Exam Questions from Essay to MCQ with Different Levels of Difficulty in Engineering Mechanics

Abstract

In this paper some techniques to avoid students’ guessing of the correct answer in MCQ exams are proposed. An example from engineering mechanics course is introduced with different levels of difficulty. Random and adaptive selections of choices are introduced according to the physics and difficulty of the problem. The proposed techniques proved to be efficient in reducing guessing of correct answers based on partial or no knowledge of the subject matter. Also, a proposal of establishing online exam using pools of MCQ’s with different levels of difficulty is introduced. Five basic types of exams with different number of questions based on instructors’ desire are tabulated.