Tips and Tricks for Multiple Choice Question
What is Multiple-Choice Question?
After a quick run through Tips and Tricks for Multiple Choice Question let’s understand what it is. Multiple-choice question always contains two parts: a stem (Question) and a set of alternatives (Multiple Choice) which has the best answer to the question, and a number of distracters that are plausible but incorrect answers to the question.
Types of multiple-choice questions asked in IELTS are:-
Standard Multiple Choice questions are the most asked form of Multiple Choice questions in the IELTS test with one question and four possible answers. Unlike your academic MCQ (school+college), IELTS don’t have options like none of the above and all of the above.
Look at the question below which is to show what a standard mutiple choice question looks like.
Choose the correct letter A, B, C, or D. 4 Which description best describes Esperanto? A a language which is similar to Chinese B an old Latin language C a language which was created as an international language D a language which is used for radio broadcasts |
Many teachers prefer teaching this as a separate question type. These questions are a little different to the Standard Multiple Choice questions we have just looked at. They are asked only occasionally.
This type of Modified Multiple Choice question asks you to choose TWO answers for ONE question. Look at the example question and answer below.
Question 6Choose TWO letters A – F. 6 Which TWO countries mentioned in the passage use Esperanto? A Poland B Japan C Israel D Germany E England F Brazil |
Tips:-
If one of the answers you choose is correct, but the other is incorrect (for example, B and D), the answer will be marked incorrect.
This type of Modified Multiple Choice question asks you to choose TWO answers (e.g., Question 7 and 8) for ONE question. Look at the example below:-
Question 7-8Choose TWO letters A – F. Which TWO countries mentioned in the passage use Esperanto? A Poland B Japan C Israel D Germany E England F Brazil |
To get this answer correct, you must write one letter in the space for Question 7 on your Answer Sheet and the other letter in the space for Question 8. It doesn’t matter what order you write the two letters.
To understand the process let’s take a passage and a question.
Choose the correct letter A, B, C, or D. 1 Cultivating crops is an example of A economic growth B stooped labour C a typical job D factory work | |
A Migrant workers, those workers who move repeatedly in search of economic opportunity, typically perform society’s temporary jobs. The migrant’s low paid work includes ‘stooped labour’ like cultivating crops, menial services such as cleaning public restrooms, ‘sweatshop’ work such as making apparel, and assembly line factory work like putting together computer parts. Migrant workers are often pivotal for economic growth. | B Until the twentieth century most migrant labour was internal. For example, generations of former slaves from the southern parts of the United States annually followed the crops north. Recently, however, most migrant labour in Europe and America has been external – that is, workers from other countries. |
Step 1 Read the question and all the options (A, B, C, D) and underline the key words of both. | 1 Cultivating crops is an example of A economic growth B stooped labours C a typical job D factory work |
Step 2 Scan the paragraphs to find the keywords or synonyms from the stem | A Migrant workers, those workers who move repeatedly in search of economic opportunity, typically perform society’s temporary jobs. The migrant’s low paid work includes ‘ stooped labour’ like cultivating crops, menial services such as cleaning public restrooms, ‘sweatshop’ work such as making apparel, and assembly line factory work like putting together computer parts. Migrant workers are often pivotal for economic growth. Like = Example |
Step 3 Read intensively the area of the paragraph with key words to find a matching keyword from options. | The migrant’s low paid work includes ‘stooped labour’ like cultivating crops, menial services such as cleaning public restrooms, ‘sweatshop’ work such as making apparel, and assembly line factory work like putting together computer parts. Passage says: ‘The migrant’s low paid work includes stooped labour like cultivating crops.‘. Hence answer= B |