A type of test question to which the examiner expects you to designate a binary value based on whether or not a statement is true.

True/false questions are generally vague, and the testee is often required to infer the truth of the proposed statement from facts he/she already knows about the subject matter. Certain keywords such as NOT, EXCEPT, ALWAYS, etc., and other such trickery are often used to force the student to reread the statement many times in order to figure out just what the hell the teacher is trying to ask.


an example:
(T/F) The refutation of the Aristotelian belief of substance versus accidence, which had served as an explanation of the Eucharist from the 4th Lateran Council in 1215, in the early 1600s led many Catholics to rethink Transubstantiation (the Catholic doctrine that the bread literally becomes the Body of Christ when the Eucharist is taken), a direct result of which was the Protestant Reformation.

There are all sorts of places to find tricks in such a question. Was it definitely the 4th Lateran Council? Is that the correct date for the 4th Lateran Council? Is that the correct definition of Transubstantiation? Was Aristotelian logic refuted in the 1600's? Was the Reformation a direct result of said refutation? Is there such a thing as objective truth anyway? The only accepted answers are true and false; no inbetween, no room for explanation. Truly nerve wracking.

The only good thing about true/false questions, IMHO, is that there is a 50% chance of getting them right.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.