Examinations: Multiple Choice versus Open-Ended Questions

Everyone has had the pleasure, or lack thereof, of completing a multiple choice assessment. The difficulty of any multiple-choice test depends on the distracters, which are the wrong answer choices. Some people like multiple choice tests as one of the answer choices has to be the correct answer. The problem that many students have is simply using the rationale to get to the correct answer.

One’s success on a multiple-choice test depends on one’s reading ability as well as one’s study skills: How much effort did the individual put into preparing for the assessment? Preparation is key; if one studies enough, one will master the material, regardless of the complexity of it. However, one may still have difficulty scoring well on an assessment, if he or she is not a good test-taker.

multiple-choice tests do not allow much, if any, room for error. The answer choice is either right, or it is wrong; there is no gray area. If individuals read information into the question, he or she is going to run into problems rather quickly.

Open-ended questions generally require the student to provide a response. Now, if one is a convincing and a well-written individual, he or she is likely to have an easier time getting the teacher to see his or her point. Some students have the ability to write “fluff” and to make their fluff sound very logical and very sensible.

The shortcoming of open-ended questions is that a student may not have any idea as to what the question is going to consist of. Usually a test is composed of just a few open-ended questions as compared to 50 to 100 question multiple-choice assessment.

It all comes down to what testing format the student is accustomed to taking. Most teachers are going to give an assessment that is easier to grade. Multiple-choice assessments are easier to grade as teachers can run scantrons through a machine in seconds. On the other hand, if teachers give students an open-ended assessment, teachers will have to spend their time grading the questions.