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Competitive Examination
A competitive examination is an examination where candidates are ranked according to their grades. If the examination is open for n positions, then the first n candidates in ranks pass, the others are rejected.
They are used as entrance examinations for university and college admissions or to secondary schools. Another types are civil service examinations, required for positions in the public sector; CSS Exam, and the PMS Competitive Examination.
Competitive examinations are considered, an egalitarian way of choosing worthy applicants without risking influence peddling, bias or other concerns.
They are used as entrance examinations for university and college admissions or to secondary schools. Another types are civil service examinations, required for positions in the public sector; CSS Exam, and the PMS Competitive Examination.
Competitive examinations are considered, an egalitarian way of choosing worthy applicants without risking influence peddling, bias or other concerns.
Concept of MCQs
Multiple choice is a form of an objective assessment in which respondents are asked to select only correct answers out of the choices from a list. The multiple choice format is most frequently used in educational testing, in market research, and in elections, when a person chooses between multiple candidates, parties, or policies.
Although E. L. Thorndike developed an early scientific approach to testing students, it was his assistant Benjamin D. Wood who developed the multiple choice test. Multiple choice testing increased in popularity in the mid-20th century when scanners and data-processing machines were developed to check the results.
Advantages of MCQs
There are several advantages to multiple choice tests. If item writers are well trained and items are quality assured, it can be a very effective assessment technique. If students are instructed on the way in which the item format works and myths surrounding the tests are corrected, they will perform better on the test. On many assessments, reliability has been shown to improve with larger numbers of items on a test, and with good sampling and care over case specificity, overall test reliability can be further increased.
Disadvantages
The most serious disadvantage is the limited types of knowledge that can be assessed by multiple choice tests. Multiple choice tests are best adapted for testing well-defined or lower-order skills. Problem-solving and higher-order reasoning skills are better assessed through short-answer and essay tests. However, multiple choice tests are often chosen, not because of the type of knowledge being assessed, but because they are more affordable for testing a large number of students. This is especially true in the United States and India, where multiple choice tests are the preferred form of high-stakes testing and the sample size of test-takers is large respectively.
Although E. L. Thorndike developed an early scientific approach to testing students, it was his assistant Benjamin D. Wood who developed the multiple choice test. Multiple choice testing increased in popularity in the mid-20th century when scanners and data-processing machines were developed to check the results.
Advantages of MCQs
There are several advantages to multiple choice tests. If item writers are well trained and items are quality assured, it can be a very effective assessment technique. If students are instructed on the way in which the item format works and myths surrounding the tests are corrected, they will perform better on the test. On many assessments, reliability has been shown to improve with larger numbers of items on a test, and with good sampling and care over case specificity, overall test reliability can be further increased.
Disadvantages
The most serious disadvantage is the limited types of knowledge that can be assessed by multiple choice tests. Multiple choice tests are best adapted for testing well-defined or lower-order skills. Problem-solving and higher-order reasoning skills are better assessed through short-answer and essay tests. However, multiple choice tests are often chosen, not because of the type of knowledge being assessed, but because they are more affordable for testing a large number of students. This is especially true in the United States and India, where multiple choice tests are the preferred form of high-stakes testing and the sample size of test-takers is large respectively.
10 Reasons why Condidates are unable to pass the competitive exams
10 Reasons why now a days Condidates are unable to pass the competitive exams and face failure in their career. There are many reasons behind this which we are sharing today with you. And you will be shocked to read below points that somewhere parents are responsible for this.
Many of my friends says me that we invested such large amount of money but still can not pass Competitive exams.
The reasons are simple that we are sharing with you. Until condidates leave reading Specific Guides they can't pas any exam and will always fail in competitive exams. Because A specific Guide gives you just intro of any topic not the entire technical knowledge. And another thing many students find fun after higher secondary exam and they continue this fun life for their entire graduation period and later it becomes reason for their failure in competitive exams because they could not give proper attention to their core subjects. So there are many reasons why college student fail in competitive exams and what are those reasons , check that out below:-
1. Most of the time they do and follow what other popular boys do. Does not matter good or bad.
2. To impress girls they need money and here they borrow money on interest and problam starts from here.
3. If they become addicted to smoking or alcohol than they need more money and hence attention goes away from studies to money.
4. They dnt take studies seriously and falls in short money making schemes.
5. When they are away from home they feel freedom and do every that thing which they should not.
6. Lack of motivation and strong desire to compete make them less interesting in studies.
7. People who's parents were very strict at school times seen to more fluctuate from studies because they never felt freedom.
8. Bad company of friends, alcohol, smoking, girls and borrowed money are the main reason for failures in career in all exams.
9. They fluctuate from studies when they are alone. Because at home they are under monitoring of their parents but in college they are alone.
10. Many students think that study is over after higher secondary and college is for fun and they dnt take it seriously.
Many of my friends says me that we invested such large amount of money but still can not pass Competitive exams.
