Autism and multiple choice tests

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I know I could probably put this is the school forum, but I hope it can stay here. I thought this forum is busier, and there are a lot of more experienced people here as well who might have more information for me.

Anyway, I am wondering if autism can make people do poorer on multiple choice tests. I am a good student. As long as I keep the marks I've been getting through next year, I will graduate with First Class Honours next May. My essays and short and long answer exams are always in the A range. Whenever I get multiple choice exams, however, I do horribly---for me anyway. I don't think I have ever gotten higher than the mid-70s on a multiple choice exam. For some people that is good, yes, but for me, I get Cs to Bs, and since I always have As, that is not good for me. I just have so much trouble identifying the answers, and I am wondering if having autism could be the cause of this. If so, how? Or are some people just terrible at multiple choice tests for no apparent reason?

I am asking because I am taking a couple biology electives next year, but I am really apprehensive about the multiple choice tests that always accompany the science classes at my school.

I am the exact opposite. I struggled on essay-type questions but can do well on multiple choice questions because I am a logical thinker. With multiple choice, even if I don't know the answer right away, I can usually discount 2 of the choices through the process of elimination.

It's the opposite for me. My process of elimination skills are far above my write a short essay skills.

I would say that for me multiple choice questions are not as big an issue as for you, but I do find I do worse on multiple choice than other tests because most people would easily be able to see the answer is X, where as I could see how multiple answers may be correct - so I could have to choose between two or more possible answers, when those who created the test only meant for there to be one answer. If you see what I mean - seeing various possible answers, or problems with semantics.

Does your school know you're on the spectrum, if so they may be able to give you special consideration on such tests.

Yes, this is my problem exactly. For some questions, I also find them so ambiguous that I cannot eliminate any answers. That happened a couple times on my bio exam last year. I went in thinking I knew everything inside out, but the questions were just so difficult. I find I also learn by memorization (unfortunately), so if he changes the wording to something more abstract that I have not remembered, I can not process what he is trying to say. In essay form, I can explain things out so I know he understands that I definitely know (or definitely do not know) what I am talking about.




I just registered with an ASD a couple months ago in the accessibility office. That was one of the reasons I posted this question actually--to see if I had any basis to ask for special consideration for those kinds of tests. I really am a good student, so it is not due to lack of studying. I just cannot do well on them.

Bloodheart said it. I do pretty well on multiple choice, but I have trouble where to me it looks like multiple answers could be logically and accurately correct, even though the test writer only had one in mind.

I felt like I had to learn the test instead of learning the material.

Sometimes a multiple choice test is easier, other times, it worse than fill in the blank or essay. Whoever writes the test can make the answer very obvious or they can go the opposite direction and make all the answers look like the right one.
I generally have an easy time with multiple choice.

I specifically chose courses with multiple choice questions. Other students made fun of me because they thought I could not do any other type of course (except for chemistry courses). I liked multiple choice because you can get the right answer by process of elimination. Recognition for me is a lot easier than recall. With recall you have to remember to put down everything you know and organize it appropriately. And make it "flowery" for full marks. I would think multiple choice or calculational stuff would be easier for most Aspies?

Last edited by Kon on 27 May 2011, 8:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I seemed to do well at both multiple choice and essay questions.

I find multiple choice tests far easier for all of the reasons mentioned above. I often have stored knowledge in my brain that I cannot necessarily recall and format on cue, but I know the correct answer when I see it. In addition, I make some very odd mistakes that multiple choice eliminates; for example, I had been struggling with math of late, but on my multiple-choice final, I finished early and received an A.

I do well with opinion-based essay questions (for example, in literature), but I really struggle with essays outside of my areas of interest. There are so many facts in the world to know, and I do not learn via memorization.

However, I do see the problem with ambiguous answers; the statement "If multiple answers are correct, choose the best one." I'm sorry? How do I determine which answer YOU think is best? It is worse if the test does not come from a source that you know; you may know the style of a professor, but if the department head crafted the test . . . how do I know how she thinks? I should be allowed to justify my decision if more than one is known to be correct.

I always preferred multiple choice tests to essay questions, but mostly because I hated writing.

Taking multiple-choice tests is generally easier for me unless the questions ask for the "most correct" answer instead of the only correct answer. Multiple-choice test questions shouldn't have multiple correct answers.

I was wondering this same thing on some of the aspie tests that are multiple choice! because the answer that occurred to me wasn't one of the 4 choices, so I knew that MY original answer must be wrong, so I immediately thought that the test was REALLY only about my ability to TAKE TESTS! I can work out a "second choice" answer >based on my original thought processes< from the 4 choices, and that way I could probably get a better score and that would not necessarily reflect my thinking patterns. Because multiple choice would be easier for me, as an essay tends to make me go off on a tangent, espesh if I feel like I haven't written ENOUGH so I kinda "pad" the answer to make it longer, and risk missing the point.... sigh... but to those who have said that they can envision several of the multiple choice answers to be correct, I'm with you on that, too. That is a hazard.

Wow that brought back some memories of me arguing with teachers in the middle of tests that 2 answers could be correct. Even if it was obvious that they were looking for one of the answers, if it was at all possible that the other answer also was correct, I could not move on. It usually ended with the teacher writing on the board "the answer to #7 is B".

Writing is definitely my strength.

Most of the MC tests at my school (at least the ones I have taken so far) have a lot of answers that list of 3 very plausible choices, followed by a "only a and b are correct" and "only a and c are correct" and things like that. So even if I think I have it narrowed down to the correct answer, those ones throw me off and I get them wrong. Obviously, I am still doing okay, but I am an A student, and want to get As as much as I can rather than settling for Cs.

i am no longer in school but it depended on the circumstances.

i am / was a good essay writer, but if i had to write something by hand it would be judged badly.

i am good at deducing the correct answer in a multiple choice scenario but only if there are no errors or ambiguities in the answers offered.

personality tests and things like that - much more difficult because i tear apart the questions and have difficulty generalizing enough to answer the questions. i never feel they provide enough information to really be answered accurately.




if you have problems with multiple choice tests and can determine why, maybe you can request that you be able to provide essay answers instead.