• Think very carefully about your use of language. Try to prepare clear, succinct and unambiguous stems.

• Avoid repeating content in the options.

• Usually it is best just to have one correct response.

• Make sure that you do not have silly, implausible options. It may be better to think about what are most likely to be the misunderstandings of your learners.

• Base your questions on topics that have been covered by the session. Assessing things that haven't been taught breaks one of the golden rules of assessment – that it should be fair.

• Think about whether you want to provide your learners with the opportunity to re-take the test. Some learners are motivated by taking tests again to improve their performance.

• Don't give the answer away!

• Make the questions challenging – two obviously wrong answers and one clearly right will not encourage learning.

• Don't encourage guessing – if the answers are too complicated or impenetrable, then learners will simply attempt to guess them.

• Preferably, give answers immediately after the choice has been taken – answers should include some feedback/explanation as well as the simple right/wrong choice.

• Test the questions if you can – would random choices of answers get high marks? Vary where the right answer is.