To change or not to change: investigating the value of MCQ answer changing for Gulf Arab students

Abstract

This study investigates whether the practice of answer changing on multiple-choice questions (MCQs) is beneficial to Gulf Arab students’ overall test performance. The proficiency exam used in this study is the Michigan English Language Institute College English Test - Grammar, Cloze, Vocabulary, Reading (MELICET-GCVR), which was developed using retired forms of the Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB). This exam was administered to 286 students at Kuwait University and Dubai Men’s College, Higher Colleges of Technology. Findings suggest that we should encourage students to change answers judiciously after they have scrutinized their original answers for more plausible alternatives. Most important, students should not be influenced by traditional perceptions that incorrectly malign answer changing. The effect of item difficulty as well as its impact on answer changing is also reported. Finally, information on the efficacy of one specific objective test strategy, that of changing answers, is disseminated.