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Legacy Portal: Prepare an RTF Question File to Import (File Guidelines)

Updated

As an alternative to creating questions in ExamSoft, you can import questions from an RTF file. This might be a file that you exported from a Learning Management System or that you created in Word and saved as RTF. Optionally, you can set up this file so that the imported questions will be tagged with categories and saved into folders.

Important: To ensure that the questions are imported successfully, make sure that your RTF file meets the requirements described in this article.

 

Before You Begin

If you want to use questions from your LMS, you must first export them.

 

Overview of Requirements

Before you start to create or edit questions in your file, read this overview information. Then go to the "Examples with Required Components" section to learn more.

 

Text Formatting

Use only these fonts and sizes: 

  • Supported Fonts: Arial, Arial Black, Calibri, Comic Sans, Courier New, Georgia, Impact, Times New Roman, Trebuchet MS, Verdana
  • Supported Sizes: 8pt, 9pt, 10pt, 11pt, 12pt, 14pt, 16pt, 20pt, 22pt, 24pt, 26pt, 28pt, 36p, 48pt, 72pt
Note: Text formatting such as bold and italics will not be retained after the file is imported.

 

Images

If the RTF file includes images, they will not be imported. Only text is imported.

After you import the file into Examplify, you can edit the questions and add images as needed.

 

Required Question Components

To ensure that your questions are imported successfully, include the required components, put them in the correct order, and use the correct syntax.

 

Required Order

  1. Type
  2. Question Number
  3. Question Stem
  4. Answer Choices

 

Type

You must specify the Type for all questions except Multiple Choice Single Answer and True/False.

The type codes are:

  • Essay: E

  • Fill in the Blank: F

  • Multiple Choice Multiple Answer: MA

  • Drag and Drop: DD

  • Ordering: ORDERING

  • Matrix: MATRIX

 

Question Number

You must enter a number for every question. After the number, enter a period or a closing parenthesis.

Use consecutive numbers. These numbers are used only during the import process, for the purpose of identifying the questions in the file. After the import is completed, these numbers are no longer associated with the questions.

Question Stem

You must enter a question stem for every question. 

Important: Fill in the Blank question stems require special formatting to indicate the blank space(s) to be completed by the exam-takers. You can indicate the blank space(s) in various ways:
  • Five underscores
  • Number enclosed by two underscores on each side
  • Number, uppercase letter, or lowercase letter enclosed by square brackets
Note: The "blanks" in the question stem must be properly formatted, as described above, or the question will not be imported. Also see the Fill in the Blank examples in the Example Questions section of this article.

 

Answer Choices

You must enter answer choices for all questions except Essay questions.

Different types of questions require different formatting for the answer choices. See the "Examples with Required Components" section to learn more.  

 

Example Questions with Required Components

QuestionType Example Notes
True/False 1. Asia is one of the seven continents.
*A. T
B. F


2) London is the capital of Spain.
A. T
*B. F		 Type: Not required for True/False questions.

Question Number: A question number is always required. You can enter a period or a closing parenthesis after the number.

Answer Choices:
  • List the answer choices with lowercase or uppercase letters, followed by a period or a closing parenthesis.
  • Indicate the correct answer with an asterisk (*) at the beginning of the line. 
  • For all True/False questions, you must list True as the first answer choice. You can use the full words, True and False, or the letters, T and F. 
Multiple Choice Single Answer 3. What is the correct symbol for silver?
a) Si
b) Sg
*c) Ag
d) Au		 Type: Not required for Multiple Choice Single Answer questions.

Question Number: A question number is always required. You can enter a period or a closing parenthesis after the number.

Answer Choices: 
  • List the answer choices with lowercase or uppercase letters, followed by a period or a closing parenthesis.
  • Indicate the correct answer with an asterisk (*) at the beginning of the line. 
Answer File Alternative: If your file includes only Multiple Choice questions, you can indicate the correct answer choices in an answer key rather than using the asterisk method. See the "Answer Key Alternative" section of this article.
Multiple Choice Multiple Answer Type: MA 4. Which of the following countries are in Asia? Select all that apply.
a. Jordan
*b. Japan
c. Kenya
*d. Korea		 Type: You must specify the type for Multiple Choice Multiple Answer questions. Enter the type code before the question number.

Question Number: A question number is always required. You can enter a period or a closing parenthesis after the number.

Answer Choices: 
  • List the answer choices with lowercase or uppercase letters, followed by a period or a closing parenthesis.
  • Indicate each correct answer with an asterisk (*) at the beginning of the line. 

