Multiple Choice Questions

I have been for long, a proponent of the Multiple Choice Question format. The main reason is that it saves me from having to write a lot and simply give the answer.

In our school days, all our Maths teachers insist that marks would be given for the steps used to arrive at an answer, even if the final value was wrong. Similarly, in college, the mantra was simply that the more number of pages that you consume in a semester exam, the greater are your chances of clearing that exam.

Going by my academic records, it is very evident that this format has not really suited me. Agreed that I do come across as someone who writes a lot, but then quite often it borders on rambling. Which may be okay with the average reader of my blog, but is obviously not what an examiner (or is it evaluator?) wants to see.

And there was the eternal confusion anyway. Do I write 10 sentences for a 2 mark question? If so, how many do I write for a 20 mark question? Should I use a direct proportion or should I use some exponential equation? Should I underline the key words? Should I draw more diagrams? How much margin should I leave? How much header and footer space? Is it okay to use a "Pillayar Suzhi"?

That’s why I used to love all these entrance exams for admission to Colleges and Universities. They were (and most probably still are) Multiple Choice Questions. And I simply had to shade the answer paper at the appropriate place.

But then, for most of these exams, there used to negative marks. That was a bummer. It was however a small price one had to pay for the bigger comfort that it gave me.
And if you were one with a gambling streak in your blood, you wouldn’t mind answering all questions irrespective of the outcome.

But that posed a challenge to you. How would you answer a question for which you didn’t know the answer? Again, the advantage of Multiple Choice Questions comes to the fore. Since you only have to select an answer and not justify how you arrived at that selection, you pick an answer at random.

The average Indian, while selecting the random option, uses the "Inky-Pinky-Ponky" strategy. If by any weird chance, you are not aware of Inky-Pinky-Ponky, it is a small limerick used by kids while selecting the catcher in the "Catching Game" or "Hide and Seek" (not to be confused with the biscuit; its a game also known by its pronunciations "ice-boys") or "Lock and Key" or any such game. The kids stand in a circle and one of them recites the poem and points to a kid for each word in the poem. This goes in sequence until the last one is left. The poem goes something like

Inky Pinky Ponky
Father had a donkey
Donkey died
Father cried
Inky Pinky Ponky

So, the person against whom the last Ponky was sounded, was either the catcher or was eliminated. In the latter case, the process would be repeated without that kid and the cycle would continue until the last kid standing would be designated as the catcher.

Extrapolating the same strategy, Inky-Pinky-Ponky is used to select the random answer in a Multiple Choice Question paper. You start the limerick with one option; point each word at the next option and cycle around till you reach/eliminate an answer.

On Tuesday, I had to take an examination at work (mandated as part of my career progression in the company) and the question paper consisted of MCQs. It was a technical paper and I had no clue about the questions. Using some residual memory and my knowledge of English, I was able to answer some 6-7 questions. It was a test with 50 questions and I was woefully short on numbers. So, I had to use the Inky-Pinky-Ponky route.

But I found that it was getting very predictable. Since there were always 4 options in each question, it turned out that I was landing up with the same option number. Faced with this humongous challenge, I came out with an outstanding solution. Why should I stick with only Inky-Pinky-Ponky? Why not put the popular nursery rhymes to this task?

I did. So I went ahead with the following rhymes to choose my answers:
1. Twinkle twinkle little star
2. Jack and Jill went up the hill
3. Humpty Dumpty
4. Piggy on the railway
5. Pussy cat pussy cat where have you been
6. Hickory dickory clock

Needless to say, I didn’t clear the exam.

Perhaps, I need to try other nursery rhymes. Or even movie songs.