The purpose of this study was to compare two different testing styles to see how they relate to retention of information. The study was conducted during the first semester of the 1996-97 school year at Greenbriar East High School in Lewisburg, West Virginia. The students in the study were in two Biology II classes, one with an enrollment of 26 students and the other with an enrollment of 24. The strategy for the study was: (1) to divide each class into equal numbers, giving half multiple choice tests for 4.5 weeks and the other half essay tests on the same material; and (2) at the end of 4.5 weeks, to switch the type of test each student was taking so that every student was involved in both testing styles. Both groups were taught at the same pace and were exposed to the same material. Students' grades for the previous 9 weeks were used as pretest scores. At the conclusion of the study, the grades of the two testing styles were compared by the use of a two sample t-test. At the 0.05 level of significance, there was a significant difference in the achievement levels of the two groups. Students taking essay tests seemed to do better than those taking multiple choice tests. (Contains 2 tables and 29 references.) (Author/SLD)