Multiple choice exams are universal on college campuses. But how do they stack up against other kinds of assessment, especially in courses where higher-level thinking (application, analysis, evaluation), and not mere memorization (recognition and recall), are emphasized?

Crafting good multiple choice (MC) stems (questions) and conceiving plausible distractors (wrong answers) are skills in themselves. Yet, when artfully done, MC exams can be effective in testing higher-level cognitive abilities – it just takes time and effort in the creation process.

A few years ago it dawned on me that students could shoulder some of these question-crafting responsibilities to good pedagogical effect.

Coming up with plausible – dare I say artful? – distractors is part of the practice I so thoroughly enjoy about writing MC exams. I try to imagine the reasons why a student may choose a incorrect answer: is X conceptually close to Y?, is it easy to confuse X for Y?, is X actually the opposite of Y?, does X actually negate Y?, is X spelled similarly as Y?, and so forth. These questions develop the pool of candidates from which I select distractors that are, for the most part, plausible and rationally derived.

Indeed, through this very exercise of crafting questions with good distractors I’ve built a better understanding of the relationships between concepts and a better appreciation of where conceptual pitfalls might appear. In other words, this activity helped me build a network of reinforced meanings which allowed me to better understand the materials at hand. This is precisely what I want students to do!

Thus, I decided to unveil a new extra-credit option for my Zen Buddhism class: students can craft five of their own MC questions following the criteria I set out for them. Some may be used on our midterm and final exams. From my perspective, this exercise has the following benefits:

1. Students create their own webs of meaning between conceptually similar ideas or confusing terms. Creating plausible distractors causes students to study in a new manner.
2. Students post their MC questions on an online forum and thus have the opportunity to take student-created mini practice tests.
3. By selecting a handful of the best questions for class MC exams, students feel they had a sense of agency in the learning process.
4. It can save time on my end in crafting MC questions.

Multiple choice exams will never replace the value of writing sustained, well-reasoned prose, but having students write well-reasoned multiple choice questions is a step in the same direction.

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Review

Overall, about 50% of my class took me up on the extra-credit offer. I provided a hand-out outlining the requirements of a good question and an “artful” set of distractors. I offered 5 extra credit points for five well-crafted questions and sets of answers. I retained the option to withhold extra credit points should a question-answer set not be handled with sufficient attention to the directions. All submissions met my basic criteria and all students received full extra-credit.

Many of the MC questions did not match my highest standards – but, honestly, not all of my questions are perfect! Several were thoughtful and well-crafted and thus were incorporated into our exams.

Would I do anything different in the future? I would consider having students explain why they selected each distractor, laying bare the relationships I noted above or other critical logic. If I wanted to take this creative exercise more seriously, I could require students to produce MC questions, perhaps first as drafts, and practice with them during class review sessions before exams.