Singing Loudly

My Texas civil procedure professor assures us that his multiple choice exam will be every bit as difficult as an essay exam. In addition, he claims that his honing of the questions can determine our grasp of the material as well as, if not better than, an essay exam. As of yet, I am somewhat unconvinced, however, it is a statute based class which makes it a little easier to test with multiple choice.

His claim is simply that with essay exams students are able to fluff up their language enough to hop around the issues without ever showing a mastery of the subject with precision. In other words, students can b.s. their way to a better grade in a way they cannot do with multiple choice exams.

I would say that this is not a fault of the essay exam, rather, it is a fault in the one who wrote the questions. The multiple-choice questions I have seen are not precise enough to demonstrate whether a student has mastered the material. This is why I prefer professors who like to use a mixture of multiple choice and essay questions. A well prepared student should be able to easily tackle both types of questions just as a good professor should be able to craft both types of questions.