The reasons are simple that we are sharing with you. Until condidates leave reading Specific Guides they can't pas any exam and will always fail in competitive exams. Because A specific Guide gives you just intro of any topic not the entire technical knowledge. And another thing many students find fun after higher secondary exam and they continue this fun life for their entire graduation period and later it becomes reason for their failure in competitive exams because they could not give proper attention to their core subjects. So there are many reasons why college student fail in competitive exams and what are those reasons , check that out below:-
1. Most of the time they do and follow what other popular boys do. Does not matter good or bad.
2. To impress girls they need money and here they borrow money on interest and problam starts from here.
3. If they become addicted to smoking or alcohol than they need more money and hence attention goes away from studies to money.
4. They dnt take studies seriously and falls in short money making schemes.
5. When they are away from home they feel freedom and do every that thing which they should not.
6. Lack of motivation and strong desire to compete make them less interesting in studies.
7. People who's parents were very strict at school times seen to more fluctuate from studies because they never felt freedom.
8. Bad company of friends, alcohol, smoking, girls and borrowed money are the main reason for failures in career in all exams.
9. They fluctuate from studies when they are alone. Because at home they are under monitoring of their parents but in college they are alone.
10. Many students think that study is over after higher secondary and college is for fun and they dnt take it seriously.
How to prepare for competitive exams
In this competitive world, being well prepared is the key to success. In today’s world no matter which field we belong to, we are required to appear for competitive exams to get admissions in universities, for civil services or for any other position in public sector. These exams aim to choose worthy candidates, so here are the practices you should follow to prepare well for competitive exams:
Time Management:
Time is the most crucial factor in determining your success in competitive exams. Make sure you start your preparations early, so that you have ample time in your hands and there is no panic at the last moment. Divide the entire syllabus into equal parts in order to be able to cover the whole syllabus on time.
For example: If you have 10 chapters to cover and 15 days of preparation time, then make sure you complete 1 chapter in 1 day, leaving the last 5 days for revision.
Sample Papers and Mock Tests to prepare for competitive exams:
Attempting sample papers and previous year question papers helps you to formulate a better strategy for the exam and know your weaknesses. It will give you a better understanding of the pattern of the question paper and make it easier to finish the paper in the given time. The more sample papers you solve, the more confident and prepared you will feel during the competitive exam. Work hard to overcome your weaknesses.
Smart work along with Hard work:
It is true that there is no alternative to hard work when it comes to preparing for competitive exams but smart work is also as important as hard work. You should start with the subjects and the topics that are most difficult and carry the maximum weightage. Take a short 10 minute break now and then if you are finding it difficult to focus for a long period of time.
Do away with distractions:
Maintain a balance between your study time and other activities. To prepare for competitive exams set aside a fixed time for your studies. Discipline yourself, do away with distractions. Switch off your phone and sit in a room without TV while studying. Ask the people around you not to disturb you while you are studying.
Do not fall under the pressure:
You might be under a lot of pressure to prepare for a competitive exam and do well. Tension and anxiety is not going to help your preparation, instead stay calm and relaxed. Do not study because of pressure from your parents, siblings, and relatives. Stay motivated and do it for yourself.
If you work hard and study with a right frame of mind, success is sure to come knocking at your door. At the end of the day, even if you do not succeed, understand that it is okay to fail and do not get disheartened. Do a thorough preparation for competitive exams and be confident while giving the exam. Be an efficient time manager while preparing for the exam as well as during the exam. Allot time to each section and try to complete it within the desired time frame. Prepare for the competitive exam with focus and determination.
All the very best.
Time Management:
Time is the most crucial factor in determining your success in competitive exams. Make sure you start your preparations early, so that you have ample time in your hands and there is no panic at the last moment. Divide the entire syllabus into equal parts in order to be able to cover the whole syllabus on time.
For example: If you have 10 chapters to cover and 15 days of preparation time, then make sure you complete 1 chapter in 1 day, leaving the last 5 days for revision.
Sample Papers and Mock Tests to prepare for competitive exams:
Attempting sample papers and previous year question papers helps you to formulate a better strategy for the exam and know your weaknesses. It will give you a better understanding of the pattern of the question paper and make it easier to finish the paper in the given time. The more sample papers you solve, the more confident and prepared you will feel during the competitive exam. Work hard to overcome your weaknesses.
Smart work along with Hard work:
It is true that there is no alternative to hard work when it comes to preparing for competitive exams but smart work is also as important as hard work. You should start with the subjects and the topics that are most difficult and carry the maximum weightage. Take a short 10 minute break now and then if you are finding it difficult to focus for a long period of time.
Do away with distractions:
Maintain a balance between your study time and other activities. To prepare for competitive exams set aside a fixed time for your studies. Discipline yourself, do away with distractions. Switch off your phone and sit in a room without TV while studying. Ask the people around you not to disturb you while you are studying.
Do not fall under the pressure:
You might be under a lot of pressure to prepare for a competitive exam and do well. Tension and anxiety is not going to help your preparation, instead stay calm and relaxed. Do not study because of pressure from your parents, siblings, and relatives. Stay motivated and do it for yourself.
If you work hard and study with a right frame of mind, success is sure to come knocking at your door. At the end of the day, even if you do not succeed, understand that it is okay to fail and do not get disheartened. Do a thorough preparation for competitive exams and be confident while giving the exam. Be an efficient time manager while preparing for the exam as well as during the exam. Allot time to each section and try to complete it within the desired time frame. Prepare for the competitive exam with focus and determination.
