​Exams and quizzes are commonly used tools for assessing learning. While exams are not the perfect assessment for every subject or situation, they can be valuable when used thoughtfully in the right context. Exams can be an efficient way to assess learners’ understanding of a wide breadth of information and, if developed carefully, they can also assess learners’ ability to apply their knowledge, as well as analyze and evaluate content. They can even be used to simulate professional certification exams learners may eventually need to complete. 

When creating an exam, it is important to consider what types of questions will be most helpful for assessing your chosen course objectives. Different question types are useful in different ways, and since some learners perform better on some question types than others, it is a good idea to include a variety in your exam. Once you’ve decided which question types to use, take time to construct questions that are both valid (assess what they’re meant to assess) and reliable (consistently accurate in their results). 

Here are a few commonly used question types, their best uses, and some tips on how to create new questions of each type effectively. 

Useful for:

• Efficiently assessing knowledge of a wide range of content 
• Objectively measuring learner ability 
• Bonus – using tools available in Canvas, you can assess the effectiveness of your multiple–choice questions after learners complete the exam 

Tips for construction:

• Avoid long and complex question stems 
  • The question should be clear without reading the answers 
• Include plausible wrong answers 
  • Using common student errors as distractors is one place to start 
• The length of each possible answer should be similar 
• Stay away from absolute language (e.g., always, never) 
• Don’t use answers like “All of the above” or “A and C” if using Canvas features like Shuffle Answers 

Useful for:

• Assessing recall knowledge 
• Covering large amounts of content in a short amount of time 
• Objectively measuring learner ability 

Tips for construction:

• Keep stems and options short 
• Include slightly more items in the answer group 
  • But don’t go overboard! 1–3 extra answers should be enough 
• Be clear whether the same item can be used more than one time 
• Keep matching sets grouped together by theme/style of answer 
  • The answer group should be homogeneous. For example, all answers in the second group should all be names, rather than a mix of names, theories, and dates. 

Useful for:

• Assessing either basic knowledge (answer in one or two words) or higher-level thinking skills (answer in two or three sentences) 
• Limiting learner guessing in answers 

Tips for construction:

• Use concise and direct questions 
• Create a rubric for each question to reduce subjectivity when marking 
• If using fill-in-the-blank questions, limit the number of blanks in each question to maintain readability 

Cameron Reimer

Testing Services Coordinator