Nowadays, there are a lot of ways how people can check their knowledge, but there are disputes about which type of test is better, multiple choice or essay writing.
On the one hand, multiple choice tests are a great way to check how well students know grammar or vocabulary. These tasks require hard preparation, as they include tasks in general on grammar, which is one of the most difficult topics in learning English. Moreover, in the case, when a person does not know the right answer, the skill of excluding wrong answers and logical choices of the right one develops. Due to the fact that these tasks with a number of answers, there is always a chance that a person can choose an answer at random, which also prevents an accurate check of knowledge.
On the other hand, essay writing tasks include knowledge not only in grammar, but also in vocabulary. Furthermore, these tests check the ability of thinking on a foreign language and formulating your thoughts. However, while writing an essay, a person can choose for himself what to write about, what grammar and vocabulary to use and person can write in very simple language, so checking his knowledge with such test cannot be objective.
Although in contrast, when writing an essay, it is better to test a person’s language skills than when writing multiple choice tasks.
In conclusion, I think that we cannot compare these kinds of tests, because they absolutely different. As for me, writing an essay is better, due to the fact that it checks various sides of language.