All the very best.
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10 Tips for Writing Great Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
Whilst some people disregard the Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) exam format as being ’too easy’, it is being increasingly used in all areas of education, from secondary to university and even professional education. This is at least partially because it allows marking to be automated, but there are a number of benefits the system offers students, and contrary to popular belief, well-constructed MCQs can test high-level thinking and problem solving skills rather than simply being a test of fact recall.
This guide is for educators and students wanting to know how to write good, challenging MCQs, which we believe is a great way to study and reinforce knowledge.
Tip 1: Just have ONE correct answer
A number of formats encourage users to ‘select ALL options that apply’, and do not disclose to students how many correct answers there are. This is a fairly lazy way to construct multiple choice questions, and it doesn’t allow you to isolate functional units of understanding to test them.
Tip 2: Present options in an alphabetical or numerical order
If you don’t follow this rule, then you’re opening your test results up to be biased towards certain positions.
Tip 3: Choose a specific piece of knowledge that you want to test
One advantage of traditional testing methods is that you can ask quite broad questions. Consider for example writing a test for chemistry students. One large area you would want to test is students’ knowledge of how the periodic table was developed. So you could simply have a question that said:
“Write 2-3 paragraphs on the history of how the periodic table was developed” (15 marks)
On your mark scheme, you would know what you were looking for and could give, say 2 marks if the student correctly identified Dimitri Mendeleev as the inventor of the ‘modern’ periodic table, 1 mark if they pointed out that this was the first time atoms were arranged in order of atomic number etc.
With MCQs, you are testing much smaller and more focused pieces of knowledge with each question. Furthermore, there can be no ambiguity or room for argument in the question. For example, a very simple MCQ that tests a student’s knowledge of the periodic table would be:
Who developed the periodic table?
– A) Mendeleev
– B) Lavoisier
– C) Newlands
– D) Hinrichs
To anyone studying chemistry, Mendeleev is the obvious ‘key’ here as he is most commonly credited with developing the modern periodic table, but each of the other ‘distractors’ all played their own crucial roles, and the question “Who developed the periodic table?” is not as clear-cut as it first seems, there are many scientists and historians out there who would put forward arguments that Newlands was deserves credit as the ‘real’ inventor of the table.
This creates multiple problems: Firstly, you are punishing ‘more-able’ students who have done extra background reading and understand the question’s ambiguous nature, and rewarding students who have simply remembered that ‘a Russian-sounding guy made the periodic table’. This is a key point and one you should bear in mind when creating any MCQ: You are asking questions in a completely closed format, so make sure there is no ambiguity and that knowledge is being rewarded appropriately. You’ve probably already realised, therefore, that a better stem would be:
“Who is most commonly credited with having developed the modern periodic table?”
It’s a subtle but crucial difference: you have unambiguously defined the question, and it’s clear to which piece of knowledge is being tested here. Think of this as analogous to effectively isolating different muscle groups during weight training.
Tip 4) Questions should be self-contained
Questions should be self contained in a multiple choice exam. In other words, you shouldn’t have two questions that follow on from each other (i.e. where it is necessary to have answered the first question in order to attempt the second), but a more subtle problem, and one that people seem to miss out quite frequently is exemplified below:
Question 1) What type of animal are dolphins?
– A) Fish
– B) Mammals
– C) Amphibians
– D) Reptiles
Question 2) Which of the following is NOT true about dolphins?
– A) They are cold-blooded
– B) They are closely related to whales
– C) They belong to the same class of animal as elephants
– D) There are considered to be highly intelligent animals
Now, each of these two questions are fine by themselves, but when you put them together, several problems come into focus. Firstly, whilst they are phrased very differently, there is actually a significant overlap between the areas of knowledge they are testing, meaning that putting both of these questions in a test is slightly inefficient, especially when these exams have only a limited number of questions to test what are usually very large subject areas. To put it another way, it’s very likely that if a student knows the answer to question 1, they will also know the answer to question 2. The two questions do test some distinct areas, but there is almost certainly a better way to address this.
The second problem, and the main one I want to discuss in this section is that a student’s answer to one is heavily linked to their answer to the other. If, for example, a student rightly believes that dolphins are mammals, then he or she has gained not one, but two marks as whilst it doesn’t completely give them the answer, it gives them a significant advantage in answering question 2. For lovers of formal logic: The student knows that A = B and B = C, therefore they can ‘deduce’ that A = C.
Tip 5) Avoid ‘Easy’ (non-functioning) Distractors
The distractors in a multiple choice exam play a large role in determining how hard the exam is. Let’s take the question below:
– “Of the following options, who is commonly credited with the invention the lightbulb?”
Unless you happen to very confidently know the correct answer, how hard this question is largely depends on how hard it is to eliminate the distractors. People writing tests often draw the distinction between ‘functioning’ versus ‘non-functioning‘ distractors. A so-called ‘non-functioning‘ distractor is basically a filler option: officially defined as a distractor which is selected by less than 5% of students, they are answers that are obviously wrong, as shown in the ‘easy’ example below:
– A) Thomas Edison
– B) Fred Flintstone
– C) Selma Hayek
– D) Steve Jobs
Even if you have never heard of Thomas Edison, it is very easy to know the correct answer here simply by eliminating the ridiculous, non-functioning ‘distractors’.
