Rules in Constructing Multiple Choice Test Item

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

• All multiple choice options should be grammatically consistent with the stem.

• Distracters should be equally plausible and attractive.

• Avoid stems that reveal the answer to another item.

• Avoid use of unnecessary words or phrases, which are not relevant to the problem at hand.

What causes ice to transform from solid state to liquid state’?

A. Change in temperature

B. Changes in pressure

C. Change in the chemical composition

D. Change in heat levels

• Avoid alternatives that are synonymous with others or those that include or overlap others

• Avoid presenting sequenced items in the same order as in the text.

• Do not use unfamiliar words, terms and phrases.

• Avoid stems that reveal the answer to another item.

If the three 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

• Avoid presenting sequenced items in the same order as in the text.

• Avoid stems that reveal the answer to another item.

• The length, explicitness or degree of technicality of alternatives should not be the determinants of the correctness of the answer.

• Distracters should be equally plausible and attractive.

Much of the process of photosynthesis takes place in the:

A. bark

B. leaf

C. stem

D. Root

• Do not use unfamiliar words, terms and phrases.

• Do not use modifiers that are vague and whose meanings can differ from one person to the next such as: much, often, usually.

• Distracters should be equally plausible and attractive.

• All multiple choice options should be grammatically consistent with the stem.

Which of the following will not cause inflation in the Philippine economy?

• Do not use modifiers that are vague and whose meanings can differ from one person to the next such as: much, often, usually.

• Each item stem should be as short as possible; otherwise you risk testing more for reading and comprehension skills.

• Avoid complex or awkward word arrangements.

• Do not use negatives or double negatives as such statements tend to be confusing.