This research inquires into the effectiveness of the two predominant forms of questions--multiple-choice questions and short-answer questions--used in the State University Entrance Examination for Chemistry including the relationship between performance and gender. It examines not only the style of question but also the content type examined (recall and application questions). The research involves class trial testing of students with structured questions that examine the same material content with each type of question (multiple-choice or short-answer) and also examines the different type of content (recall or application) and finally the influence of student gender. Rasch analysis of the class trial data, including gender difference analysis, is performed and the analyses related to performance characteristics of the State University Entrance Examination. It is found that male students achieve higher scores than female students with respect to mean scores on both tests and sub-tests. However, when student abilities, as measured by Rasch analysis were considered, male and female students of equal abilities perform equally well in each test comparison suggesting that chemistry is equally accessible to students of both genders. (Contains 10 figures and 3 tables.)