Quiz Tips
One of your group's tasks is to create multiple choice questions to test your audience's understanding of your topic.
It is challenging to make a really good multiple choice quiz. Here are some DOs and DON'Ts.
DOs
Try to find main ideas from the reading to develop into multiple choice questions.
Look for important keywords or names of important people that the reader should remember and create questions around those.
Try to develop at least one or two questions that require the quiz-taker to answer a WHY question.
Maybe even include a "humorous" answer as an option to one (or maybe two) of your questions.
DONTs
Avoid questions with a super-obvious answers. There is no need to test something that even blind Freddy can see!
The Patriots got help from...
A. Europe B. Australia C. Asia D. Antarctica
Make at least two answer options seem plausible (i.e. like they could be the correct answer) and at least one answer option fairly obviously wrong.
Which of the following people was responsible for blah, blah, blah?
A. Marquis de Lafayette B. Baron von Steuben C. Bernardo de Galvez D. Savanna Kuisle
In other words don't make the answer completely obvious!
Which of the following people was responsible for blah, blah, blah?
A. Marquis de Lafayette B. Josh Budde C. Justin Bieber D. Savanna Kuisle
Don't test insignificant details from the reading.
The Battle of Lexington started at what time in the morning?
A. 5:00 AM B. 5:15 AM C. 5:30 AM D. 5:45 AM
FORMAT and QUESTION TYPES
You should have four answer options to each of the five questions.
You can create a "fill-in-the-missing-word" question.
Washington rowed silently across the _________________ River.
A. Mississippi B. Nile C. Delaware D. Hudson
You can create a "complete-the-phrase" question.
Washington became the...
A. President of the Continental Congress
B. Commander of the Continental Army
C. Author of the Declaration of Independence
D. Principal of TAS.
You can create a question with multiple correct answers.
Which is NOT one of the reasons Washington decided to attack the Hessians at Trenton?
A. He had not yet had a significant victory in the Revolution.
B. He was worried he was going to lose his Continental Army soldiers at the end of their contracts.
C. He wanted to go and get their boots for his shoe-less soldiers.
D. He knew he could design a successful surprise attack.
Be careful that one multiple choice question doesn't provide the answer to another.
QUESTION 1: Who rowed across the Delaware River?
A. George Washington B. William Howe C. The Hessians D. General Gage
QUESTION 2: When George Washington rowed across the Delaware River, .......
Make sure the correct answer isn't always A!