Multiple-choice randomization

Abstract

Multiple-choice randomized (MCR) examinations in which the order of the items or questions as well as the order of the possible responses is randomized independently for every student are discussed. This type of design greatly reduces the possibility of cheating and has no serious drawbacks. We briefly describe how these exams can be conveniently produced and marked. We report on an experiment we conducted to examine the possible effect of such MCR randomization on student performance and conclude that no adverse effect was detected even in a rather large sample. Copyright © 2003 by Ian McLeod, Ying Zhang and Hao Yu, all right reserved.