Point/Counterpoint
Which is better, multiple-choice or essay tests?

Multiple choices, little learning
Melissa Christenson

A, B, C, D, E. Five little letters on a 39-cent Scantron are laid out to determine just what students have learned in the weeks preceding the exam. It’s the eenie-meenie-minie-moe approach to learning. Study just enough to be able to narrow down your choices, and you’ll be fine. As long as you get enough questions right to get the grade you want, no worries. It’s not like you’ll ever need to know this stuff again anyway.

Such an apathetic attitude toward learning is bred by the overuse of multiple-choice testing. The rote memorization and temporary absorption of facts required to pass these tests fail to inspire actual learning, rendering the class useless.

According to a study by two psychology professors at Rider University, often times multiple choice tests cause students to learn the wrong lesson. The study by Michael Epstein and Gary Brosvic found that students retain the answer they marked on the test regardless of whether it was correct or not. A pink speck on a Scantron does little to tell students why the answer they chose was incorrect, so they never replace the wrong answer with the right one.

Testing students solely in this manner is counterintuitive to the inherent purpose of a higher learning institution: to instill lifelong learning. Regurgitating specific dates or names or numbers inhibits those important “ah hah” moments when students can discover a new way of thinking to carry with them for the rest of their lives. Professors owe it to their charges to give them skills above and beyond just making it through the class.

In a wake-up call article to his colleagues, Rutgers University associate professor Lion F. Gardner condensed three decades of research showing that the large majority of tests administered at universities require only a basic recall of facts. Gardner points out the failure of this approach in that it “reinforces concrete thinking” rather than engaging students in critical thinking and complex problem-solving. He correctly argues that society has a rightful expectation of college graduates to be highly-developed thinkers.
To produce such thinkers, tests need to invoke critical thinking and writing skills.

Developing and grading tests that engage critical thinking is time consuming, though. As several of my professors have openly admitted, Scantron tests are the quickest way to get grades back to their students.
Thoughtfully grading essays in a large class is no easy task.

A reasonable compromise is to use the two approaches in conjunction with one another. Multiple-format tests would require students to internalize the themes of the subject they are studying in order to both recall the bare facts and apply those facts to an argument.

Unfortunately, there are still professors who simply rely on multiple choice tests. But in order to fulfill TCU’s mission, “To educate individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in the global community,” real learning needs to be attainable in every classroom. Teaching students to be life-long learners needs to be the top priority for every professor.

Melissa Christenson is a junior news-editorial journalism major from Grand Island, Neb.