How to Write a Quiz

By Mei Sawyer

Are you learning how to write a quiz? When you break up your quiz into manageable sections, you'll finish in no time. With the right topic and a good handle on the information, your quiz becomes all the more easy to create.

Decide Your Topic

To start your quiz, you'll find that questions come easier with the right topic. Aim for your first quiz to be on a topic with which you feel comfortable, because you will need to know enough about the subject to write authoritatively and create a score sheet for your answer key. Study up first if you need to write a quiz on something you don't know well!

Consider the Type of Quiz

Tally Quiz: Are you planning to make a personality or lifestyle quiz? With this type of quiz, each answer is assigned a numerical value. At the end of the quiz, you tally the results and apply them to a specific category, diagnosis, or description.

Fill-in-the-Blanks Quiz: A good tool for lifestyle quizzes, this version allows people taking it to think carefully about their answers and reflect upon their responses. Once complete, another party reviews it or the person who took it examines it in its entirety with an answer guide.

Pass/Fail Quiz: Pass/fail quizzes are perfect for more academically-oriented quiz types where the answers aren't in the "grey area." The person taking the quiz tallies up a percentage of right/wrong answers to determine the level of quiz success.

Develop the Results First

One of the easiest ways to write a quiz is first to determine how you would like your results to turn out. For example, when making a personality quiz, decide for which personalities you will be developing questions. Guide complicated questions towards the appropriate answers while composing your quiz.

For a "right" and "wrong" quiz with trivia, make your research go smoothly by jotting down specific topics that you would like to cover in the quiz.

Create Your Questions

Aim to create questions that correspond to your audience's skill set and personality.

Consider writing more quiz questions than necessary, and then editing to leave only the gems behind. A little extra footwork will leave you with high-quality results.
Don't be predictable. Shake things up with a few hard-hitting questions to challenge your audience.
Keep your audience's age and interest in mind while developing the language of your quiz. Writing for teens? Keep things short and snappy.
Consider accessing a trivia quiz site for inspiration like Paul's Quiz.

Tally Your Results

Assign your scoring details to your particular quiz. Double-check that each answer corresponds to the correct number of points if you are using a tally quiz, and check if each question and assigned answer is accurate with a pass/fail quiz.

Try your quiz once on your own as though you were your target audience, so that you are confident your scoring system works accurately. Adjust answer's numerical values if applicable to reflect projected scores.

Do More Research on How to Write a Quiz

When learning how to write a quiz, take as many as you can in your areas of interest to ensure fresh subject matter. Note things that you find amiss in quizzes you take for your personal records.