ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a list of guidelines for writing multiple-choice (MC) items and demonstrates their application with examples. It describes the general process of developing MC items, with recommendations on item structure and selection of tested content. MC item-writing guidelines are then provided, with poor and better examples for each one. After some background on the development of the guidelines, the chapter provides recommendations on the selection of item content. The chapter then reviews the basic structure of the MC item and presents the item-writing guidelines in detail. The MC item-writing guidelines address the aspects of item content, the structural format of the item, the stem, and the options. Item-writing guidelines are primarily based on the work of Haladyna and Rodriguez, reflecting decades of item-writing research and guidance. In order to avoid clues in how people order the options, it is best to be systematic and adopts a simple rule when they order the options.
