Multiple choice examinations

At some time or another, your learner will encounter reading comprehension questions. This form of testing consists of reading a passage and then answering true-false, multiple-choice, and/or essay questions about that passage. Let s examine multiple-choice questions first. 

Cognitive and subjective effects The effects of LSD on attention have been examined in animal paradigms. LSD reduces accuracy on a multiple-choice reaction time task, which is reversed by a 5-HT2 antagonist (Carli and Samanin 1992). LSD produces gross alterations in time perception, which holds true in animal models as well as human reports (Frederick et al. 1997). 

This text is primarily aimed at preparing students to sit for multiple choice question (MCQ) examinations in pharmacy and would therefore be a valuable study tool for students preparing for registration and would also assist in preparation... 

This book provides an ideal revision guide for those preparing to sit for a multiple choice questions (MCQs) examination in pharmacy. It covers common general pharmacy practice interventions and operations and other topics commonly featured in examinations, such as simple pharmaceutical calculations, doses, strengths, nomenclature, abbreviations, dosage forms, specialities, trade and generic names, biochemical tests, classification, side-effects, and common diseases. Some recent advances in pharmacy practice are also included. 

The physical chemistry curriculum reform efforts of the last two decades have succeeded in encouraging some revisions in the material in the lecture and in new or modernized exercises for use in the laboratory. More slowly, the mainstream standardized multiple choice examination has also kept pace with the curricular revisions. The content areas represented on the examination have changed with each successive revision of the examination, as have the types of questions asked. The content areas on the examination have become more representative of modem physical chemistry practice, while the items themselves have become more conceptually based. 

For these reasons, the Examinations Institute has chosen to continue with the development of sets of examinations in the multiple choice format for a large scale testing program available to a large number of institutions at a reasonable price per examination. The Examinations Institute can consider other means of testing in the future as those means become cost effective. 

Multiple choice examinations are composed of items in a multiple choice format, in which the stem is the part of the question before the multiple choice options. These formats are characterized by the examinee (student) selecting the best response from a set of options. Within this set of parameters, items can be formed in a number of distinct manners. The two forms, which are thought of as the conventional forms, called complete the sentence and give the correct response do just that. In the first, the stem asks the question in the form of an incomplete sentence and the responses then complete the sentence, for example, "... The properties which must be measured are for the stem and pressure and. .. for a response. The second form might ask What is the original temperature T, in K for the stem and a series of numerical values for the responses. These types of questions are commonly used on standardized examinations in a number of fields including chemistry. Most questions on the physical chemistry examinations are in one of these two forms. 

Both true-false and extended matching types are considered to be multiple choice formats. When combined with options for both are true or neither are true they are useful forms of items in some fields. These formats rarely occur on the physical chemistry examination. Another form which is rarely used asks... 

Following selection and approval of the committee members by the Examinations Institute director, the committee begins work on the lengthy process of writing the examination. Typically, the physical chemistry committee meets at the site of each ACS national meeting until work on the examination is completed. Some of the other examination committees may meet at the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education or the ChemEd conference. At the first committee meeting, the committee will typically discuss and make decisions on several items. The first of these items is which examinations will result at the end of the process. Previous committees have opted to write only a comprehensive examination, or a suite of examinations in thermodynamics, dynamics, and quantum mechanics. A second question is how many questions are needed for each examination, and if the multiple choice format is used, how many responses will be used for each question. For example, the committee writing the 2000 set of examinations chose 40 questions with four responses, while the committee for the 2006 set chose 50 questions with four responses. This decision becomes important because it defines the number of questions that need to be written. 

In conclusion, we have seen that changes have occurred, and will continue to occur, in the format, organization, and content of the physical chemistry examination over time. The multiple choice examination format provides a number of advantages and disadvantages for use in multi-institution testing... 

We have been teaching physical chemistry with a kinetics-first orientation for 13 years. Over the course of this past decade we have also examined our students using the ACS Comprehensive Standardized Exam. Form 1995 (16) was used from 1996 through 2003 and Form 2002 (17) was used in 2004 and 2005. This comprehensive exam has been administered at the end of physical chemistry II covering quantum chemistry and spectroscopy. Both versions divide the 60 multiple choice questions into the three canonical areas, T, Q, and D, with the 1995 version assigning 20 questions each to the three areas. The 2002 version assigns 15 questions to the dynamics section and 25 to the quantum section. A few statistical mechanics questions are also scattered among these sections. 

