Tomorrow morning, I will be proctoring an exam for a group of students who took a course I didn’t teach. The exam will follow the typical multiple-choice format. A leading stem is followed by four answer choices. Before starting the exam, we’ll spend a few minutes talking about some “test-taking tips.” One I will emphasize is to slow down and think about the stem of the question before even looking at the answer choices.
I already know that some students will do poorly on questions where “All of the above.” is the correct answer. Even if you aren’t taking an exam tomorrow, you should know why that’s true.
In the most basic terms, we want to be right. That’s not a bad thing and it’s understandable. But in our rush to be right, we subconsciously reject the idea that there are four correct answers to the question. There must be one correct answer.
We’ve trained ourselves to think that way because it’s easy and works most of the time. In pre-school we learned that “apples are red.” So if asked this question:
1. Apples are:
A. Red
B. Yellow
C. Green
D. All of the above
The instinctive answer, particularly when hurrying, is “A!” I’ve occasionally said that one thing harder than taking tests is writing tests. Let’s try changing the stem of the question:
1. Most apples are:
A. Red
B. Yellow
C. Green
D. Purple
If forced to guess, most will still answer “A!” but I’m not so sure that’s the correct answer, are you? Nearly all apples are green for at least some portion of their development. Would a better question be “Most apples are, at some point of their development:?”
Test-writing and test-taking aside, in our rush to be right we often fail to consider alternatives. Considering alternatives takes time and can be hard work. It also means we may need to let go of our favorite beliefs and recognize there could be acceptable alternatives. There may not be an absolutely correct answer but there’s probably a best answer.
If we truly want to reduce the divisiveness we are experiencing as a society, we need to abandon the test mentality and the belief there is only one right answer.
Or maybe we need to start asking different questions. For example, what color are most apples beneath the skin?