Anonymous (XXXX) Rubric scoring and item writing.pdf

17 • The more homogeneous the alternatives, the highe~·· the level of
understanding tested for.
18. Avoid responses that overlap or include each other.
19. If popular misconceptions in the field covered by the question
exist, the distractors should be designed to attract
candidates holding these misconceptions.
20. The distractors should be of about the same length and
complexity as the correct answer.
21. Repetitions in the distractors should be avoided by putting
the repeated thought into the stem of the item.
22. The stem of the item should be phrased to ask for the best
rather than the correct answer whenever there is no clear-cut
"correct" answer or where one or more of the distractors is
not ·'wrong."
23. If there are other answers conceivably as good as the intended
answer, the stem should be limited by the phrase "of the
following."
24 • If the candidate could distinguish the correct answer from the
incorrect answers without having read the stem, the item is in
need of revision.
25. There should be no possibility that a candidate may select an
alternative because it is the only one con~aininq the same
words or phrases as the stem or because of other external
characteristics.
26. Keep about four or five alternatives.
Matching sets
27. The items should be homogeneous.
28. The alternative responses should be homogeneous.
29. There should be more unequal options anyway than questions in
a set, but the list of options should not be too long-­
possibly an upper limit of 7.
30. Allow the same option to be the correct answer for more than
one question.
31. Be specific about the basis on which questions and options are
to be matched.
32. Material should be briefer in options than in questions if
there is a choice.