given partial marks to an answer very near to the correct answer.
- MCQs cannot test oral or written skills, it can test only the theories.
Back to Top
|
