Making test questions more difficult won't help. More people will make simple stupid mistakes, so it's going to be more like a lottery. If you forgive simple st

Making test questions more difficult won't help. More people will make simple stupid mistakes, so it's going to be more like a lottery. If you forgive simple stupid mistakes, the test is becoming subjective again. Here's an example of a bad question: what is the area of the right triangle with hypotenuse 10 and height 6 (height is measured from the vertex opposite to the hypotenuse)? It does not test understanding. The optimal algorithm for the student is to parse the question looking for keywords - "triangle", "area", "height", recalling the formula, and plugging the numbers into it to get the answer 30. The question is from the real test, and by the way, this answer is incorrect. Why it is incorrect is a better question. Here's an example of a good question: prove the Pythagorean Theorem. You can't answer it by picking the right answer from the multiple choice list. You have to explain your line of reasoning to the examiner and be able to answer question like "why you say these two triangles are congruent". Such interactive process is much better at determining student's skill level, and you can't prepare for it by simply memorizing stuff without understanding. The student might not like the proof in the textbook and prefer another proof. It take a human to understand whether this other proof holds water.