Now let’s make it a bit harder:
– A) Thomas Edison
– B) James Watt
– C) Benjamin Franklin
– D) Alexander Bell
Suddenly, the same question is made much harder as none of the names here are immediately out of place: each person here made some contribution to the field of ‘early electricity’.
The crucial difference between functioning and non-functioning distractors is that they’re what allow you to separate your ‘more-able’ from your ‘less-able’ students. In both versions of the lightbulb question, an able student will know that Edison invented the lightbulb, and therefore can answer the question without paying too much notice to the distracters at all. On the opposite end of the spectrum, your least-able students won’t have a clue who invented the lightbulb, but they’ll probably know it wasn’t Fred Flintstone, Selma Hayek or Steve Jobs: so despite not having the knowledge, they will still be able to claim the mark in the first question. Only the second question really tests whether or not this student knows who invented the lightbulb.
A lot of exams seem to include a mixture of functioning and non-functioning distractors for a given question, leading to a common (and possibly not completely untrue!) adage that in MCQ exams ‘there are always two daft options you can eliminate instantly, so really you have two choices’. Try to resist the temptation to do this: thinking of distractors is a time-consuming process, and whilst having more distractors appears to make the test more difficult superficially, in reality it doesn’t, as students can pick them out with ease. Which brings us on to our next point…
Lesson 6) Distractors should be picked for good reasons
We’ve already established that you should aim to create functioning, rather than non-functioning distractors in your questions: this simple rule will be enough to stop your questions being bad, but it won’t necessarily make them good! To really effectively answer the question “Does this student know and understand this point?”, your distractors should address specific misconceptions about a particular question, for example:
What is the most commonly fractured bone in the human body?
– A) The clavicle
– B) The hip
– C) The ankle
– D) The scaphoid
This is a good question as it is unambiguous, and consists only of functioning distractors. There is only one correct answer here (the clavicle, or ‘collar bone’), but each of the other options are also commonly fractured, and the fact that each of them are liable to fracture in specific circumstances is a key fact students will learn about them. Hip fractures, as you will know are a very common and serious disability occurring mainly in elderly women. In fact, in this sub-group they are probably the most fractured bone by far, which may throw off some students who don’t have all their facts straight.
If we changed the distractors, for example to other bones such as ‘Tibia’ (in your shin) or ‘Cranium’ (skull), whilst they are probably still ‘functioning’ distractors, they are a lot easier to rule out as unlike the distractors in the first question, these are not addressing any particular pitfall or misconception that a lot of students may falsely believe, and therefore the question is not going to differentiate ‘more able’ from ‘less able’ students in the same way.
Lesson 7) Avoid committing to words such as ‘never’ or ‘always’
This is a simple one: when phrasing your questions, try to stay away from ‘categoric’ words or phrases that don’t leave any wiggle-room such as ‘never’ or ‘always’. They can either make a question too obvious, or they can render it ambiguous and open to argument. Consider the following question (it’s another medical one so apologies if you’re a non-medic, but I try to keep them accessible and ultimately if there’s anything I don’t explain about them its simply because that detail is actually irrelevant!)
Which of the following is NOT a side-effect of aspirin?
– A) Dry cough
– B) Tinnitus
– C) Stomach ulcers
– D) Spontaneous bruising
Medical students will know what the ‘correct’ answer here is straight away, for non-medics: Tinnitus, stomach ulcers and spontaneous bruising are very well-known and fairly specific side effects for aspirin, if someone on aspirin came to you presenting with one of them then aspirin would probably be your first suspect. A cough, on the other hand is not really associated with aspirin (although other common drugs can cause a dry cough).
Dry Cough isn’t a bad distractor by any means, as dry cough is the main side effect of another well-known class of drugs often taken in conjunction with aspirin, so it’s perfectly valid to test whether the student can accurately differentiate between the two. So what’s the problem?
‘is NOT’ is a very categorical statement. If that student happens to have done a lot of extra research on the side effects of aspirin, its perfectly possible that he knows of an obscure article somewhere with evidence that aspirin can cause a dry cough. In reality, the student at this level should know the ‘correct’ answer despite this by deciding which is the ‘least incorrect’ answer, but still why not absolve yourself of blame and angry, pedantic emails after the exam by rephrasing it to:
‘Which of the following is not a typical side-effect of aspirin?’
Tip 8) Be consistent in choosing your distractors
If you’re going to use ‘All of the above’ or ‘None of the above’ answers, make sure you use them consistently throughout the test and not just on a handful of questions: if you only use it in a few questions then it’s a dead-giveaway for students that it’s the right answer, and even if you’re actually using it as a distractor it can mislead students who would otherwise have picked a different answer they were reasonably confident in.
