Free response questions or essay questions are a type of open-ended question commonly used in schools to
test students' learning, as well as in
entrance exam
In education, an entrance examination or admission examination is an examination that educational institutions conduct to select prospective students. It may be held at any stage of education, from primary to tertiary, even though it is typicall ...
s and sometimes as part of job application or screening processes.
Description
Free response questions require test takers to respond to a question or open-ended prompt with a prose response. In addition to being graded for factual correctness, free response questions may also be graded for persuasiveness, style, and demonstrated mastery of the subject material. Free response questions are a common part of assessment tests in schools, as well as being part of
standardized tests
A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a predete ...
Essay questions are also sometimes included as part of a
job interview
A job interview is an interview consisting of a conversation between a job applicant and a representative of an employer which is conducted to assess whether the applicant should be hired. Interviews are one of the most popularly used devices for ...
or a school application process.
Free response questions typically require little work for instructors to write, but can be difficult to grade consistently as they require subjective judgments. Free response tests are a relatively effective test of higher-level reasoning, as the format requires test-takers to provide more of their reasoning in the answer than
multiple choice
Multiple choice (MC), objective response or MCQ (for multiple choice question) is a form of an objective assessment in which respondents are asked to select only correct answers from the choices offered as a list. The multiple choice format is m ...
questions. Students, however, report higher levels of anxiety when taking essay questions as compared to short-response or multiple choice exams.
See also
*
Multiple choice
Multiple choice (MC), objective response or MCQ (for multiple choice question) is a form of an objective assessment in which respondents are asked to select only correct answers from the choices offered as a list. The multiple choice format is m ...
*
Closed-ended question
A closed-ended question refers to any question for which a researcher provides research participants with options from which to choose a response. Closed-ended questions are sometimes phrased as a statement which requires a response.
A closed-en ...
References
Hanover Research
External links
* {{wikiversity-inline
School examinations