Near the end of this study guide you will find additional sections that may help you to study for the final examination in the course. The SUMMARY OF SYNTHETIC METHODS lists the important ways to synthesize each class of compounds discussed in the text. It is followed by the SUMMARY OF REACTION MECHANISMS. Both of these sections have references to appropriate portions of the text, in case you feel that further review is necessary. Finally, you will find two lists of sample test questions. The first deals with synthesis, and the second is a list of multiple-choice questions. Both of these sets should help you prepare for examinations. 

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS A total of more than 200 practice questions (of the types used by the National Board of Medical Examiners and other standardized test writers) are included at the end of each chapter so that readers can check their progress in mastering the material. Answers with explanations are provided so that the reader knows both the correct answer and also why the distractors in the multiple choice questions are incorrect. These answers and their explanations are juxtaposed with the original questions in a special section at the end of the book. Thus readers can confirm the correct answers to a group of study questions without the disorientation of flipping from page to page. 

An entrance examination for graduate school asked the following two multiple choice ques-... 

After a new specialty is recognized by BPS, a Specialty Council of content experts is appointed to work with the BPS and a professional testing firm to develop a psychometrically sound and legally defensible certification process. The Specialty Council is composed of six pharmacists practicing in the specialty area and three other pharmacists. Certification examinations consisting of 200 multiple choice questions are administered an-... 

In multiple choice question examinations, watch out carefully for negatives in questions,... 

Stage I National Standard Examination in Chemistry (NSEC) (November last week) (duration 2 h) First screening test consists of 100 multiple-choice questions with negative marking and is conducted at about 900+ centres across India. Any student from XI or XII is eligible to appear... 

Such tests encourage guessing and it greatly reduces the validity and reliability of the Tests. Because it is very difficult to frame questions that are neither too obvious nor too ambiguous, this type of examination should be used very sparingly. Whenever possible other types of recognition tests such as multiple choice test should be given. 

Now let s examine an actual standardized test problem, four multiple-choice questions, and their answers. Encourage your student to practice on any sample problem in this book. 

With the job-analysis information in hand, lOS developed the written examinations to measure the candidates job-related knowledge. For each test, lOS compiled a list of training manuals, department procedures, and other materials to use as sources for the test questions. lOS presented the proposed sources to the New Haven fire chief and assistant fire chief for their approval. Then, using the approved sources, lOS drafted a multiple-choice test for each position. Each 2666 test had 100 questions, as required by CSB rules, and was written below a lOth-grade reading level. After lOS prepared the tests, the City opened a 3-month study period. It gave candidates a list that identified the source material for the questions, including the specific chapters from which the questions were taken. 

Most engineering instructors are familiar with written examinations that include multiple-choice and other closed items, calculations, and open-ended questions. Instructors are encouraged to map their written examination questions to course learning outcomes and to examine students achievement in light of these outcomes. Written examinations continue to be effective and efficient means to assess students conceptual understanding. A large number of students can be assessed in the same time period and there is documentation of student achievement. However, good questions are difficult to construct, and students answers do not always reveal the causes of their errors or the sources of their misconceptions. Oral questions, on the other hand, enable faculty to uncover students misconceptions. Oral examinations require that students think on their feet and speak coherently. The use of oral exams, in conjunction with in-class concept questions, was described in Chap. 6 in the example of an aerodynamics course at MIT (See Box 6.1). 

The midterm and final examinations constitute the primary summative assessment approaches used by the author to evaluate student learning. The author currently maintains a modest database of questions that can be included on these examinations. The questions include multiple-choice, short answer, fill-in-the-blank, and true-false prompts and are written to address both concepts and problem solving. 

Students prior general knowledge of scientific topics was examined by a multiple-choice questionnaire (11 questions). The questions were selected fi om flic published form of the international standards test TIMMS (TIMMS, 1999) which was designed for 8 grade students internationally. Internal reliability was measured using the Kuder-Richardson formula 20, a =0.82. 

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