Add a new question

Step-by-step instructions on how to add a new question

This article describes how you can add a new question to your bizExaminer authoring environment.

What is a question

A question is a single item in an exam which means that a set of questions make up an exam. In the authoring environment, you can add and manage multiple exams of different types and categories, define their custom settings for the right evaluation criteria, and organize these in different folders that are called topics. For example, you can name the topics for subjects, or categories of exams, or for a department.

In addition to adding a question manually, you have an option to import questions from different sources.

Before you add a new question

Topics

Create one or more topics to organize the questions for subjects, departments, or any criteria to group these.

Question location

If you already have a list of topics defined in a structure, the options to add a new question is available in the context-menu of each topic. Identify the topic where you want to add a new question.

Find the topic for new question

Sign into bizExaminer.
Switch into the ‘Author’ role using the role-switcher in the top right corner of the screen.

The roles depend on your subscription plan for bizExaminer. There are cases when you may not see this option to switch to different roles and you directly see the author role for the authoring environment. If you have more questions, please contact your account administrator.

In the sidebar, the ‘Questions’ option is selected by default.
If one or more topics exist, these appear in a hierarchical structure as folders. Locate the topic where you want to add the new question. Alternatively, click on the ‘New question’ button that is available in the sidebar just above the list of all topics. You will get an option to select a topic while adding a new question in this step.
The ‘New question’ dialog opens.

Select a question type

bizExaminer enables you to add a variety of types of questions for different subjects and use-cases. For example you can add mathematics questions that include advanced questions, or questions in chemistry, or a question testing a candidates ability in a programming language that involves writing code.

For all the question types, you can define the answering choices and advanced options depending on the type of question.

Save the question

The ‘Save’ action

When a new question is added to the list of topics, a yellow color icon shows in the topic title. It means that the question is not activated. When you use the ‘Save’ option, the question is not yet available for the exam because it needs to be activated first.

The ‘Save and activate’ action

Click on ‘Save and activate’ to save the question and activate it. This means that the question is available for an exam. If you make any changes in the question or its settings after you use ‘Save and activate’, the question is saved as the next revision for an exam.

In both the cases – ’Save’ or ‘Save and activate’ – the appearance of the question name in the list of topics can be different.

A question in grey color with a yellow color icon: The question does not have any active revision. All its revisions are saved but these are not active.
A question in grey color but without a yellow color icon: The question has at least one revision that is active; it may have one or more revisions that are not active.
A question in black color: All the revisions of this question are active.

Revisions are related to the question’s language as well. Please see the following related articles on revisions and how the ‘Save and activate’ action is related to the questions’ revisions.

More Tabs: Common settings and options in question types

All the question types have a few tabs for additional settings such as for points settings, to seek feedback, for media files, and so on. Some of these tabs are common for all the question types while a few question types have specific tabs for the settings that apply to a question type.

The specific tabs that are unique for a question type are explained in the articles for the respective question types.

The tabs common to all question types are explained below.

The ‘Options’ tab

The ‘Options’ tab has two or three internal sections depending on the question type.

Evaluation settings
General settings
Audio settings

Evaluation settings

You can set up the points scoring setting here for the question. Some of the settings are common for all question types. A few question types enable you to set up more than the basic evaluation settings such as negative points for a wrong answer. These are explained in the respective Help Center article for each question type.

Note: Some question types do not show evaluation settings in the ‘Options’ tab because the points scoring settings are available in the other tabs for that question tab. For example, see ‘Add a new question: Hotspot type’.

General settings

In ‘Show info overlay when jumping to the question’, you can add and use information overlays to add additional messages. For example, a tooltip like help text for the participants when they are in an exam. Please see Common reference to add new question: Using info overlays for more details.

Select ‘Show question text in split panel (not available in preview)’ to show the question text in a column view when the participants answer this question. Select ‘show in left panel’ or ‘show in right panel’ to show the question in the left side or right side column of the answer space, respectively.

Note: Some question types show a few additional settings here in the ‘General settings’. These are explained in the respective Help Center article for each question type.

Audio settings

Select the ‘Play audio in this question’ box to play an audio when the participants attempt this question. Then select an audio file that plays with this question.

Note: Use the ‘Media/Resources’ tab to upload the media files that you can use here to play the audio for this question. Please see the steps and instructions for using the ‘Media/Resources’ tab later in this article.

After you upload the file, set the following settings.

Select the ‘Lock audio controls for user’ box to lock the audio control settings for the participant.
Select the ‘Start audio automatically’ box to play the audio automatically when the participants open this question.
Select the ‘Lock question navigation during audio playback’ box to lock the question navigation when the audio is playing. In this case, the participants cannot move to the next question as long as the audio is playing.

The ‘Feedback’ tab

When participants respond to a question, you have an option to set up the feedback text for them, and the conditions when the feedback appears.

Feedback alert customization

When participants respond to a question, customize the feedback text for each answer type.

In ‘Text when item is fully correct’, change the feedback text from ‘Correct’ to any other text as required.
In ‘Text when item is partly correct:, change the feedback text from ‘Partly correct’ to any other text as required.
In ‘Text when item is wrong’, change the feedback text from ‘Wrong’ to any other text as required.