Similarly, bear in mind that if ‘All of the above’ is present as an option, then identifying one distractor is enough to eliminate it as an option, and similarly identifying correct answers is enough to identify it as the key. (a)
Another pitfall that you’ve probably seen yourself is inconsistent distractors within a single question. Consider the following question:
When considering treatment options, doctors should take into account all of the following EXCEPT:
– A) The physical, mental and social wellbeing of their patients
– B) The safety and effectiveness of the pharmaceutical, surgical or other treatments they prescribe
– C) The personal, cultural and religious beliefs of their patients
– D) The patient’s condition only
Option D immediately sticks out as a less thoughtful and considered answer so students are most likely to pick it by default. I’ve noticed this as a particular problem when using MCQs for more ‘humanities-based’ questions. Whilst not impossible, writing good quality MCQs for these kinds of topics is definitely trickier, particularly finding good distractors. In this case it may be worth considering a 3-option format, for which there is a mounting level of evidence for their use, and having two good distractors is definitely favourable to having two good and one bad distractor.
Tip 9) Phrase your questions as simply as possible
You’re not aiming to test your students comprehension or trying to ‘catch them out’ with your test so don’t make your questions any more complicated than they need to be. In particular:
– Avoid using double-negatives where possible
– Be wary of adding in extraneous, irrelevant details to ‘throw off’ students (red-herrings)
– Unless specifically testing a student’s technical vocabulary, don’t use complex words where simpler ones will do
You could argue that the students taking your tests should ‘read the question properly’ and such like, and to an extent this is true: if the student answers a question wrongly because they didn’t read the question then some of the responsibility for this has to lie with them, but ultimately it’s only going to make your test a less accurate, less relevant indicator of their actual knowledge so why not help them along where you can?
Tip 10) Avoid negative questions
Negative questions are things like ‘Which of the following is NOT true’, and the majority of testing experts recommend against using them. They can be tempting as they’re relatively easy to think up, but they can be confusing and, more importantly, are liable to be abused as a student may be able to find an incorrect answer without really knowing the correct answer, in which case you can’t confidently say whether they knew it or not.
This guide is for educators and students wanting to know how to write good, challenging MCQs, which we believe is a great way to study and reinforce knowledge.
Tip 1: Just have ONE correct answer
A number of formats encourage users to ‘select ALL options that apply’, and do not disclose to students how many correct answers there are. This is a fairly lazy way to construct multiple choice questions, and it doesn’t allow you to isolate functional units of understanding to test them.
Tip 2: Present options in an alphabetical or numerical order
If you don’t follow this rule, then you’re opening your test results up to be biased towards certain positions.
Tip 3: Choose a specific piece of knowledge that you want to test
One advantage of traditional testing methods is that you can ask quite broad questions. Consider for example writing a test for chemistry students. One large area you would want to test is students’ knowledge of how the periodic table was developed. So you could simply have a question that said:
“Write 2-3 paragraphs on the history of how the periodic table was developed” (15 marks)
On your mark scheme, you would know what you were looking for and could give, say 2 marks if the student correctly identified Dimitri Mendeleev as the inventor of the ‘modern’ periodic table, 1 mark if they pointed out that this was the first time atoms were arranged in order of atomic number etc.
With MCQs, you are testing much smaller and more focused pieces of knowledge with each question. Furthermore, there can be no ambiguity or room for argument in the question. For example, a very simple MCQ that tests a student’s knowledge of the periodic table would be:
Who developed the periodic table?
– A) Mendeleev
– B) Lavoisier
– C) Newlands
– D) Hinrichs
To anyone studying chemistry, Mendeleev is the obvious ‘key’ here as he is most commonly credited with developing the modern periodic table, but each of the other ‘distractors’ all played their own crucial roles, and the question “Who developed the periodic table?” is not as clear-cut as it first seems, there are many scientists and historians out there who would put forward arguments that Newlands was deserves credit as the ‘real’ inventor of the table.
This creates multiple problems: Firstly, you are punishing ‘more-able’ students who have done extra background reading and understand the question’s ambiguous nature, and rewarding students who have simply remembered that ‘a Russian-sounding guy made the periodic table’. This is a key point and one you should bear in mind when creating any MCQ: You are asking questions in a completely closed format, so make sure there is no ambiguity and that knowledge is being rewarded appropriately. You’ve probably already realised, therefore, that a better stem would be:
“Who is most commonly credited with having developed the modern periodic table?”
It’s a subtle but crucial difference: you have unambiguously defined the question, and it’s clear to which piece of knowledge is being tested here. Think of this as analogous to effectively isolating different muscle groups during weight training.
Tip 4) Questions should be self-contained
Questions should be self contained in a multiple choice exam. In other words, you shouldn’t have two questions that follow on from each other (i.e. where it is necessary to have answered the first question in order to attempt the second), but a more subtle problem, and one that people seem to miss out quite frequently is exemplified below:
Question 1) What type of animal are dolphins?
– A) Fish
– B) Mammals
– C) Amphibians
– D) Reptiles
Question 2) Which of the following is NOT true about dolphins?
– A) They are cold-blooded
– B) They are closely related to whales
– C) They belong to the same class of animal as elephants
– D) There are considered to be highly intelligent animals
Now, each of these two questions are fine by themselves, but when you put them together, several problems come into focus. Firstly, whilst they are phrased very differently, there is actually a significant overlap between the areas of knowledge they are testing, meaning that putting both of these questions in a test is slightly inefficient, especially when these exams have only a limited number of questions to test what are usually very large subject areas. To put it another way, it’s very likely that if a student knows the answer to question 1, they will also know the answer to question 2. The two questions do test some distinct areas, but there is almost certainly a better way to address this.
