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“Life is like a multiple choice question, sometimes the mere number of
choices confuseyounot the questionitself.”Multiple-choice tests have too much of
an impact on our academic lives and shouldbe altered. This is an ongoing debate
between many teachers inmany fields but it is somethingthat needs to be
acknowledged. Schools and Universities acrossthe globe have opposingideas of what
exams shouldlooklike. Many tophigh schools andprivate colleges have completely
eliminatedthe use of multiple choice tests andinsteadhave chosento test only using
essayand short answer in order to get the most accurate assessment of the students’
knowledge.
Many people agree that multiple-choice tests are the ideal way to go when
testingstudents. Accordingto Walstad (1998), “The advantages of multiple choice
tests are numerous. They include minimal grading, timelyfeedbackto the students,
and relative freedom from scoringbiases”(p. 28). These tests not onlytest a wide
sample of course content but some students seem to prefer it over short answer or
essayquestions. When asked what the number one benefit of multiple-choice tests
were, more than half respondedwith it being faster to take than write on exams.
Although, these are all excellent points, there are many reasons to prove otherwise.
It’s commonknowledge that every student has a different learning style. The
idea of learning styles originatedin the 1970’s and has greatlyinfluencededucation.
A learning style is the systematic differencesinindividuals of acquiring or processing
information. It’s only logical that if students have different learningstyles, their
testingstyles would also followthat same idea; everyone’s different. Accordingto
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Kried& Uyar (2001), “Some students are “predisposed” to do better onmultiple-
choice testsdependingon the characteristics theypossess”. The testingsystem should
be not put certainpeople at an advantage and others at a disadvantage based on
uncontrollable variables.
According to the article “Being A Teacher: Concerns, Needs and What’s
Lacking” (2011) states a teachers’mainconcernis time, “Time… time to plan, time
to get paperwork done, time to get everything done…” On average, teachers and
professors are onlygiven 50 to 75 minutes to either teacha lecture or test over one.
Their solutionto their lack of time is issuing multiple-choicetests. Thereforetheyare
saving time testing, grading and providing feedback.
In college, these multiple-choice tests are likelyto be handed back and
students given the optionof comingin to office hours for feedback. The problem with
this process however, is it’s been proven that many don’t end up receivingany other
feedbackaside from their overall score. Accordingto Roediger andMarsh (2005),
“Many don’t review their wrong answers and correcttheir misconceptions.”This
creates aneven bigger problem. Accordingto Toppino & Luipersbeck(2010),
“Previous researchhas demonstratedthat exposure to false informationona true-false
test increases individuals’confidence that the informationis true when they later
encounter averbatim repetitionof the test item”This is known as the “negative
suggestioneffect”. Students become routinelyexposedto wrong information through
multiple-choice tests (typicallythree wronganswers and only one right) and are
therefore readingmisinformation that may later seem true, by extensionfrom other
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research(Bacon, 1979).
Anxiety is another big issue. It’s your body’s way of tellingyou somethingin
the environment is in need of your attention. This shouldn’t necessarilybe seenas a
bad thing. Accordingto Cornell University’s page on “Understanding Academic
Anxiety”, anxiety can actually help motivation. The high levels of anxiety are what
interfere withconcentrationand memorystoring. However, it has been proved to play
a large role when coming to tests. More than20 millionAmericans are currently
afflictedwith it, which makes it the most commonmental illness inthe US.
Reteguiz’s (2006) studyfoundthe following:
Anxiety is thought to affect test performance. Studies have shown that students
with low levels of test anxiety achieve higher scoresonMCQ examinations
than those with high anxiety levels. Female students have been shown to have
higher test anxietylevels than male students.
University of NorthernIowa claims diversity. Last year it was found that 4.3
percent of students enrolled are international. Accordingto Goodwin, “International
students are surprisedby the prevalence of multiple-choiceexams inthe US.” This
has been found especiallytrue for Europeanstudents where multiple choice testing
was rarelyused firsthand. I experiencedthis during my years at the American
Community School of Athens where throughout all educationlevels (K-12), no
multiple-choice testingwas administered.
Students lookat multiple-choicetestsas a quick out. Accordingto Rickards &
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Friedman (1978), “It’s beenproven that students spend less time studyingfor
multiple-choice exams as opposedto other [short answer/essay]exams” (p. 1155).
We should not be testingstudents purely with a system that has also been called
multiple “guess” due to the minimal work requiredfor it.
K. Shane Goodwin is a teacher in the Mathematical department in Idaho. She
had a hands-on experience when a multiple-choiceexam was overseenand a student
guessedon one of the questions he was clearlyunaware of the answer to. He came in
for extrahelp to go over that question onlyto find out that he got the questionright.
Goodwin says:
It is this element of chance that adds an interestingdimensionto our testing
methods. I thought at the time how curious it is that students can get full credit
when they may be ignorant of the topic in question. That possibility,
nonetheless, seems to provide hope to the under-preparedand can even give an
advantage to the clever student who can “reverse-engineer”the problem by
eliminatingthe distractersone byone.
Multiple-choice exams have a lot of controversygoingalong with them, which
makes it hard to have both parties be satisfied. An excellent point is that multiple-
choice testsget takenadvantage of. In Goodwin’s findings she interviewed a few of
her students to see what their thoughts were on the short answer/essaytests. One
answered, “Took way too long. Would have learnedmore this way, but it wasn’t
worth the time invested. Would rather just go and take a quicker MC test.”
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At the University of NorthernIowa there are certainclasses that are purely
based on test grades with no additional work included. These are the classes that need
the most help. Not all knowledge will become evident based off of multiple choice
test grades. Students shouldbe allowed individuality and expression throughessayor
even short answer. Partial credit shouldalways be available but that optionis
eliminatedwhen it comes down to multiple-choicequestions.
Through all these issues I hope to have convinced others as much as I have
further convincedmyself that somethingneeds to change in the school system’s
testingstyles. There are many flaws in simple multiple-choice teststhat needto be
addressedand seriously altered. Students and teachers, as well as parents, needto start
standing up to make for a fair and more accurate testingmethod. We shouldaddress
the fact that many top high schools and private universities have made the switchand
followin their footsteps. Insteadof finding out what students can guess, we should be
finding out what they actually know.
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Bibliography
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Crean, M. (2011, June 1). Being a Teacher: Concerns, Needs, and What's Lacking.
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teacher-concerns-needs-whats-lacking/
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