Stop Making Exams Harder Than They Need To Be

A teacher to teacher conversation about designing fair and meaningful assessments

Dec 11, 2025

Every year around this time, I find myself looking at the quizzes and tests I’ve created and thinking about the things I would absolutely change if I could go back in time. Not the content. Not the reading passages. Just the format. Because format is one of the easiest things to overlook, yet one of the biggest factors that can make or break a student’s performance.

And look, before anyone feels called out, I say this with love. I have made every mistake on this list. Probably more than once. Sometimes twice in the same test. Learning to design a good assessment is like leveling up in a game. You think you’ve mastered it, then suddenly a new mechanic pops up and you go back to the tutorial screen.

So today I want to talk about some common practices that quietly sabotage student success. Not because the students don’t know the content, but because the design of the evaluation gets in the way. And since this is the Learning Arcade, we’ll walk through these issues as if we’re chatting in the teacher’s lounge, holding cold coffee that we absolutely meant to drink an hour ago.

person using pencil — Photo by Ben Mullins on Unsplash

The Matching Mishap

The classic mistake we all make

Let’s start with the one that inspired this post. Matching questions.

Most teachers (my past self included) put the vocabulary words in Column A and the definitions in Column B. Seems harmless. But when you do that, students have to scan every definition each time. Over and over. And over.

This turns a vocabulary check into a Where’s Waldo puzzle. Except nobody asked for Waldo. Nobody wants Waldo. The kids just want to match the right word to the right definition without feeling like they’ve been dropped into a scavenger hunt.

A better way:
Put the definitions in Column A and the shorter labels in Column B. Their eyes move faster, their brain organizes the task better, and the confusion drops dramatically. It is a small difference that students actually feel.

When Multiple Choice Turns Into a Mini Boss

Tricky distractors do not make students smarter

Some teachers take pride in being the final boss of multiple choice exams. We all know the colleague who says things like, I want to see who really studied. Then they throw in distractors that would stump a philosopher.

This doesn’t measure mastery. It measures who can survive psychological warfare.

Examples of practices to avoid:
• Distractors that are so obviously wrong the question becomes a giveaway
• Distractors that are so close students are forced to guess
• Answers that differ by only one tiny word
• Using All of the above or None of the above as if that adds depth

Students begin to focus on test strategy instead of understanding. They become detectives looking for traps instead of scholars applying knowledge.

Better approach:
Make every distractor a real misconception. Something a student might reasonably think if they misunderstood the concept. That way the question actually diagnoses learning.

Patterned Answer Keys

Believe it or not, students see the pattern

Kids notice everything. You think they don’t see the answer key has had B three times in a row. Oh, they see it. They see it with the intensity of a speedrunner spotting a glitch.

Unintentional patterns make students doubt themselves. They assume something must be wrong because no teacher would put C four times in a row.

No teacher would. Except we all have.

Better approach:
Randomize answers, then check for patterns. A little shuffle goes a long way.

Memory Overload

When recall replaces comprehension

There’s a difference between knowing a word and understanding it. There’s also a difference between assessing a skill and checking who memorized a line from yesterday’s vocabulary list.

Tests that focus too much on straight recall end up rewarding short term memory instead of deep learning.

Examples:
• Asking for dictionary definitions instead of real use
• Matching terms students learned five minutes ago
• Asking students to copy content from the text rather than analyze it

Better approach:
Shift the task from What is it to How does it work or Why does it matter. Students show more thinking and less panic.

The Novel-Length Question

Short stem, happy brain

Picture a multiple choice question that takes up half the page. Students stare at it. Their soul leaves their body for a moment. They stop reading halfway through without realizing they stopped reading.

Long stems are one of the most common ways that assessments accidentally penalize slower readers or multilingual learners.

Better approach:
Keep the scenario short, clear, and essential. If you need a story problem, make it a story that respects the reader’s time.

Word Banks Gone Wild

Too many choices, too much stress

Some teachers add extra words to the word bank because they think it increases rigor. Technically, maybe. Practically, absolutely not.

Extra words increase cognitive load. Students spend more time sorting than solving.

Better approach:
Keep the word bank focused. Challenge through the task, not the clutter.

Negative Questions

The silent test-killers

Which of the following is NOT an example of...

Students miss the word NOT all the time. These questions are landmines. They test reading precision more than content knowledge.

Better approach:
Avoid negative phrasing when possible. If you absolutely must assess the negative concept, use short answer or matching.

Ambiguous Wording

If a student needs to guess what the question is asking, the question is the problem

This is where assessments can unintentionally drift into chaos. Vague verbs. Unclear pronouns. Stems that leave too much room for interpretation.

Better approach:
Tell students exactly what they need to do. Clarity is kindness.

When Images Confuse More Than They Clarify

Use visuals with intention

If the picture needs a picture, the question is doomed.

Better approach:
Make sure every image is clearly labeled or simple enough to interpret. The image should support the answer, not obstruct it.

Hidden Hints

The visual Easter eggs teachers forget to check

Students pick up accidental clues quickly.

Examples:
• The correct answer is the only one that is longer
• The correct answer uses the same word that appears in the question
• One option is noticeably more specific than the others

Better approach:
Proofread like a test taker. Look for giveaways you didn’t intend.

Give Students At Least One Place To Show Their Thinking

Matching, multiple choice, and word banks are fine. But if the entire test relies on them, we’re not measuring understanding. We’re measuring recognition.

A short open-ended question can reveal more than 15 multiple choice items combined. Students need room to show their voice.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, a good assessment isn’t meant to be a maze. Its job is to shine a light on what students understand, not trap them in formatting gimmicks.

And trust me, the kids feel the difference. When the test is fair, they relax. When they relax, they perform better. When they perform better, the data becomes something you can actually trust.

This is something I’m exploring deeply as part of my Assessment Redesign project. Because if we want students to level up, we have to design assessments that make sense, not battles that need cheat codes.

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