the Evil Line

Terence Tao (yes, again) has some thoughts on multiple choice tests. Of course he's right that more open-ended questions are better in some sense. But I wonder: here at CU, the applied math department takes great pride in administering open-ended tests where the work is graded to hundreds of engineers three times a semester. Are we sure that's better than giving, say, six multiple choice tests a semester?

Anyway, Tao might have a good claim to be the greatest living mathematician in the world, but I doubt any of his students have offered to start a riot on his behalf.