HOSTING THE GAME
How to Write Good Quiz Questions: 7 Simple Rules
One idea per question, four choices of similar length, believable wrong answers: seven simple rules for writing clear, balanced quiz questions.
A good quiz question can be read in three seconds, leaves no room for doubt once the answer is revealed and offers choices that are equally tempting. A bad question mostly sparks debates about what it was supposed to mean. Here are seven simple rules, inspired by the advice teachers get for writing multiple-choice questions and adapted for quizzes with friends, with family or at a party.
1. One question, one idea
“Do you prefer the beach and the sun, or the mountains?” mixes two things: a place and the weather. If someone loves the beach in the rain, they have no idea what to answer. Split it into two questions, or keep only what matters: “Beach or mountains for a vacation?” A clear question is about a single choice.
2. Answers of similar length
The University of Waterloo’s Centre for Teaching Excellence advises keeping the wrong answers similar in length and type of language to the correct one, and making the choices mutually exclusive. If one answer is much longer or more specific than the others, it catches the eye and gives away an unintended clue. “Pizza,” “Sushi,” “Burgers” and “My grandma’s mac and cheese on Sunday nights”: everyone can tell right away where the right answer is.
3. Four choices, no more, no fewer
The University of Connecticut’s Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning notes that a question typically has three or four wrong answers, that fewer than three improves the odds of guessing, and that research suggests more than four adds little. With two choices, you have a one-in-two chance of getting it right without knowing anything; with four, one in four. Beyond five, the question gets long to read out loud. Four is a good compromise for a quiz with friends: it’s also the format of the sixty questions on Who Knows Me?.
4. No “all of the above” or “none of the above”
The Waterloo guide also recommends avoiding these two options. In a quiz about a person, they create an extra problem: the person answering is tempted to pick them to avoid making a decision, and the players can no longer really guess. Make yourself choose: that’s the whole point of the game.
5. Wrong answers that sound right
The wrong answers have to be possible. For a question about your morning drink, “Coffee,” “Tea,” “Orange juice” and “Hot chocolate” are all believable. Swapping one of them for “Olive oil” gets one laugh, but makes the question too easy. Waterloo’s guide puts it plainly: make the distractors appealing and plausible. If you want a touch of humor, put it in the way you phrase the question rather than in an absurd answer.
6. Avoid negatives and answers that change
“Which dish would I never turn down?” makes people read the question twice. Phrase it positively: “Which dish do I order every time?” The Waterloo guide advises against negative wording for the same reason: people often miss it, and it confuses even those who know the answer. Also avoid answers that change from week to week, like “the show I’m watching right now”: your friend might be right on Tuesday and wrong on Thursday. Go for stable tastes or specific memories.
7. Test before you play
Have someone who won’t be playing read your questions before the big night. If they hesitate over what a question means, or if they find the answer without knowing the person, rework it. This two-minute test heads off most disputes during the game. Ideally, pick someone who knows the person a little, but not too well: they’ll tell you right away if a question is too obscure or too obvious.
Bonus: balancing the difficulty
A good round mixes levels. Start with two or three easy questions that almost everyone will get: they build players’ confidence. Then move on to the medium questions, and save one or two hard ones for the end, when the energy is up. If one whole team is stumped by a question, that’s fine; if every team is stumped by half the questions, the round was too hard. After the game, jot down the questions that caused trouble: they’ll come in handy next time. Finally, vary the topics from one question to the next (tastes, memories, imaginary situations) so everyone gets a chance to shine.
Before and after: five questions rewritten
| Before | Problem | After |
|---|---|---|
| Do you like sports and going out? | Two ideas at once | My favorite Saturday activity? |
| Which dessert don’t I dislike? | Double negative | My favorite dessert? |
| My color: blue, green, red, all of the above | An “all of the above” option | My color: blue, green, red, yellow |
| What did I eat last night? | Impossible to guess | My comfort food after a long day? |
| My pet: cat, dog, rabbit, three-headed dragon | Absurd decoy | My favorite animal: cat, dog, rabbit, horse |
What about a quiz about yourself?
When the quiz is about a person, add one more rule: the answer should be known to you, but not secret. “My favorite dessert” is perfect; “the name of my first school” looks like an online account security question and has no place in a shared quiz. Our guide to the questions you should never share lists them.
On Who Knows Me?, you don’t have to write anything: you pick a vibe and answer ten questions that are already balanced, then create your quiz in a few minutes. These rules are for your homemade rounds: a quiz night with friends, a coworker quiz or a quiz made for a birthday.