Although there are a few cases where I think multiple choice questions can work for math, I think they are often inappropriate for two primary groups of students: (1) students who are very capable often work backwards to see which answer "works" without having to know the concept or process being tested; (2) students who are struggling with basic concepts who cannot work the problem to the end often cannot find the answer in the possible choices...so in the end, it is often a frustrated guess. It is my opinion (which could certainly be flat wrong) that this weakness applies to both teacher-written and professionally-developed math exams (SAT, ACT, etc). Boot camps "teach" how to score high on these exams. Asking the student to "show your work" is essentially setting up an essay question type dilemma, with an even more unstructured format! I have tried both MC and "short answer/show your work" and definitely get a better effort from the low- and medium-capable students when they are able to show their work and get partial credit...but it takes SO much time. For the very capable math students, requiring them to come up with their own answer, and offering the chance for partial credit if work is shown has also produced positive results for me. Those students have to be more prepared and are not rewarded for "breaking the code". Besides "make GOOD multiple choice math questions", does anyone have a strategy for teaching (fundamental) math?