The Worst of Both Worlds: Student-Produced Responses

Not all SAT Math questions are multiple-choice, and that can be a problem.

Student-Produced Responses might scare students uneasy with math, but it’s not as bad as some math problems. Photo by Antony Hyson Seltran on Unsplash

The SAT^® is mostly a multiple-choice exam. Multiple-choice exams are good for test makers, because they provide instant results. There’s no grading of essays or detailed, multi-point short-answer questions. It takes time to find if a student used the right formula, but had a small calculation error while working through some math and should receive partial credit. Multiple-choice tests are fast, easy, and replicable. That is why they were first invented in 1914, and rapidly spread to all kinds of testing.

Multiple-choice questions are also a benefit to you as a test-taker. The speed and efficiency of grading a multiple-choice test also means they are often quick to solve. Since there is only one correct answer choice, you can take shortcuts to find the right answer. You can eliminate obviously incorrect answers or use answer choices in th…