Developing "Fair Exam Questions - Accommodating Output Difficulties

Multiple Choice

• Don't give more than four choices.  More choices lead to confusion and difficulty remembering options.

• Don't list choices horizontally on the page.  It is visually easier to read and distinguish between choices in a list.

• Keep questions as short as possible.  Students have difficulty holding long sentences in memory and then searching for the answer.

True/False

	Avoid negatives or multiple negatives. Example:  True/False: A learning disability does not mean the inability to learn
	Avoid "trick" questions, or questions that hinge on minutia.
	Avoid questions that present numerous concepts in one test item

Essay and Short Answer  

	Allow students with disabilities the opportunity to take essay/short answer exams on the computer and with extra time.
	Be aware that students with learning disabilities have difficulty writing complete, clear sentences.
	Be aware that they difficulty with directions like, "discuss," "analyze," and "relate."  Rather than asking the question "Analyze the economic impact of slavery on the South," you might develop the question, "Explain how the loss of slave labor affected southern farmers and plantation owners."

Matching

	Don’t give matching lists that have more than eight items.   This causes confusion as student have difficulty remembering how each item differs from the others.
	Don’t have "extra" items left over in a matching list.  This causes confusion about if the student "understood" the question (e.g., did they miss part of the text?).

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