The percentage of students choosing the correct answer (PSCA) on 17 multiple-choice algorithmic questions taken from general chemistry exams is analyzed. PSCAs for these questions varied from 47 to 93%, and a decrease of 4.5% in PSCA was observed with each additional step in the algorithm required for solving the problem (R[superscript 2] = 0.80). Variants of a subset of these questions were also examined and reveal the effect of making changes to a particular algorithmic question on the ability of students to choose the correct answer. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)