I started my academic career at the University of Cape Town in the early 1970's.  Class sizes were substantial (perhaps 350 students in the first year).  Essay-type exams and class tests were a heavy marking load, so I developed some expertise in computer-marked multiple-choice questions and tests.  In due course I was part of a University project group to design a software package for marking MCQ and MCTs, led by the wonderfully nutty Professor Marcus Friedman in the Department of Anatomy.  Fast forward some years to Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Southampton, where I implemented most of those ideas in an Excel spreadsheet, along with some materials to support staff interested in MCQs.  I thought it might be useful to make them available here.

An introduction to MCQs, MCQs V3.pdf, is a primer based on extracts from my book on e-learning.

In my workshops on MCQs, I would start by giving the attendees a short MCQ test, MCQ test v4.pdf, based on their prior reading of the primer.  It also modelled the instructions to be given to a student before they took the test.

Much of the workshop was then taken up by discussing the answers they might have given to the test, presented via a set of Powerpoint slides, MCQ Workshop V6.pdf

Attendees who expressed an interest in using MCQs in their teaching were given the Excel spreadsheet, MCQmarking v3.xls, to assist them.

©2025 Lester Gilbert