Latin Tutorial: 2. Terminology for Multiple-Choice Questions

Item: A test question.

Stem: The initial part of the question, which states the task.
The stem may be a question or an incomplete statement.

Options: The choices in a question, identified as (A), (B), (C), and (D). There are two kinds of options:

• Key: The correct answer.

• Distracters: The incorrect choices.

  Example:
  The tense and mood of vellet are [stem]
  (A) future indicative [distracter]
  (B) present subjunctive [distracter]
  (C) imperfect subjunctive [key]
  (D) present indicative [distracter]

Set: A group of items based on a passage.

Introduction: A brief statement designed to provide candidates with a context for the passage in a way that does not give away answers to test questions.

Gloss: An explanation of the form and/or meaning of a difficult Latin word. Many more words are, of course, glossed for the sight passages than for the syllabus-based passages.

Line numbers: For the selections from the syllabus, line numbers do not correspond to those in the syllabus. Rather, each passage begins with line 1, with every fifth line numbered.