Creating good multiple choice questions takes time. As an educator, you need to craft thoughtful stems, generate plausible distractors, and ensure a range of complexity. That’s where AI can help! 💡
✏️ Let ChatGPT Take a First Pass
Feed ChatGPT a quiz topic and prompt it to generate MCQ stems and options. Review its suggestions, tweak as needed, and keep ones that demonstrate higher-order thinking. The goal is enhancing existing question banks, not total replacement.
Try this prompt: “Please generate 3 multiple choice question stems and 4 answer options for each stem about [topic and grade level]. The stems should be focused and clear. The options should test higher-order thinking skills.”
Why try this? This allows you to get an initial set of questions to then refine and customize.
🧠 Develop Distractors That Reflect Common Mistakes
Pay attention to the incorrect options ChatGPT creates. These can reveal misconceptions students often have. Keep distractors that test these, and swap out ones that are too obviously wrong.
Try this prompt: “For this multiple choice question stem about [topic and level]: [insert stem], please generate 4 answer options. Make one option the correct answer. Make the other options common misconceptions or mistakes students often have related to this topic.”
Why try this? Leveraging AI to surface common student errors allows you to write better “wrong” answer choices.
❌ Remove Clues and Check Option Lengths
Scan all options for clues, negatives, or length/complexity inconsistencies. Have ChatGPT re-generate any problematic questions.
Try this prompt: “Review this multiple choice question stem and options: [insert stem and options]. Check for and remove any vagueness, ambiguities, inconsistencies, negatives, or clues that reveal the correct answer. Also ensure the answer options are similar in length and complexity.”
Why try this? It’s important to double-check questions and remove any giveaways before using them.
📝 Review and Refine Before Use
Try these prompts:
To generate a question stem:
“Please write a clear, focused multiple choice question stem about [topic] for [grade level] students.”
To generate higher-order questions:
“Please write a multiple choice question about [topic] that assesses higher-order skills like critical thinking, applying concepts, or analysis. The question should require students to do more than just recall facts.”
To get a variety of concepts:
“Please write 4 multiple choice questions about [broad topic]. Make sure the questions cover a breadth of underlying concepts and ideas related to this topic.”
Why try these? Educator oversight is key – review all suggestions carefully before using questions in assessments.
Now what?
While AI can accelerate and enhance quiz creation, human judgment is still essential for meaningful assessment. Try it out and let us know how it goes! What edtech tools have you found helpful?