Multiple Choice Exams

[quote=jhoijhoi]http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-23/cqu-scraps-multiple-choice-exams-in-an-australian-first/5763226 I'm not sure how it's done everywhere else in the world, but in Australia multiple choice exams exist from primary school, through to high school, into university and even can be required to gain employment before a face-to-face interview. As a teacher, I'd use multiple choice for simple revision or to give a few "easy questions" for an exam in math, science or social studies. I've never really had to think about it before, as it wasn't something that really bothered me, but I don't think multiple choice questions really test knowledge. If given four different answers, you can make a reasonable assumption of which one is correct, and very possibly, completely guess and get it right. This sort of system doesn't crack down on people who just pass exams by the skin of their teeth. In Australia, all school children are subjected to the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), which is an annual assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. This exam does contain multiple choice questions. Now I wonder if those national standards are correct; how can you accurately measure intelligence if there is complete luck involved via multiple choice? What are your thoughts?[/quote]

[quote=Teh Grazzh0pper]As a student, multiple choice questions in my school are usually set much harder than open-ended questions. I guess the advantage with multiple choice questions is that you can double check your working to see if your answer is correct, but then again some questions can be really deceptive and include solutions with common errors done by students. But I must say that I don't see much point with them. I guess the purpose of exams are to test the knowledge of the student to see how much they can absorb, but by including multiple choice questions, you generally have a 25% probability of getting the question correct, regardless of whether you can actually solve the question. Considering that a few lucky guesses could let someone pass a test by the skin of their teeth, multiple choice just seems out of place with the overall objective of examinations in the first place. (I was gonna make a comparison with critical chance in league, but never mind)[/quote]

[quote=TROLLing1999]In my country it is so that exams can use multiple choice question parts. Chemistry, science, maths exams might have a multiple choice question but that's not obligatory. Usually teachers use the "say if x statement is correct/wrong (and why)" instead. Language/history/social studies tests do have some multiple choice excercises but usually they give less than the other ones. I think a good idea would be to say that students could get 1/3 of a point if they do not answer a question, so that they are not "forced" to make choices depending on luck. That's what a math teacher in my school did once. Note that I am talkiing from a high school student standpoint.[/quote]

[quote=Janitsu]Here in Finland the exams are really school dependant unless they are the national ones at the end of ninth grade. Multiple choices are boring and usually rather easy compared to other questions asked in the paper and they can easily get you 6 points out of 36 (they usually have around 40 points max here where I study so 1/6 of the points from one question is quite a lot and can get your number from 5 to 6, even 7 if you are lucky enough. I also believe that Finnish school's value essay answers the most. I have had at least one essay per exam since 4th grade (average of 400 words back then - now average of 600 on most essay answers). Multiple choice questions are usually easy to figure out because the answer is worded so badly that it can't missed or the question and the answer are worded badly and therefore the answer which seems to be the right might be the wrong (for example Finnish teachers have had their problems with wording. I've seen plenty of tests with something that begins with "I should..." when it should be "I have to" or vice versa). TL;DR I think some of my schoolmates got through primary school mainly because of the multiple choice exams which bumped up their number a bit.[/quote]

[quote=mastrer1000]In my school,there were barely any multiple choice questions after year 7. If there were any, it usually meant free points(like 90% of the questions were english listening and readng exercises, so everyone knew that you literally didn't have to learn for that part of the exams)[/quote]

[quote=xIchi]Germany barely has any multiple choice exams. In maths, most of the time they even want to see the way, while the answer might be right you still get less points cause of missing deduction lol.[/quote]

[quote=IceCreamy]Here in NL they usually do multiple choice in this way: 2 answers are absolute rubbish, while 2 answers are very similar and there's no telling which one of those 2 you should pick. Students don't learn shit due to this, I really hate "multiple guess".[/quote]

[quote=Foxy Riven]^Always pick C![/quote]

[quote=Meiyjhe]Open questions are a way more fair way of judging someones skill than multiple choice questions. Not only does multiple choice have a bit of luck, any answer is either 100% wrong or 100% right. Often the biggest difficulity that lies in multiple choice questions is that they sometimes try to trick you with 2 very similar answers where only one of them is correct, which is obviously not cool. However, the problem with open questions lies with the teachers that are looking into the answers. Whereas one would expect you to write A, the other one expects you to write B, which can be a real pain in the ass from time to time. Also, if there is something like a listening test, anything very timebound really, you don't want to think too much about your answer and fall behind. So in general, I think a combination of both multiple choice and open questions would be best. If there is a huge national exam where multiple teachers will check the answers, then I'd say full open questions. If there is a test that will require you to pay attention to a certain audio/video, then I'd say full multiple choice questions.[/quote]

[quote=IceCreamy]Oh I forgot, the entire idea of exams is just plain dumb. The place where I study is 90 % exercises, actually DOING things instead of cramming stuff and forgetting it the next day. Suggest you're sick in some way. Would you rather be treated by a) someone who has treated patients with the same disease with success or b) someone who has never treated patients with the same disease but has a bunch of degrees that suggest (s)he [i]should[/i] be able to treat you?[/quote]