I just finished an exam for my Church History class. It was going well until I got to the multiple choice questions. Why is that a multiple choice answer seems so difficult?
Which of the following are not true? Which of course implies that more than one is...
How many of the following people are...? Which means you have to know about all of them...
I suppose its not so bad if there are only 3 possible choices. One is obviously wrong, and then at least you have a 50/50 chance. But as soon as I see D) and E) my eye starts to twitch!!!
D and E are never good. They always seem to be some ghastly combination of death by logic!
d) both A and B; e) all of the above.
It drives me CRAZY I tell you! The amount of time I spent thinking and over thinking those questions was ridiculous!
And then, after you think you've finally gotten the answer and are about to move on, there's that voice.... you know the one. Its your high school English teacher reminding you that you should go with your "first impression". Or that pimply faced nerd who always got such great grades that swore he could prove statistically that "C" is by far the most common answer.
I hate multiple choice questions! It seems like I can always find a way to convince myself that any of the answers might be right under certain circumstances. And then there's the trick play. I start trying to get into my prof's head and start wondering if he is asking trick questions...
This all goes to show that I have a significant problem: option paralysis.
Too many choices mean too many possible solutions, and my capacity to convince myself of something is staggering.
Why can't all the questions be short answer? At least then, if you write enough, you're sure to stumble over the right amount of BS!!!
May all your tests be True/False and short answer!
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3 comments:
So sorry that you had this problem, but I'm afraid that you come by this "challenge" with multiple choice questions genetically! I, your mom, have equal disdain for such methods of attempting to "test knowledge"!! Bah Humbug!!! Perhaps because of my MBTI "Type", I can usually figure out why a, b, c, and d all are THE correct answer!
My only hope is that you do not pass along this difficult personality trait to your kids!!
Mike, you are so right. D & E are never good ... I totally agree with the twitching.
You would die if you had to take the nursing boards. Most answers are ALL true and you have to pick THE BEST answer ... according to the writers of the test of course.
What really killed me was spending a ridiculous amount of time and money getting a great, progressive, evidence-based nursing education and then spending the last 3 months of it "unlearning" all of my knowledge in order to be able to pass the boards which are a few years behind in their evidence-based questions. Seriously, ridiculous!
Anyhow, I can totally relate. I love blogs, so I will be making sure to keep up with yours. ~ Jess
Interesting that we both have problems with multiple guess tests. I much prefer the essay tests where I could always b.s. my way to a good grade. ;-)
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