What are the features of multiple choice questions?

• They are objective, which means there must be a right answer or a best answer (although there is scope for crediting more than one right answer or ‘near miss’ answers, depending on the marking scheme – see Are MCQ scores unrealistically high? and Can students guess their way to success in an MCQ?).
• Testing is efficient, which means that a greater part of the syllabus can be tested via compulsory questions.
• Questions are easy to score or mark, which is the most obviously attractive feature. Assessments can be marked online using specialist software (for example WebCT, QuestionMark), by optical reader or indeed by anyone with the correct answers; in formative assessments students can mark each other’s. Results can be returned very quickly.
• Scoring uses the entire marking range, which may raise issues where the MCQs are used in summative assessment.
• Results are quantifiable, so it is possible to analyse the level of student achievement in each question. This can identify areas of student difficulty or problematic questions (see What can I learn from the student responses to the MCQs?).
• Provision of feedback can be targeted more effectively because of the limited ways in which students can have gone wrong (see How can I provide effective feedback for my MCQs?).
• Setting questions is time consuming and challenging. This may be a one-off expense if you recycle questions, although this obviously raises quality issues in summative assessments. Preparing effective feedback is also labour intensive (see How can I provide effective feedback for my MCQs?).

Last Modified: 20 July 2010