Two-column Book document class, How to create a proper objective type question paper?

Question

There are three problems: 1. All options of question are not just below the question, they are moving to the next column. (this can be sorted out by using \vspace \vfill \mbox etc.) Is there any way so that it can be controlled dynamically? 2. The spacing between options. Is there something that can be written in the preamble part so that spacing can be fixed. 3. I want to defined enumerate as A). Is it possible to make a global definition?

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper,twoside]{book}
\usepackage{multicol}
\begin{document}
\begin{multicols}{2}
\begin{enumerate}
\item
$$\sqrt{9x^2}$$
If $x>0$, which of the following is equivalent to the given expression?\\
\begin{enumerate}
\item[A)]   $3x$\\
\item[B)]   $3x^2$\\
\item[C)]   $18x$\\
\item[D)]   $18x^4$\\
\end{enumerate}
\end{enumerate}
\end{multicols}
\end{document}

Answer 1

1. You can decide to stop a column with \columnbreak.

2. You can decide the spacing between columns by putting \setlength\columnsep{10pt} before the \begin{multicols}{2}. 10pt is the default value.

3. Use \renewcommand{\theenumi}{\Alph{enumi}}. See this thread here for in depth information.

Also, I'm pretty sure you won't like the column to go all the way to the bottom of the of the page, because it looks ugly. That means you'll need to add \vspace*{\fill} just before \columnbreak.

Which means your code would look like this:

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper,twoside]{book}
\usepackage{multicol}

\renewcommand{\theenumi}{\Alph{enumi}} %putting the numbers as upper-case letters
\setlength\columnsep{10pt} %setting the space between columns
\begin{document}
    \begin{multicols*}{2}
        \begin{enumerate}
            \item
            $$\sqrt{9x^2}$$
            If $x>0$, which of the following is equivalent to the given expression?\\
            \begin{enumerate}
                \item[A)]   $3x$\\
                \item[B)]   $3x^2$\\
                \item[C)]   $18x$\\
                \item[D)]   $18x^4$\\
            \end{enumerate}
            \vspace*{\fill} %so it won't justify to the bottom of the page
            \columnbreak %telling to go to the next column
            \item
            $$\sqrt{4y^2}$$
            If $y>0$, which of the following is equivalent to the given expression?\\
            \begin{enumerate}
                \item[A)]   $3y$\\
                \item[B)]   $3y^2$\\
                \item[C)]   $18y$\\
                \item[D)]   $18y^4$\\
                \item[E)]   $2y$\\
                \item[A)]   $3y$\\
                \item[B)]   $3y^2$\\
                \item[C)]   $18y$\\
                \item[D)]   $18y^4$\\
                \item[E)]   $2y$\\
            \end{enumerate}
        \end{enumerate}
    \end{multicols*}
\end{document}

Here's the result:

Answer 2

If I correctly understand your question, than you after the following:

With use of enumitem package you can solve lists issues, for other consider @xport answer:

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper,twoside]{book}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\setlist[enumerate,1]{nosep=0pt,
                      label=\bfseries\arabic*.,}
\setlist[enumerate,2]{topsep=0pt,
                      leftmargin=2em,
                      label=Alph*,              % Alph items labels
                      itemsep=2\baselineskip    % set desired distance between items
                      }
\setlength\columnsep{10pt} %setting the space between columns
\begin{document}
    \begin{multicols*}{2}
\begin{enumerate}
  \item
    \[  \sqrt{9x^2} \]
If $x>0$, which of the following is equivalent to the given expression?\\
    \begin{enumerate}
        \item[A)]   $3x$
        \item[B)]   $3x^2$
        \item[C)]   $18x$
        \item[D)]   $18x^4$
    \end{enumerate}

\vfill\null     % see https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/8683/
\columnbreak    % telling to go to the next column
    \item
      [\sqrt{4y^2}$$
        If $y>0$, which of the following is equivalent to the given expression?\
        \begin{enumerate}
            \item[A)]   $3y$
            \item[B)]   $3y^2$
            \item[C)]   $18y$
            \item[D)]   $18y^4$
            \item[E)]   $2y$
            \item[A)]   $3y$
            \item[B)]   $3y^2$
            \item[C)]   $18y$
            \item[D)]   $18y^4$
            \item[E)]   $2y$
        \end{enumerate}
    \end{enumerate}
\end{multicols*}
\end{document}