Abstract
Traditional approaches to assessing students assume that multiple choice questions (MCQs) are adequate in assessing only basic, low-level knowledge at the early stages of the higher education (HE) curriculum. Increasingly, however, teachers of HE across a variety of subject areas are keen to explore the opportunities for developing higher-level MCQ formats for assessing more advanced stages of the curriculum. This has many benefits: students are unable to question-spot and are required to demonstrate a breadth as well as a depth of knowledge, tests can be administered electronically, and because feedback and marking can be instantaneous feedback can be quicker than in a traditional paper-and-pencil assessment, without an onerous marking load for staff. Here we report the use of high-level MCQs (hMCQ) in Level 2 of our BSc Psychology programme. We demonstrate the success of this format in differentiating between students, and highlight important factors in designing questions. We argue that this type of examination format offers an assessment that discriminates between students and which can be simply evaluated to ensure there is a suitable fit between the questions that make up the assessment tool and the student population under evaluation.