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TIPSHEET

Tips and Strategies to Prevent Cheating on Multiple Choice Exams

Preparing the exam

• Multiple-version exams are used to deter cheating. Instructors typically use two to four versions of an exam with the
same questions, but in a different order (you can also tell students that there are more versions than you’ve actually
created!). You can keep track of the multiple-version answer keys either by creating a master answer key form for
each version, or with a mapping.
• Mappings are used to match one answer key to multiple versions of an exam. One master answer key form is
needed for version A. A mapping is a text file or spreadsheet containing the question numbers for version A in the
first column and the equivalent question numbers for the other versions.
For example, question 1 on version A might be the same as question 8 on version B and question 24 on version C.
question 2 on version A might be the same as question 5 on version B and question 20 on version C. The first two
lines of the mapping file would look like this:

Version A Version B Version C

Question number 1 8 24
2 5 20

• If you use different colours of paper to indicate different versions of the exam, make sure to stagger seating
arrangements (see below) so that students are not sitting next to or behind someone with the same version of the
exam.
• Use a code for each version of the exam that students must record on the answer sheet. Make the code less visible:
include it on the inside cover of the exam or the final page. Have the first item of each exam ask the student to
bubble in either an A or a B (or C or D) depending on which version of the exam they have received.

Seating
• Hand out exams after students have found their seats rather than as they enter the room. Use multiple versions of
the exam so that no one is seated next to, in front of, or behind a student writing the same exam version.
For example, use four different versions (A, B, C, and D) and hand them out in the following pattern:
ABABABAB
CDCDCDCD
ABABABAB
CDCDCDCD
• Consider using randomized assigned seating for midterms. The procedure is easy to implement by posting students'
IDs and assigned seats outside the classroom shortly before the exam or possibly displaying them on the overhead
projector as students enter the classroom. Another approach is to hand out tickets with seat numbers as students
enter the room. Students seated next to strangers are less likely to cheat.
• If you have a large class and your test or exam is not formally invigilated (for example, an in-class midterm), take
preventative measures against “ringers” – students who write an exam on someone else’s behalf. Ask students to
submit a signature card at the beginning of the semester, and ask students to sign their answer sheets. Alternatively,
ask students to leave their student cards face up on the desk as they are writing their exam, and take attendance
while they are writing.

During the exam

• If you do not use randomized or staggered seating, once students are seated, pass a sheet of paper down each row
and have each student fill in their name, student ID and signature. When collected, mark each row number from
front to back on each sheet to create a seating plan which you can use should you suspect cheating.
• For small classes, consider photocopying the submitted exams to prevent students from changing their answers and
asking you to re-mark the exam. For larger classes, photocopy a sample of the exams and tell your students before
the exam is written that it is your practice to do so.
• Students should return their answer sheet with the exam paper, so that you can check that they have entered the
appropriate version number.

Randomizing Multiple Choice Questions Using MS WORD

The following instructions work for the word processing program Microsoft Word. By following these
instructions, you will be able to create new versions of multiple choice tests by systematically scrambling the
answer-order of each question. These steps will have to be followed for each answer in the answer-choice-set.
These are the steps in creating a macro and assigning it to a shortcut key. The actual macro will depend on the way
the questions are formatted. The example below used inserted ‘bullets and numbering’.
Example:
If a tree falls in the forest:
a) who cares
b) it makes noise
c) only squirrels hear it
d) termites cheer
e) none of the above

Constructing a simple scrambler:

1. Place the cursor on choice a) and press "home."
2. Go to tools, macro, record the new macro.
3. Select keyboard, and then an unassigned key. Try alt-1. It will tell you if it is unassigned. Press assign and
close.
4. Press shift-end to highlight, and control (Ctrl) -x to delete and copy the first answer.
5. Move the cursor to choice c) and press ‘home’. Press ‘enter’.
6. Move cursor back up to c).
7. Press control (Ctrl) -v and 'delete' to get rid of the extra line.
8. Move cursor to choice a) and press ‘home’. Make sure cursor is in the original position (always use
‘home’ and ‘end’ keys).
9. Press the stop button on the little recorder window.
Alt-1 will now play the macro on other question

Additional Resources:
Academic Integrity Office, McMaster University. (2004). Cheating in tests/exams. Retrieved from [DOC]
http://www.mcmaster.ca/academicintegrity/instructors/proc_forms/suspectcheating.doc.
Ask Metafilter. (2008). How to shuffle test questions in random order in Microsoft Word. Retrieved from
http://ask.metafilter.com/86477/How-to-shuffle-test-items-in-random-order-in-Microsoft-Word.
McGill University. (2008). Prevention of cheating on multiple-choice and midterm examinations. Retrieved from
http://www.mcgill.ca/integrity/strategies/midterms/.
Teaching Resource Center, University of California at Davis. (n.d.). Tips to prevent cheating. Retrieved from
http://sja.ucdavis.edu/files/tips.pdf.

*Special thanks to colleagues at McGill University, McMaster University, Ryerson University, Simon Fraser University
and the University of Saskatchewan