> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.lamsfoundation.org/lams/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.lamsfoundation.org/lams/question-bank/multiple-choice-questions.md). # Multiple Choice Questions ### Create a Multiple-Choice Question Use a multiple-choice question (MCQ) when you want students to select an answer from a set of options. LAMS supports both: * **One answer only:** students select one option. Use this for a single-correct-answer or single-best-answer question. * **Multiple answers allowed:** students can select more than one option. This is more precisely a *multiple-response* question. MCQs work well for checking knowledge across a broad content area. With a suitable scenario and carefully constructed options, you can also assess application, interpretation and analysis. Do not use an MCQ when students need to construct an argument, demonstrate a process or produce an original response; choose a question type that captures that evidence directly. ### Before you create the question Start with the learning outcome, then decide what evidence would show that a student has achieved it. Use the MCQ format only when selecting an option provides valid evidence of that achievement. For consequential assessment, prepare an item specification or blueprint that identifies the learning outcome, content area, intended cognitive demand and weighting. A Question Bank helps you organise and reuse items, but reuse alone does not establish their quality. ### Create the question 1. Enter a short, distinctive **Question's title**. Use the title to identify and manage the item in the Question Bank. Include information that helps you distinguish similar items, such as the topic and cognitive demand. Do not put information here that students need in order to answer the question. 2. Enter the question in **Question's description**. State a complete, focused problem. Include only the context students need. Prefer a direct question; if you use a scenario, make it authentic to the learning outcome rather than adding irrelevant reading difficulty. 3. Enter an option in each **Answer** field. LAMS provides four answer fields initially. Select **Add another answer** when you need an additional option. 4. Set the **Grade** for every answer. Identify the correct option or options through their grades. Review the total scoring pattern, not just each option in isolation. If you permit multiple answers, test every meaningful combination before using the question with students. 5. Add feedback if it will help students learn from the question. 6. Review the advanced settings, tag the relevant learning outcome or outcomes, and select **Save**. ### Write effective options * Make every distractor plausible to a student who has the relevant misconception or makes a predictable error. * Keep the options grammatically consistent with the question and similar in style and level of detail. * Avoid clues such as one unusually long option, repeated wording, implausible distractors or inconsistent units. * Avoid **all of the above** and **none of the above** unless they are essential to the construct you intend to assess. * Avoid negative wording where possible. If a negative is necessary, make it visually prominent and check that it does not introduce avoidable difficulty. * Do not add extra distractors merely to reach a conventional number. Three effective options can provide better evidence than four options with one obviously wrong distractor. * Check that the keyed answer is defensible and that no distractor could reasonably be interpreted as correct. Recent guidance continues to emphasise quality assurance rather than treating MCQs as easy to write: single-best-answer items are versatile, but require careful review before they are used in assessment ([Ali, 2024](https://doi.org/10.1111/eje.12992)). Research also shows that item-writing flaws and non-functioning distractors can weaken validity and the ability of an item to distinguish between levels of performance ([Sultan et al., 2015](https://doi.org/10.1038/srep09556)). ### Add feedback for students The feedback panel contains four optional fields. | Field | What to enter | | ---------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **General Feedback** | An explanation, reference or worked reasoning that is useful regardless of the response. | | **Feedback on any correct response** | Reinforcement or a concise explanation of why the answer is correct. Avoid praise without information. | | **Feedback on any partially correct response** | Guidance that identifies what the student understood and what they should reconsider. This is most relevant when you allow multiple answers and partial credit. | | **Feedback on any incorrect response** | A useful prompt, explanation or resource that addresses the likely misunderstanding without simply repeating “incorrect”. | Feedback is most useful when students receive it in time to act on it. For low-stakes practice, explain both the correct reasoning and the misconceptions represented by the distractors. Check the settings of the activity that uses the banked question, because that activity determines when students can see feedback. ### Configure the advanced settings #### Default question grade Enter the overall mark or weight for the question. The interface accepts an integer, for example `1`, `5` or `10`. Keep item weightings aligned with the learning outcomes and the amount of evidence each item provides. A larger number does not make an item more valid. Before a graded use, preview the