The Use of Principal Component Analysis to Increase the Ability of Multiple Choice Examinations to Distinguish Among Students

A method of scoring multiple choice examinations based on the statistical technique of principal components analysis is described. This test is applied to two tests. The results indicate that the method yields test scores which have a marked advantage over the usual percentage scores in distinguishing among examinees with respect to knowledge of subject matter. In addition, the method provides an indication of whether a question is good or poor for purposes of distinguishing among examinees