How to Write Better Multiple-Choice Questions

Multiple-choice questions have a bad reputation: people say they only test recall. What is usually bad is not the format but the writing. Written properly, a multiple-choice question can test reasoning — and, more usefully, tell you how someone misunderstands something.

The parts of a question

A question has a stem (the question itself), a key (the correct answer), and distractors (the wrong options). Almost every problem with multiple-choice questions comes from carelessly written distractors.

Rules for the stem

• The question must stand on its own. Cover the options with your hand; if the stem is still answerable, it is finished. If it is not, the stem is incomplete.
• Avoid negatives. “Which of these is NOT…” makes people who understand the material answer wrongly through misreading. If you must use one, set the negative in bold.
• Cut words that do no work. A three-sentence preamble tests reading speed, not understanding.

Rules for the distractors

This is the heart of it. Every distractor should represent a misunderstanding that genuinely exists. The easiest source: recall the wrong answers you hear most often in class, and turn those into options.

• Keep them the same length. The longest, most detailed option is almost always guessed as the key. If your key needs a long explanation, lengthen the others too.
• Keep the grammar parallel. If three options start with a verb and one starts with a noun, the odd one out is immediately suspicious.
• Avoid “all of the above” and “none of the above”. Both test test-taking skill more than they test the material.
• Never let two options be defensible. If a participant can argue, the question is wrong, not the participant.

Raising the thinking level without raising the reading level

A recall question asks “what”. A reasoning question asks “if this, then what”. The change is often a single sentence:

Recall: What is the purpose of a relief valve on a pressure vessel?

Reasoning: Pressure inside the vessel rises past the working limit and the relief valve does not open. What is most likely to happen first?

The second is still one multiple-choice question and still answers quickly, but it cannot be answered correctly by memorising a definition.

Reading the results

This is where good distractors pay for themselves. If half the room gets a question wrong and nearly all of them pick the same option, you are not looking at a class that did not study — you are looking at one shared misconception. That is far more useful than an average score, and you can correct it in the same session.

If the wrong answers are instead spread evenly across every option, people were usually guessing: the question is too hard, too vague, or the material never landed.

A short checklist

1. The stem is answerable without reading the options.
2. There are no hidden negatives.
3. All options match in length and grammatical form.
4. Every distractor maps to a real misconception.
5. No two options are equally defensible.
6. You have read it once on a phone screen.