question and confirm that the maximum, partial and minimum possible scores match your assessment plan. #### Penalty factor Enter the penalty that should apply in a context where students can make another attempt. The field accepts a floating-point number. Use penalties only when they serve a clear assessment purpose. Their effect can depend on how the receiving LAMS activity handles attempts, so test the question in that activity before relying on the calculation. Explain any penalty to students in advance. Do not use penalty scoring merely to discourage guessing; it can change risk-taking behaviour and may measure something beyond the intended learning outcome. #### One or multiple answers? Choose one of the following: * **One answer only:** students can select one option. Use this when one answer is correct or represents the single best answer. Ensure that only the intended option receives full credit. * **Multiple answers allowed:** students can select several options. Use this only when the task genuinely requires students to identify a set of correct responses. Configure credit—and any deduction for incorrect selections—deliberately so that selecting every option cannot produce an unintended advantage. The wording of a multiple-response question should tell students how many responses to select, or state **Select all that apply**. Partial credit can be defensible, but only when the scoring rule represents the relative evidence supplied by each response. Preview and test all response patterns; the authoring screen does not by itself communicate the final rule clearly enough for a high-stakes assumption. #### Shuffle answers? Turn this on to vary the order of options when the question is delivered. Shuffling can reduce simple answer-position sharing, but it is not a substitute for assessment security. Leave it off when options have an intentional order, refer to one another, use labels such as “both A and B”, or must match a fixed visual. If you shuffle, read the options in several orders to check that the question remains coherent. #### Prefix sequential letters for each answer Turn this on to display sequential letters with the options. Use letters when you need a stable way to discuss choices during review. Do not refer to “option A” inside the question or feedback when answer shuffling is enabled; refer to the option text or underlying concept instead. #### Learning outcomes Search by outcome name or code, then select every learning outcome for which the question provides meaningful evidence. Tag outcomes at the level actually assessed. A question that asks students to recall a definition does not demonstrate an outcome that requires them to evaluate, design or perform. Avoid tagging every broadly related outcome: this makes outcome reports look comprehensive while weakening their interpretability. Across a test or course, review the distribution of questions by outcome, cognitive demand and weighting. Alignment supports blueprinting and helps you identify under-sampled outcomes; it does not prove that an individual item is valid. ### Use MCQs within a programme of assessment Treat each MCQ response as one data point, not a complete judgement of achievement. In programmatic assessment, individual assessment events should maximise learning and feedback, while higher-stakes decisions draw on multiple data points collected over time ([van der Vleuten et al., 2012](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22364452/)). This means you should combine MCQs with other evidence when an outcome includes performance, communication, creation, collaboration or professional judgement. Use frequent, low-stakes MCQs for retrieval practice and diagnostic feedback; reserve consequential interpretations for an appropriately broad and representative body of evidence. ### Review the question after use Review both the content and the response data before you reuse an item. * Check the proportion of students who answered correctly. * Examine whether the item distinguishes as intended between stronger and weaker overall performance. * Identify distractors that few or no students select. * Investigate unexpected patterns before assuming they reflect student ability; ambiguity, miscoding, teaching coverage or accessibility barriers may be responsible. * Record revisions and avoid comparing statistics across materially different versions as though they were the same item. LAMS Question Bank analytics can include difficulty, discrimination and point-biserial information across uses of a question ([LAMS documentation](https://docs.lamsfoundation.org/tbl/tbl-for-teachers/analytics)). Interpret these indicators with the sample size, assessment purpose and item content in mind. Statistics flag questions for review; they do not replace expert judgement. ### Final check Before you save or deploy the question, confirm that: * the question measures a tagged learning outcome at the intended cognitive level; * students can understand the task without avoidable ambiguity; * one answer is clearly best, or every correct response is defensible; * every distractor is plausible but incorrect; * the answer grades produce the intended result for every response pattern; * feedback helps students decide what to do next; * shuffling does not damage meaning; * the question is accessible and any media include suitable alternatives; and * you have previewed the question in the LAMS activity where students will answer it. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. 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