Multiple choice exams
Know what to expect from an objective exam by checking the resources available to you.
Objective exams are based on your ability to recognise facts.
You might come across multiple choice or many other styles of objective exams in your courses, including true/false, matching and sentence completion exams.
Preparing for the exam
Multiple-choice exams usually focus on a broad overview of the course, but objective exams in general may also test your knowledge of specific topics. To prepare well, you should:
- Take note of which areas will be included so you can study the most relevant topics
- Listen out for clues given by your lecturers and tutors
- Review the course outline and lecturenotesas a framework for study if the indicated topics are from lectures and tutorials
- Ask your lecturer if marks will be deducted for incorrect responses, so you can decide whether or not to guess answers during the exam if you’re unsure
- Attempt any past exam papers if available, as they may give you some idea of what to expect.
See further tips on studying for exams.
When sitting an objective exam
- Read all directions provided carefully. Be sure of exactly what you have to do. Listen for any verbal directions or corrections from the exam supervisor.
- Have a quick read-through of the entire exam before you attempt any answer. Doing this will give you an overview, let you plan your time (how long to spend on each section or question), and check that your exam is complete and collated correctly.
- Check that you're marking the correct numbered space for answers frequently. When you have separate answer sheets, keep them close to you on the same side as the hand you write with.
- Answer 'easy' questions first.Revisit the hardest ones later if you get time. Try not to get stuck so you don’t feel anxious about wasting time.
See also
Answering true/false questions
In true/false questions, you’ll usually be provided with a statement and told to select true if you think it’s correct, or false if you think it’s incorrect.
When making your choice, be alert for:
- Absolute words, like all, none, always and never – these generally make a statement incorrect.
- Qualifying words, like most, some, usually, seldom and often – these generally make a statement correct.
Questions with multiple ideas or concepts
All parts of a statement must be true for the statement to be true, otherwise, the entire statement is false. Be careful when you get statements that involve multiple criteria or layers of information.
Tips for multiple-choice questions
Read each question carefully
You can always expect a question and a list of potential answers from multiple choice questions. However, you should also look out for some of the following ‘curveballs':
- Negative phrasing, e.g. “Choose the answer which DZ’t describe...”
- Subjective questions, e.g. “Choose the option that best describes...”
- Judgement questions, e.g. “Choose the most correct answer"
- Multiple answers, e.g. “Choose more than one...”
- Supplementary stimuli, such as images, diagrams or quotes.
While lecturers might deliberately use some tricky language, don't immediately assume the questions will be misleading. It can cause you to overthink and result in wrong answers.
Unless there's a penalty for incorrect answers, make at least a calculated guess for each question. Don’t miss any chances to get marks.
When questions and potential answers don’t combine to make a grammatically correct sentence, the choice is nearly always wrong.
You’ll often be instructed to choose the ‘best’ or ‘most correct’ answer. Remember this when answering from the options given.
See if you can quickly recall or work it out before looking at the given choices. You'll be more confident in selecting an accurate choice.
Multiple choice questions often contain one or two answer options that are obviously incorrect.Eliminate these first.
Even if you still need to guess the correct answer from the remaining options, you’ll give yourself a better chance of getting it right.
Narrow your choices down with these ‘process of elimination’ techniques:
- Rule out options that are completely unfamiliar to you, especially if they use terminology or concepts that aren’t used in your course.
Ignore humorous or absurd answer options as they’re usually incorrect.
Pay close attention to qualifying words. An answer that includes 'always' or 'never' must be irrefutable. If you find a single counterexample, then the answer is not correct.
Consider the ‘all of the above’ option if you know that more than one option is correct.
Beware of extreme answers in number-based questions; options in the middle-range are more likely to be correct.
Compare look-alike options carefully. If two of the alternatives are only slightly different, one is likely to be correct; choose the best one.
Eliminate any choices that mean basically the same thing, and thus cancel each other out.
Select the alternative closest to the correct answer if you aren’t given the perfect answer option for a question.
❗ Please note:
There are no guarantees with these elimination strategies, but they are worth considering when you’re really unsure about the answer.
Looking for personalised study support?
Meet an Academic Learning Facilitator to get constructive feedback on academic skills.