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True False Don't Know (TFD)

This looks rather like a Multiple Answer question, but has a crucial difference. With a Multiple Answer question the student selects the items s/he thinks are correct. However if an item is left blank, it is ambiguous whether this means the student thinks it is wrong, or if s/he is not sure. In a TFD question each item requires a definite response, avoiding this ambiguity. This also enables TFD questions to be used in conjunction with negative marking, where if the

student selects True or False s/he receives 1 mark if correct and -1 if incorrect.If they respond Don't Know they receive 0 marks. Another way of looking at this type of question is that it is a series of T/F questions. By using negative marking one eliminates the problem of students being able to get 50% by guessing the answer. Questions of this type are commonly used in Medicine and related subjects.

A True/False/Don't know question