EXPLANATION OF “SCRAMBLED RESPONSE” FORMAT

[Dr. Carter]

The “scrambled response” format is intended to raise the difficulty level of a standard multiple choice exam from mere remembering to actual understanding of the course text terminology. Specifically, because an exam pool with correct answers is used in this course, students can perform successfully on multiple choice exams by simply memorizing the correct responses to questions given in the exam pool. Although, that basic knowledge recall is a good starting point for initial tests like the midterm exam, by the end of the course a higher level of learning should be attained. Therefore, the “scrambled response” format allows the exam pool to be used while requiring more than simple memorization to select the correct responses.

In particular, by “scrambling” the responses to multiple choice questions students are not able to rely on direct memorization (e.g., “rote memory”) to select the correct response. Instead, stronger learning is necessary to “recall” correct answers when they do not appear exactly as shown in the exam pool items (e.g., “recognition”). Also, by actually studying the textbook chapter content that explains particular exam pool items, students can reach the “understanding” level of learning – which makes remembering more natural. In all cases the questions remain the same and are not altered from the way they appear in the exam pool. However, the correct answer in the exam pool is changed in one of seven ways that requires students to actually know and understand the concept terms – not just memorize the response letter (a, b, c, d, e) and words.

SEVEN WAYS TO “SCRAMBLE” MULTIPLE-CHOICE RESPONSES

*NOTE: All Scrambled Response Questions have “e” as “None of the Above”

  1. The correct response is not changed from the exam pool letter position (a, b, c, d).
  2. The correct answer is moved to another letter position – i.e., from “a” to “b” or “c” or “d.”
  3. The correct answer is removed, with no other correct responses and the right answer is “e” (none of the above).

Be aware that the correct answer can be removed by slightly modifying letters to form another word or phrase that looks and sounds similar to the correct response, but is actually NOT the right answer.

  1. One or more incorrect answers are either changed or inserted with equally incorrect or wrong responses.
  2. The correct answer is changed into an incorrect response (e.g., “low/less” changed to “high/more,” etc.)
  3. An incorrect answer in the pool items is changed into a correct response (e.g., “low/less” changed to “high/more,” etc.)
  4. The correct answer is removed and an equally correct response is inserted in either letter position.

Usually, this approach is used if the question states “Which is NOT” or “All of the following EXCEPT.”

Yet, an equally correct response can also be inserted for questions that address concepts with multiple factors (e.g., market segmentation bases, consumer decision process stages, brand attributes, etc.). In these instances, the exam pool would have one correct response, such as “demographics” for market segmentation bases, and the actual exam may insert “psychographics” as the correct response to the same question. Always use the main textbook chapters to study for these multiple factors or stages responses, because the additional correct responses may not appear at all in the exam pool.