The feedback alert text appears depending on a few settings in the exam module settings. For example, the feedback alerts will be shown in direct feedback after each question, if this is activated through the block settings.

Custom feedback text

Click on the ‘Custom feedback text’ to expand and see the settings. In ‘Show feedback under the following condition’, select a condition as:

Select ‘Question results: no points’ to show the feedback when the participants secure zero points for this question.
Select ‘Question results: part of points’ to show the feedback when the participants secure a few points, but not all the points for this question.
Select ‘Question results: all points’ to show the feedback when the participants secure all the points for this question.
Select ‘Question results: always’ to always show the feedback irrespective of the points.

With the tools icon beside the conditions dropdown own feedback conditions can be defined.

The ‘Media Resources’ tab

You can upload media files in support of questions. For example, you can share an image, a PDF, or an audio or video file that is part of the question.

In ‘For upload drag file here’, click on ‘Select’ to upload a file.

For every file, you can see the following options.

Share the file for all questions: In ‘Share’, click on ‘Yes’ to make this file available for all the questions for the same owner. You can see a shared image when you use the images section in the text editor of the question text or answer text, for any question.
File available as download during exam: Click on ‘On’ or ‘Off’ on this option to make it available for download by the participants.

For a PDF file, you see two additional options:

In ‘PDF displaying in exams’, click on ‘ON’ to make this PDF as available in the exam for this question. The participants will be able to see this PDF when they answer this question in the exam.
In ‘PDF print with testletter’, click on ‘ON’ to make this PDF available for the individuals who are present as the instructor or a guide to take the exam in a physical test center. This PDF can be a set of instructions or guidelines for the participants. For example if there is a floor plan which has to be used answering this question, you can upload the plan as PDF and with the setting ‘PDF print with testletter’ this plan will be automatically generated into the testletter PDF which carries all instructions for participants.

The uploaded media files are shown in a list. You can see:

Uploaded On: The date and time when the file is uploaded for this question
Author: The name of the author who uploaded the corresponding file
File: The file name
Shared: The settings to share or download the file
Usage: An option to remove the file from this question

The ‘Information’ tab

Tags

A tag is a string representing a category or topic that helps you to search for, find, or group questions for a common criteria. For example, you can tag questions for complexity, grade, objective, or its category.

Write the tag for this question. When you start writing, the names of all the tags that are previously used in this bizExaminer authoring environment appear. Select any of these, or write a new tag. Add a comma, and write more tags, if required.
Click on ‘Add’ to add the tag.

Exams

Since this is a new question, it is not a part of any exam so far. When you add it to an exam, the exam name appears in this section.

Please see ‘Create new exam’ for more details.

Revisions

When you use “Save and activate’, the question is saved as a new revision. For upcoming examinations this new revision will be used automatically. In already started or finished examinations the previous revisions will be used.

You can also save the exam in a different language, and save it as a new revision. When you add questions to an exam in a specific language, the question’s revision is available only in the same language as the exam you use it in. Please see Common Reference to Add New Question: Language options and settings for more details.

In the list of revisions, you can see the following details of each revision.

Language count: See the revision number in each language.
Language: The language in which the question is saved.
Author: The name of the author who saved and activated this revision.
Created: The date and time when this revision is created.
Updated: The date and time when this revision is updated for the last time.
Active: The status whether the revision is active or not to be used in exams.

Please see Common Reference to add New Question: Revisions and exams for more details on the revisions.

Question analytics

In ‘Statistical data’, you can see some analytics of this question. These are:

Number of usages in exam attendances: Number of how often this question had been used in examinations.
Number of evaluations with all points reached: Number of participants who have answered this question and scored all the points.
Number of evaluations with zero points reached: Number of participants who have answered this question and scored zero points.
Average dwell time: The average time in seconds that the participants spend on answering this question; this is calculated by dividing the total time taken by all the participants combined, by the total number of participants who submit its answer.
Average question frequency: The average frequency how often this question is visited during a single exam session.

The ‘Topics’ tab

Note: The option to associate a question with multiple topics is not available by default. If you do not see it and you need it, please contact your account administrator.

In ‘This question is related to following topics’, the topic name for this question is shown. You can add more topics here which means that this question then belongs to all these topics.

Click on ‘Add topic’.
The ‘Add topic’ dialog box opens. Select a topic from the list of topics.
Click on ‘Save’ to save it.

In the list of topics, the question is seen listed in the associated topics now.

Note: This action does not duplicate the question. Adding the same question to multiple topics means that a single question now appears in multiple topics. A change to this question means that the question is altered in all topics it has been added to.

The ‘Preview’ tab

The question preview shows the question with all the details and for the settings that you have defined for the question.

Select the ‘Preview’ tab. You can see the question as the participants see it when they attempt it.

For these question types the preview tab is not available:
– MS Excel
– Photo based answer

Note: Also split screen and info overlay cannot be seen in the question preview.

Submit answer

When you see the question preview, you can test the question by submitting your answer. The question will be graded as it would be in a live exam. This gives you a chance to see if the question and all the instructions and additional information are clear and as intended.

Click on ‘Submit answer’ to answer the question. This action does not affect any exams or grading.

You can also see the following:

Points scored: See the points scored based on how you configured the question in the ‘Options’ tab.
Show feedback: When this option is selected, corresponding messages or alerts are shown depending on the question type.