Workshop: Designing Effective Multiple‐Choice Questions
Checklist for reviewing multiple‐choice items1
Stem





Addresses a single problem/question
Is worded positively unless knowing what “not to do” is important
Contains only relevant information
Includes as much of the item as possible
Ends with a question that can be answered by hiding the alternatives
Alternatives
 3‐4 options are sufficient in most instances
(avoid padding the item with implausible distractors)
 “one‐best‐answer” is recommended
 Distractors are based on typical errors/misconceptions made by students
 Homogeneous in nature
 Grammatically parallel
 Mutually exclusive
 Plausible
To prevent students from guessing the correct answer (“testwiseness”) avoid the following:
 Distractors that don’t follow the stem grammatically
 Obvious distractors
 Correct answers that are considerably longer than the distractors
 Repeating keywords from the stem in one of the alternatives
 “All of the above”
 “None of the above”
 Absolute terms: always, never
To reduce confusion avoid the following:
 Tricky distractors
 Qualifying statements: usually, sometimes, maybe
 Alternatives that take too long to read
 Repeating words in the alternatives that could be part of the stem
 Negative alternatives
 Numerical data not stated consistently
 Unclear language
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This handout was developed by Teaching and Learning Services, McGill. Please cite as follows: Teaching and
Learning Services. (2013). Checklist for reviewing multiple‐choice items. Montreal: Teaching and Learning Services,
McGill University.
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Workshop: Designing Effective Multiple‐Choice Questions
References
Burton, S., J., Sudweeks, R., R., Merrill, P., F., & Wood, B. (1991). How to prepare better multiple‐choice
test items: Guidelines for university faculty. [PDF document]. Retrieved from Brigham Young
University Testing Centre Web site: http://testing.byu.edu/info/handbooks/betteritems.pdf
Case, S. M., & Swanson, D. B. (2002). Constructing written test questions for the basic and clinical
sciences (3rd ed.). [PDF document]. Retrieved from National Board of Medical Examiners Web site:
http://www.nbme.org/PDF/ItemWriting_2003/2003IWGwhole.pdf
Clegg, V. L., & Cashin, W. E. (1986). Improving multiple‐choice tests. IDEA Paper No. 16, Center for
Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University.
Haladyna T., M., Downing, S., M., & Rodriguez, M., C. (2010). A review of multiple‐choice item‐writing
guidelines for classroom assessment. Applied Measurement in Education, 15, 309‐334.
Medical Council of Canada. (2010). Guidelines for the development of multiple‐choice questions.
Retrieved from Medical Council of Canada Web site: http://www.mcc.ca/pdf/MCQ_Guidelines_e.pdf
The Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo. Designing multiple‐choice questions.
Retrieved from:
http://cte.uwaterloo.ca/teaching_resources/tips/designing_multiple_choice_questions.html
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