Writing Good Quiz Questions

Have you ever tried to write your own quiz questions?Then you probably know, that it may sound easy to write good trivia quiz questions… at least I thought so myself in the beginning, but when you actually attempt to do it yourself, you may find it much harder than you imagined, even if you are a very skilled writer in other writing disciplines.

Why Trivia Questions must be of High Quality

If you’ve ever seen an argument break out over, what appears to be a faulty trivia answer, then you may have an idea about, how important it is to avoid the most common mistakes and thereby a dispute. A dispute may lead to some level of mistrust in the audience about your ability to deliver a fair and entertaining trivia quiz. You definitely won’t let happen!

Six keys to write good trivia questions

I have made an easy-to-use checklist, a sort of formula for myself. You are welcome to use the formula, when you write your own quiz questions and you do the quality assurance check afterwards.

You should apply the following formula to every single question:

• Bias. I have kept my opinion out of this question
• Audience matters. This question is appropriate for the audience who will be participating in the trivia
• Trick questions. This is not a trick question (Trick questions, in a trivia, are distasteful and almost guarantee an argument…)
• Multiple choices. This question is a multiple choice question unless carefully considered (multiple choice answers give more opportunity for a perfect balance of entertainment and difficulty)
• Accuracy. This question is up to date, accurate (using reliable sources) and can not be challenged in any way
• Nutritious. This question has been carefully worded and is entertaining. Hand out some brain food to be sure this trivia question is not dull – very important!

Explore the quiz writing guidelines in more detail

For further exploration of the above listed checklist, check out this small report: A Checklist for Writing Quality Trivia Questions . It explains the keys in more detail and gives some examples. You will also find a few of my absolute favourites when it comes to web resources, downloadable quiz questions and printable quizzes.