The second problem, and the main one I want to discuss in this section is that a student’s answer to one is heavily linked to their answer to the other. If, for example, a student rightly believes that dolphins are mammals, then he or she has gained not one, but two marks as whilst it doesn’t completely give them the answer, it gives them a significant advantage in answering question 2. For lovers of formal logic: The student knows that A = B and B = C, therefore they can ‘deduce’ that A = C.
Tip 5) Avoid ‘Easy’ (non-functioning) Distractors
The distractors in a multiple choice exam play a large role in determining how hard the exam is. Let’s take the question below:
– “Of the following options, who is commonly credited with the invention the lightbulb?”
Unless you happen to very confidently know the correct answer, how hard this question is largely depends on how hard it is to eliminate the distractors. People writing tests often draw the distinction between ‘functioning’ versus ‘non-functioning‘ distractors. A so-called ‘non-functioning‘ distractor is basically a filler option: officially defined as a distractor which is selected by less than 5% of students, they are answers that are obviously wrong, as shown in the ‘easy’ example below:
– A) Thomas Edison
– B) Fred Flintstone
– C) Selma Hayek
– D) Steve Jobs
Even if you have never heard of Thomas Edison, it is very easy to know the correct answer here simply by eliminating the ridiculous, non-functioning ‘distractors’.
Now let’s make it a bit harder:
– A) Thomas Edison
– B) James Watt
– C) Benjamin Franklin
– D) Alexander Bell
Suddenly, the same question is made much harder as none of the names here are immediately out of place: each person here made some contribution to the field of ‘early electricity’.
The crucial difference between functioning and non-functioning distractors is that they’re what allow you to separate your ‘more-able’ from your ‘less-able’ students. In both versions of the lightbulb question, an able student will know that Edison invented the lightbulb, and therefore can answer the question without paying too much notice to the distracters at all. On the opposite end of the spectrum, your least-able students won’t have a clue who invented the lightbulb, but they’ll probably know it wasn’t Fred Flintstone, Selma Hayek or Steve Jobs: so despite not having the knowledge, they will still be able to claim the mark in the first question. Only the second question really tests whether or not this student knows who invented the lightbulb.
A lot of exams seem to include a mixture of functioning and non-functioning distractors for a given question, leading to a common (and possibly not completely untrue!) adage that in MCQ exams ‘there are always two daft options you can eliminate instantly, so really you have two choices’. Try to resist the temptation to do this: thinking of distractors is a time-consuming process, and whilst having more distractors appears to make the test more difficult superficially, in reality it doesn’t, as students can pick them out with ease. Which brings us on to our next point…
Lesson 6) Distractors should be picked for good reasons
We’ve already established that you should aim to create functioning, rather than non-functioning distractors in your questions: this simple rule will be enough to stop your questions being bad, but it won’t necessarily make them good! To really effectively answer the question “Does this student know and understand this point?”, your distractors should address specific misconceptions about a particular question, for example:
What is the most commonly fractured bone in the human body?
– A) The clavicle
– B) The hip
– C) The ankle
– D) The scaphoid
This is a good question as it is unambiguous, and consists only of functioning distractors. There is only one correct answer here (the clavicle, or ‘collar bone’), but each of the other options are also commonly fractured, and the fact that each of them are liable to fracture in specific circumstances is a key fact students will learn about them. Hip fractures, as you will know are a very common and serious disability occurring mainly in elderly women. In fact, in this sub-group they are probably the most fractured bone by far, which may throw off some students who don’t have all their facts straight.
If we changed the distractors, for example to other bones such as ‘Tibia’ (in your shin) or ‘Cranium’ (skull), whilst they are probably still ‘functioning’ distractors, they are a lot easier to rule out as unlike the distractors in the first question, these are not addressing any particular pitfall or misconception that a lot of students may falsely believe, and therefore the question is not going to differentiate ‘more able’ from ‘less able’ students in the same way.
Lesson 7) Avoid committing to words such as ‘never’ or ‘always’
This is a simple one: when phrasing your questions, try to stay away from ‘categoric’ words or phrases that don’t leave any wiggle-room such as ‘never’ or ‘always’. They can either make a question too obvious, or they can render it ambiguous and open to argument. Consider the following question (it’s another medical one so apologies if you’re a non-medic, but I try to keep them accessible and ultimately if there’s anything I don’t explain about them its simply because that detail is actually irrelevant!)
Which of the following is NOT a side-effect of aspirin?
– A) Dry cough
– B) Tinnitus
– C) Stomach ulcers
– D) Spontaneous bruising
Medical students will know what the ‘correct’ answer here is straight away, for non-medics: Tinnitus, stomach ulcers and spontaneous bruising are very well-known and fairly specific side effects for aspirin, if someone on aspirin came to you presenting with one of them then aspirin would probably be your first suspect. A cough, on the other hand is not really associated with aspirin (although other common drugs can cause a dry cough).
Dry Cough isn’t a bad distractor by any means, as dry cough is the main side effect of another well-known class of drugs often taken in conjunction with aspirin, so it’s perfectly valid to test whether the student can accurately differentiate between the two. So what’s the problem?
