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I am making a question paper. The question paper contains multiple choice type questions and are to formatted in two columns. The first question while neatly formatted takes a lot of space. The second question while efficient, doesn't look neat. Is there a way to display the options in a 2 rows x 2 columns format (assuming the options are small enough). Also while displaying in the requested manner, the option B should start exactly below option A and option D should start exactly below C. Is there a standard way to do this? If no, can you provide a workaround?

question and options

\documentclass[12pt,addpoints,answers]{exam}
\usepackage{multicol}
\begin{document}
\begin{multicols}{2}    
    \begin{questions}
        \question What is your favourite formula?
        \begin{choices}
            \choice $E=mc^2$
            \choice $\displaystyle{T=2\pi\sqrt{\frac{l}{g}}}$
            \choice F=ma
            \choice $\displaystyle{F_g=\frac{Gm_1m_2}{r^2}}$
        \end{choices} 
\columnbreak
        \question What is your favourite fruit?\\
        \begin{oneparchoices}
            \choice Apple
            \choice Orange
            \choice Banana
            \choice Tomato
        \end{oneparchoices}

\end{questions}



\end{multicols}
\end{document}
Amsterdam6483
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  • The closet I found is https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/615104/line-spacing-problem-and-multiple-choice-option-editing .But didn't solve my problem. – Amsterdam6483 Jul 29 '23 at 16:51
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    Have you considered using inline-fraction notation? E.g., you'd replace \choice $\displaystyle{F_g=\frac{Gm_1m_2}{r^2}}$ with \choice $F_g=Gm_1m_2/r^2$. – Mico Jul 29 '23 at 19:02
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    I'm speaking as somebody who has had to struggle for most of my adult life with layouts that appear to be, at first glance, visually compact and space-efficient but -- at least for persons like me who tend to get lost quickly in visual clutter -- are actually difficult to parse visually, to the point that that I often become visually disoriented and end up missing the questions' main points. My main appeal to you is: Keep the layout simple and uncluttered. For me, this entails NOT indulging in a 2x2 matrix of multiple choice answers. A single column of choices is so much easier on the eye. – Mico Jul 29 '23 at 19:13
  • @Mico Thanks for sharing your experience. I didn’t know it could have such an impact on the test taker. – Amsterdam6483 Jul 30 '23 at 00:49
  • I’m trying to save space because the question paper that we’ll be giving students will have 200 questions and it might be given to 100 students. So the management thinks that lot of paper can be saved. – Amsterdam6483 Jul 30 '23 at 00:53
  • @Mico yes, I did consider inline fraction. It makes the contents of the fraction tiny though. – Amsterdam6483 Jul 30 '23 at 00:58
  • How can the contents of $F_g=Gm_1m_2/r^2$ become "tiny"? The whole point of using a/b-style notation instead of \frac{a}{b}-notation is to prevent the material from becoming, well, tiny. – Mico Jul 30 '23 at 02:09
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – Amsterdam6483 Jul 30 '23 at 05:22
  • @Mico I’m sorry, I misunderstood what in-line meant. I agree with you, it does save space. – Amsterdam6483 Jul 30 '23 at 05:24

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