A test has 12 multiple choice questions with 4 answers each. How many ways can you mark the test (assuming no answer can be left blank)?

Question

The answers are:

A. 20,736

B. 288

C. 16,777,216

D. 48

Answer 1

To simplify imagine 2 questions first

The answers for those questions could be:

a-a a-b a-c a-d

b-a b-b b-c b-d

c-a c-b c-c c-d

d-a d-b d-c d-d

So for 2 questions with four choices you get 4^2 = 16

12 different questions.

4^12

16,777,216 C.

Answer 2

12 questions * 4 ways each = 48 ways