‘is NOT’ is a very categorical statement. If that student happens to have done a lot of extra research on the side effects of aspirin, its perfectly possible that he knows of an obscure article somewhere with evidence that aspirin can cause a dry cough. In reality, the student at this level should know the ‘correct’ answer despite this by deciding which is the ‘least incorrect’ answer, but still why not absolve yourself of blame and angry, pedantic emails after the exam by rephrasing it to:
‘Which of the following is not a typical side-effect of aspirin?’
Tip 8) Be consistent in choosing your distractors
If you’re going to use ‘All of the above’ or ‘None of the above’ answers, make sure you use them consistently throughout the test and not just on a handful of questions: if you only use it in a few questions then it’s a dead-giveaway for students that it’s the right answer, and even if you’re actually using it as a distractor it can mislead students who would otherwise have picked a different answer they were reasonably confident in.
Similarly, bear in mind that if ‘All of the above’ is present as an option, then identifying one distractor is enough to eliminate it as an option, and similarly identifying correct answers is enough to identify it as the key. (a)
Another pitfall that you’ve probably seen yourself is inconsistent distractors within a single question. Consider the following question:
When considering treatment options, doctors should take into account all of the following EXCEPT:
– A) The physical, mental and social wellbeing of their patients
– B) The safety and effectiveness of the pharmaceutical, surgical or other treatments they prescribe
– C) The personal, cultural and religious beliefs of their patients
– D) The patient’s condition only
Option D immediately sticks out as a less thoughtful and considered answer so students are most likely to pick it by default. I’ve noticed this as a particular problem when using MCQs for more ‘humanities-based’ questions. Whilst not impossible, writing good quality MCQs for these kinds of topics is definitely trickier, particularly finding good distractors. In this case it may be worth considering a 3-option format, for which there is a mounting level of evidence for their use, and having two good distractors is definitely favourable to having two good and one bad distractor.
Tip 9) Phrase your questions as simply as possible
You’re not aiming to test your students comprehension or trying to ‘catch them out’ with your test so don’t make your questions any more complicated than they need to be. In particular:
– Avoid using double-negatives where possible
– Be wary of adding in extraneous, irrelevant details to ‘throw off’ students (red-herrings)
– Unless specifically testing a student’s technical vocabulary, don’t use complex words where simpler ones will do
You could argue that the students taking your tests should ‘read the question properly’ and such like, and to an extent this is true: if the student answers a question wrongly because they didn’t read the question then some of the responsibility for this has to lie with them, but ultimately it’s only going to make your test a less accurate, less relevant indicator of their actual knowledge so why not help them along where you can?
Tip 10) Avoid negative questions
Negative questions are things like ‘Which of the following is NOT true’, and the majority of testing experts recommend against using them. They can be tempting as they’re relatively easy to think up, but they can be confusing and, more importantly, are liable to be abused as a student may be able to find an incorrect answer without really knowing the correct answer, in which case you can’t confidently say whether they knew it or not.
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Top 10 Job finding Career Websites in PakistanJob search websites are those platforms, which provides job seekers to search for jobs in different locations according to their profession, qualification and experience. Once it was a time when people communicate with their friends and relatives to find the job. This trend replaced with newspaper ads. But now most of the job seekers has been shifted to job search websites. Some job sites offers multiple job advertisement while some provides C.V editing and account creating to apply through their platforms for employment opportunities.
Following is the list of top 10 job search websites in Pakistan according to their advanced features and coverage. Rozee.pk www.rozee.pk first on the list is Rozzee.pk, one of the best job search website of Pakistan. You can develop and post your C.V very easily. Its search process is very easy and simple just two questions, job title, skill or company and location. At the main page you will found the list of top popular companies and organizations of Pakistan. Pioneer in the job finding career sites in Pakistan. Mustakbil.com https://www.mustakbil.com is another Pakistani job search website that will help you in finding best jobs in Pakistan. Here you can find jobs by category, shift, career level, type, and salary. In addition to displaying jobs of Pakistan, it also shows the jobs of Middle East countries including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Yemen, Iran, Jordan, etc. You can also post your job if you are recruiter or employer. Roziroti.pk http://www.roziroti.pk is for those job seekers who always search jobs in newspaper. This job portal displays the job adds of leading newspaper of Pakistan like Dawn, Express, Jang, The News, Nawa-e-Waqt, The Nation, Mashriq, Kawish, Aaj, etc. All kinds of government and private jobs according to cities and educations will be found here to explore. Bayrozgar.com http://www.bayrozgar.com is equally useful for jobs seekers and employers. If you are looking for job than here you will find desired job according to category, location, type, gender, and experience. If you are an employer you can post your job here without any cost. This job portal is the platform of Pakistan leading companies and organizations. It also lists the recruitment firms in Pakistan. Mehnat.pk http://www.mehnat.pk Most of the job site provides the advertisement relating to career. But mehnat.pk provides the advertisements of latest admission in educations sectors. Like other sites, it also show the jobs adds according to cities, qualification, and newspapers. Moreover you can also submit your C.V. This site also use full for those students preparing for competition exams like Public Service Commissions and CSS. Jobz.pk http://www.jobz.pk is the house of Pakistani government and private jobs, online jobs, direct jobs, admissions, tenders, and overseas jobs. Freelancers can also find jobs here if they are interested in to work from home. Besides viewing the jobs you can also post your job here without any cost. Easily manage