Multiple-Choice Questions

To place a multiple-choice question into a question file is a three-step process:

Type the separator line.
Type the multiple-choice question.
Type the multiple-choice answer choices (distractors).

The Multiple-Choice Separator Line:

The multiple-choice separator line contains question type information and the correct answer. All AppletQuiz questions start with a separator line, which begins with a backslash ("\") character.

Immediately following the backslash (no spaces permitted) must be the characters "MC" (not case sensitive) to indicate a multiple-choice question. If the preceding question was also a multiple-choice question, then the "MC" characters are optional.

Next comes one or more blank spaces, followed by the letter "A" (for "Answer").

Next comes one or more blank spaces, followed by one of the letters "A" through "E".

If a correct answer is not given, the question will load into AppletQuiz just fine, but AppletQuiz will not display the question since it won't be able to check a student's answer.

Example Separator lines:

Separator Line

Comments

\MC A B

OK (answer is "B")

\mc a b

also OK, since separator lines are not case sensitive. (answer is "B")

\ A C

OK as long as the preceding question was also a multiple-choice question. (answer is "C")

\ MC A A

NOT legal, because of the spaces between the "\" and the "M"

(The answer was supposed to be "A")

\MC

Legal, but the question won't display since it has no correct answer given. (Although there is an Alternate Answer Format.)

Multiple-Choice Question Text

Separator Line	Comments
\MC A B	OK (answer is "B")
\mc a b	also OK, since separator lines are not case sensitive. (answer is "B")
\ A C	OK as long as the preceding question was also a multiple-choice question. (answer is "C")
\ MC A A	NOT legal, because of the spaces between the "\" and the "M" (The answer was supposed to be "A")
\MC	Legal, but the question won't display since it has no correct answer given. (Although there is an Alternate Answer Format.)

The multiple-choice question text consists of one or more lines of text starting immediately following the separator line. You can type it just as you would type the question into a test or quiz - no special formatting is required.

You do not need to be concerned about line breaks - AppletQuiz will format your text to fit the available space on the screen. AppletQuiz will honor line breaks that you type into the question, however, and blank lines are also allowed.

Note that you do NOT type a question number for your question. This will be supplied by the AppletQuiz applet.

Multiple-Choice Answer Choices (distractors):

The answer choices (distractors) for the multiple-choice question are typed immediately following the question text. In order for AppletQuiz to recognize the choices, they must begin with "A. " for the first distractor, "B. " for the second, through "E. " for the last. No more than 5 answer choices (A-E) are permitted, although you may have as few as 2 distractors (A-B) for a multiple-choice question. Notice that there must be at least one blank space between the choice label (A-E) and the answer text.

Each answer choice consists of one or more lines of text. No special formatting (other than the letter at the beginning) is required. As with question text, you do not need to worry about formatting the answer choice into separate lines of text, although any line breaks or blank lines that you type into the answer choice will be honored.

Sample Question

Comments

\MC A B This is a simple multiple-choice question. A. This is the first distractor. B. This is the second distractor. C. This is the third distractor. D. This is the fourth distractor.

A simple question with four distractors. (The correct answer is "B".)

Sample Question	Comments
\MC A B This is a simple multiple-choice question. A. This is the first distractor. B. This is the second distractor. C. This is the third distractor. D. This is the fourth distractor.	A simple question with four distractors. (The correct answer is "B".)

last update May 12, 1999 by JL Stanbrough (jstanbro@venus.net)