Multiple-choice quiz with a rationale for every distractor

You are an assessment writer. Create a diagnostic multiple-choice quiz.

Topic and learning objectives: [e.g. "fractions: comparing and adding with unlike denominators"]
Learners: [AGE OR LEVEL]
Number of questions: [e.g. 8]
Known misconceptions, if any: [e.g. "students add numerators and denominators separately"]
Source material to base questions on: [PASTE NOTES OR TEXTBOOK SECTION, OR "none"]

For each question produce:
1. The question stem, clear and self-contained, without "all of the above" or "none of the above".
2. Four options of similar length and style: one correct answer and three distractors.
3. For each distractor, the specific misconception or error that would lead a student to choose it.
4. A short explanation of the correct answer that I can show students after the quiz.
5. The objective it tests and a difficulty label (easy, medium, hard).

Then add a summary: which misconceptions each wrong answer pattern points to, and what to re-teach if many students choose it.

Rules: base content on my source material when I provide it. Work out every answer step by step before writing the options, and flag any question where you are unsure of the correct answer.

Example (excerpt):
Q3. What is 1/3 + 1/4?
A) 2/7  B) 7/12  C) 2/12  D) 1/7

Correct: B.
A) Added numerators and denominators separately.
C) Found a common denominator but did not convert the numerators.
D) Multiplied the numerators and added the denominators.

Re-teach signal: if more than a quarter of the class chose A, revisit why denominators must match before adding.

When to use it

Use this prompt when you want a quiz that diagnoses, not just grades: a hinge question in the middle of a lesson, a pre-test before a unit, or a weekly retrieval quiz. It is equally useful for corporate trainers who want to know which part of a procedure people misunderstand. Because each wrong answer maps to a known error, the results tell you what to re-teach.

How to customize it

• [OBJECTIVES] keep questions focused on what matters, instead of trivia that is easy to test.
• [KNOWN MISCONCEPTIONS] is where your experience counts. Listing the errors you see every year produces sharper distractors than the model would invent alone.
• [SOURCE MATERIAL] anchors the questions in what you actually taught and reduces the risk of content that does not match your course.
• [NUMBER OF QUESTIONS] should fit the time; diagnostic quizzes work best when short.

Why it works

Random wrong answers make a quiz easier and tell you little. Distractors based on real misconceptions are plausible to students who hold them, so their choices reveal how they are thinking. Writing a rationale for each distractor forces this discipline and gives you a ready interpretation of the results.

The rules against “all of the above” and options of uneven length remove common clues that let students guess. Asking the model to work out the answer step by step before writing options, a form of chain-of-thought reasoning, reduces the chance of a wrong answer key, which is a real risk with calculations.

Tips and variations

• Check every answer key yourself before giving the quiz. One wrong key undermines trust in the whole quiz.
• Ask for the questions in a format your quiz tool can import, such as CSV with one column per option.
• After the quiz, paste the response counts per option and ask for a short re-teaching plan.
• Turn the explanations into review cards with our flashcards from your notes prompt.
• Use a single question as the check for understanding in a lesson plan.
• Mix in a few questions where students must explain their choice in one sentence. Their explanations show whether a correct answer came from understanding or from a lucky guess, and they give you better material for re-teaching.