company information, add, remove or edit information. Moreover, you can also the explore the freelancers here. Pakistanjobsbank.com http://www.pakistanjobsbank.com provides you the ease of viewing all jobs ads from various sources like Pakistan’s leading newspapers Daily Jang, Express, Nawa-e-Waqt, The News, Dawn & The Nation at one single place. Instead of searching the jobs advertisements in every newspaper, you can use Pakistanjobsbank to find any ad of your interest quickly. Indeed.com.pk http://www.indeed.com.pk starts with two options what and where. Insert the job title, keywords or company name and location like city or province and find the right job. Search job sites, newspapers, associations and company career pages. Create you C.V and easily apply to jobs from any device. This site is equally beneficial for employer as they can also post their jobs free. Brightspyre.com http://new.brightspyre.com is another job portal in Pakistan. Visit this platform and explore the jobs o top companies of Pakistan and connect with right job opportunities at right time. Moreover, you can also subscribe for jobs alerts in your email. At present it has 1.2 million registered users. Uniqueness about this platform is that it also shows the expiration time of jobs closing in 72 hours. Paperpkblog.com http://paperpkblog.com is the place for jobs, admissions, tenders and classifieds. On paperpkads.com you can search jobs from Jang, Dawn and other big papers blog. You can subscribe their service by email. Old papers are also available for students. Moreover, lot of CV templates are available here that will help you in making comprehensive C.V. |
SEARCHING FOR A JOB IN PAKISTANlearn how to hunt for your dream job especially in the wake of current financial crisis. As a student, you can start looking for a job before graduation
There is economic crunch globally and Pakistan has its fare share of problems including economic instability. Economic crises directly affect job market. Finding a reasonable job in Pakistan is not bed of roses, but still following some rules and adapting a good strategy will land you a good job in few months of time. Like every other activity, searching for a job also has its basic rules and regulations, which if followed wisely can be very beneficial to you. Is job search a process or one step thing? Job-hunting is a process comprising following steps: Job Search: Job search is done with or without experience. You have two options when you look for a job. First, according to your professional qualification which defines your career line, e.g., if you have studied medicine, it means you can become a professional doctor, four years of education in IT makes you an IT professional. You can look for a job professionally, but if you have studied IT for four to six years but you want to be a fashion designer or jewelry maker then you have to look for other options as well. You can study other successful people who changed career lines. You can even create your own business but, of course, you need not only to do a lot of homework on your part but also convince people around you (mainly family) .You must also keep in mind that even if you look for a job according to your career line (with relevant educational achievements), the companies might not be looking for the same thing, they sometime only want hard working and honest people so you keep your fingers crossed and options open. Resume: resume science has changed a lot in past couple of years. First basic rule is that it has to be specific, not general anymore. If you want to apply for let’s say ten different companies, you should have ten different resumes emphasizing your skills in different resumes keeping in view the demands of these different organizations. Keep in mind that each company is different and you can't change your qualification but alter it according to each one. It can also be done with your personal statement and your goals/objectives. for further details, you can study more articles on creating resumes and cover letters on our website. Interview: it is a last step but not the least, it is the most deciding factor in getting to your dream job. You must prepare for it before hand, express yourself in an articulate manner, Prepare your answers and if necessary write them down and rehearse before interview. What kinds of jobs are available in Pakistan? In Pakistan, three trends prevail: Public Sector/Government jobs (Favorite of our people); Private sector jobs in national and multinational organizations; and Project based and assignment based contract jobs, e.g., NGOs and development sector projects jobs When is the right time to look for a job? Timing is the deciding factor in winning in any situation (like baking a cake) and in finding a job it has to be spot on .You enter a college or university exactly knowing the time you will complete your degree. Five or six months prior to completion of your degree, you can plan your first step, search the companies, jobs, ask people around you for references, make resume etc. If you already have a job, just don not rely on it forever and keep looking for better option and switch the job when the time is right. Is it inevitable to start at the bottom level? Yes, it is not only the right process but also healthy for your growth as a professional. Everyone, no matter how super their GPA might be and how genius they are, must begin at a junior level to be promoted to positions of seniority. It should always be taken as positive thing. How can I utilize my time in between applying a job and getting one? Companies like motivated and hardworking individuals. So after applying for a job, just don't sit idle and wait for an interview call. You can update yourself by enrolling in short skill-developing programs or you can get a short internship. You can also do some volunteer work. This not only will keep you positive but also helps you beef up your resume. I do not have any experience, what can I do about it? Inexperience can be utilized positively in your resume as well as in the interview, You can always portray yourself as a hard working, enthusiastic, motivated and open to new challenge, and willing to learn new skills related to your work which can be beneficial for the company you are applying for. How can job be searched without completing education first? When writing a resume with incomplete education/degree, you must avoid using this word rather you can mention your education in later part of resume. Start with other positive aspects of your resume like your personal statement, your experience and any of your relevant skills trainings. After these, you can mention the number of years you attended college or school. You can also mention the name of programs or courses you completed during your educational years. |
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