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

Multiple-choice tests a good pick
Patrick Jennings

I don’t think there’s a type of test that doesn’t fill the hearts of students with dread. It doesn’t matter if the test is essay-based, multiple-choice, true/false or oral. If you haven’t studied, your grade is going to suck.

It’s hard — close to impossible, actually — to say outright that one form of testing is superior to another. A lot of it boils down to how good a professor is at writing tests. I’ve seen multiple-choice tests that tested my knowledge to its limit. Conversely, I’ve had multiple-choice tests I could’ve taken with my eyes closed and scored well on. I’ve had essay tests where everyone got an A and no one learned anything but others that forced me to thoroughly analyze what I had learned.

If you pointed a gun to my head — and please don’t — I’d say multiple choice tests are a better way to go in most subjects. On math tests, partial credit is almost a necessity and impossible with multiple choice.
Writing essays for English classes are, of course, OK since you’re being graded as much on the writing itself as anything else.

The chief advantage of a multiple-choice test is its objectivity. There are no shades of gray, only correct and incorrect. Essay tests are at their core a subjective measure of the knowledge you’ve absorbed. The “correctness” of your interpretation of the course material can vary from professor to professor. In addition, a talented writer can arrange his thoughts on paper in a more coherent way. He may understand the question less than the guy next to him, but his A in sophomore composition bumps him up a few points here, too.
Your skill in one area shouldn’t be able to give you a letter-grade improvement in every area.

Another plus to testing by multiple-choice is getting it back to students quicker. This isn’t necessarily an advantage because the professor has more time to spend at the pub on the weekend. Supposedly, a test is supposed to show you what you need to work on or haven’t quite learned properly. If it takes two weeks to get the test back, you can barely remember taking the test, let alone how you approached a specific problem incorrectly. It’s also much easier for a student to interpret his shortcomings on a multiple-choice test as compared to an essay test.

As for the idea that multiple-choice tests are all about learning by rote, that only applies to the bad ones. Just because you’re given four possible answers, doesn’t mean the question can’t ask “why” instead of “what.” Mastery of the material, which is what is being tested, can still be demonstrated.

Essay tests can judge how well you apply the knowledge but often they devolve into an exercise in how little information a student can put in a 500-word essay. Multiple-choice tests are fairer, more selective in what they test, a better learning tool and a better choice in general.

Opinion Editor Patrick Jennings is a junior economics major from Melbourne, Fla.