Design

Developing an Exam Bank

Given that many of our new program courses will not get their “first run” for quite some time into the future, it may be less-than-useful to create a complete midterm or final exam for each course.

Rather, please create an exam bank of possible multiple-choice questions (complete with answers) that future instructors can draw upon to build their midterms and final exams.

What is an exam bank? The exam bank is a Word document, with as little formatting as possible, that has exam questions with their answers.

When writing an exam bank for your course, please create one document with both questions and answers but please have separate documents for midterm questions and final exam questions.

Please also separate your questions according to which units they reference. This will make it easier for future instructors to pick their questions.

Consider the following when writing your exam questions:

1. Ensure that the questions align with the GLOs for the course as a whole
2. Ensure that the questions align with the SLOs for the unit content that will be assessed by the test (particularly in the case of midterms)
3. Make sure that you specify how much a question is worth. Generally, multiple choice questions are worth 1 mark, but all other types of questions can have various weights. Please add these.
4. Consider to what extent your questions reflect culturally- and Indigenous-responsive learning
5. Consider to what extent your questions might exhibit a cultural bias. Cultural bias can arise in the following ways:  
   1. language use (slang, jargon, use of idiom),
   2. references to North-American-focused culture such as movies, television programs, or music,
   3. generalizations or stereotypes about how people “typically” or “usually” or “should” or “do” behave, and
   4. references to holidays and other holiday-related information, and etc.

As mentioned above, the less formatting you do, the better. Of course it should be clear which responses attach to which questions and which is the correct response, but don’t spend a great deal of time worrying about hanging indents and etc.

An example exam question with the correct answer is shown below.

Unit 1: What is the main reason so many people moved to California in 1849? (1 point)

a. California land was fertile, plentiful, and inexpensive

b. Gold was discovered in central California

c. The Civil War was looming in the eastern US

d. Religious persecution drove many people away from eastern US communities

 

What follows is a list of “best practices” for writing multiple choice questions.

 

Best Practices for Writing Multiple Choice Questions

Exam questions are time consuming to develop. However, once they are developed they are a quick method for assessing knowledge, comprehension, and understanding. In fact, multiple choice questions could even assess higher levels of learning, such as application, if they are written as scenarios. Multiple choice questions can also be used for practice and for learning activities, not just for assessment.

We are indebted to the resources in NorQuest’s “Online Course Design for Faculty” for the guidance it provides with this material.

Some suggestions for writing effective multiple choice questions

Writing questions as scenarios:

It is important that multiple choice questions test critical-thinking skills and not just memorization skills. To achieve this, try to phrase all questions as realistic situations or scenarios that learners might actually experience in the workplace. Try to create scenario-type questions that ask learners to:

-apply information to a situation

-analyze a situation and provide a recommendation

-synthesize and reapply information

-evaluate something and make a judgement

 

Sample Question:

Which of the following is a whole food?

1. Fruit
2. Toast
3. Cereal

What is needed to improve this question? How can this question be written in a better way?

Revised:

Sally's breakfast this morning included one glass of orange juice (from concentrate), one slice of toast, a small bowl of bran cereal, and a grapefruit. What "whole food” did Sally eat for breakfast?

1. Orange juice
2. Toast
3. Bran cereal
4. Grapefruit

 

Write the stem as a complete question:

Ensure the stem is phrased as a complete question that you could answer without looking at the possible answers. It should end with a question mark (unless it is a True/False statement). According to Haladyna and Downing (1989), phrasing the stem as a question is more effective than phrasing it as an incomplete statement.

Sample question:

California

1. is the location of the tallest mountain in the United States
2. has an eagle on its state flag
3. is the second largest state in terms of area
4. was the location of the Gold Rush of 1849

What is needed to improve this question? How can this question be written in a better way?

Revised:

What is the main reason so many people moved to California in 1849?

1. California land was fertile, plentiful, and inexpensive.
2. Gold was discovered in central California.
3. The Civil War was looming in the eastern US.
4. Religious persecution drove many people away from eastern US communities.

 

Include as much information as possible in the question stem:

Include as much information as possible in the question stem, so information is not repeated with every possible answer.

Sample question:

If the pressure of a certain amount of gas is held constant, what will happen if its volume is increased?

1. The temperature of the gas will decrease.
2. The temperature of the gas will increase.
3. The temperature of the gas will remain the same.

What is needed to improve this question? How can this question be written in a better way?

Revised:

If you increase the volume of a certain amount of gas while holding its pressure constant, what will happen to its temperature?

1. It decreases.
2. It increases.
3. It remains the same.

 

Use consistent grammar and parallel structure when writing the question:

The grammar of each alternative stem needs to be consistent. Use parallel structure, including repetitive sentence structures. This assists also in keeping the question’s reading level at a manageable level.

Sample question:

Which of the following would best promote the application of nuclear discoveries in medicine?

1. Trained radioactive therapy specialists
2. Developing standardized techniques for treatment of patients
3. Do not place restrictions on the use of radioactive substances.
4. If the average doctor is trained to apply radioactive treatments

What is needed to improve this question? How can this question be written in a better way?

Revised:

Which of the following would best promote the application of nuclear discoveries in medicine?

1. Trained radioactive therapy specialists
2. Standardized techniques for treatment of patients
3. Unrestrictive use of radioactive substances
4. Trained physicians in radioactive treatments

 

Avoid certain types of “all or nothing” answers

Avoid "all of the above,” "none of the above,” "except for,” or "all but” answers.

With "all of the above” questions, if a student knows that two of the three possible answers are definitely correct, they can reasonably select "all of the above” and get the answer correct without evaluating all of the options.

To make the question more challenging, turn the question into a "check all correct answers” type of question, where they need to be sure if each possible answer is correct.

Sample Question:

Which of the following are benefits of effective recruitment and selection practices?

1. reduced employee turnover
2. increased productivity
3. increased long-term profitability and productivity ratios
4. all of the above

What is needed to improve this question? How can this question be written in a better way?

Revised:

Which of the following are benefits of effective recruitment and selection practices? Check all correct answers.

1. Reduced employee turnover
2. Increased productivity
3. Increased long-term profitability and productivity ratios

Other considerations:

1. Keep the alternatives similar in length.
2. Present the correct answer in each of the alternative positions approximately an equal number of times (meaning “A” is the correct answer at the same frequency as “B” or “C” or “D”)