Answer File Alternative: If your file includes only Multiple Choice questions, you can indicate the correct answer choices in an answer key rather than using the asterisk method. See the "Answer Key Alternative" section of this article.
Drag and Drop Type: DD Title1: Options Title2: Your Selections 17. Look at the list of items in the Options box. Drag each correct answer to the Your Selections box. Don’t guess! There are penalties for incorrect selections.
*a. Correct answer
b. Incorrect answer
*c. Correct answer
d. Incorrect answer
*e. Correct answer		 Type: You must specify the type for Drag and Drop questions. Enter the type code before the question number.

Title1, Title2: In this question type, exam-takers are presented with a list of possible answers and an empty box where they can drag their answer choices. Optionally, you can use the Title1 and Title2 codes to specify the titles to appear above those boxes. If you do not specify Title1 and Title2, the default titles appear: Possible Answers and Selected Answers.

Question Number: A question number is always required. You can enter a period or a closing parenthesis after the number.

Answer Choices: 
  • List the answer choices with lowercase or uppercase letters, followed by a period or a closing parenthesis.
  • Indicate each correct answer with an asterisk (*) at the beginning of the line. 
Essay Type: E 5) Compare and contrast two coastal countries in the Southern Hemisphere. Type: You must specify the type for Essay questions. Enter the type code before the question number.

Question Number: A question number is always required. You can enter a period or a closing parenthesis after the number.

Answer Choices: Not applicable to essay questions.
Fill in the Blank - Basic Text Box Type: F 6) The primary colors are _____, yellow, and blue.
a. red    

Type: F 7. The color __1__ consists of primary, secondary, and __2__ colors.
a. wheel
b. tertiary    

Type: F 8) Two colors on opposite sides of the color wheel are called [a]. This combination provides a high contrast and high [b] color combination.
a. complementary
b. impact

Type: F 9. Saudi Arabia is bordered on the east by [a] and Oman.
a. United Arab Emirates | UAE		 Type: You must specify the type for Fill in the Blank questions. Enter the type code before the question number.

Question Number: A question number is always required. You can enter a period or a closing parenthesis after the number.

Question Stem: Fill in the Blank questions require special formatting to create the "blank space" in the question stem. For all Fill in the Blank questions, the "blank space" must be properly formatted, or the question will not be imported. You can indicate the blank(s) in various ways:
  • Five underscores
  • Number enclosed by two underscores on each side
  • Number, uppercase letter, or lowercase letter enclosed by square brackets
Answer Choice Format for Basic Text Box: When you format the Fill in the Blank answer choices as shown in these examples (at left), the exam-takers will see a Basic Text Box in which they can type freely. Identify the answer choice(s) with a lowercase letter, followed by a period. If you've created multiple blanks in the Question Stem, enter multiple answer choices, lettered a, b, c ,and so on. 

Note the use of the pipe character (|) in the final example. If the exam-taker enters either United Arab Emirates or UAE, the answer is correct.  
Fill in the Blank - 
Numeric Range		 Type: F 10. China's population is estimated to be _____ % of the total world population.
a. Range: 18.4_18.9		 Type, Question Number, and Question Stem: The formats are the same as for Fill in the Blank - Basic Text Box (above). For all Fill in the Blank options, pay close attention to the proper formatting for the "blank space" in the Question Stem (as described above).

Answer Choice format for Numeric Range: When you format the Fill in the Blank answer choice as shown in this example (at left), the exam-taker can type freely, as in the Basic Text Box option, but the response is handled differently. Any answer within the specified Numeric Range is correct. In this example, the exam-taker can enter any number from 18.4 to 18.9 and receive full credit for the question.

Be sure to get the syntax right.
  • Use the letter a, followed by a period, to indicate the answer choice.
  • Include the colon(:) after the word Range.
  • As shown in the example, enter the minimum value, followed by an underscore, and then enter the maximum value, without any spaces.
Fill in the Blank - Dropdown List Type: F 11. The _____ Ocean is the world's largest body of water.
a. Choice of: Pacific | Indian | Southern | Atlantic | Arctic | 1		 Type, Question Number, and Question Stem: The formats are the same as for Fill in the Blank - Basic Text Box (above). For all Fill in the Blank options, pay close attention to the proper formatting for the "blank space" in the Question Stem (as described above).

Answer Choice format for Dropdown List: When you format the Fill in the Blank answer choice as shown in this example (at left), the exam-taker can select a response from a Dropdown List rather than typing the answer. This approach prevents issues with typos and spelling errors.

Be sure to get the syntax right.
  • Use the letter a, followed by a period, to indicate the answer choice.
  • Include the colon(:) after the phrase Choice of. 
  • Enter the list items, separated by pipe characters (|). 
  • At the end of the list, enter a number indicating which item is the correct answer. In this example, the first item is correct, so the exam-maker has entered1at the end of the list.

Ordering Questions

 Type: ORDERING 12.

Drag and rearrange the following colors in alphabetical order.

a. Yellow --- 4
b. Orange --- 2
c. Green --- 1
d. Red --- 3
 Type: You must specify the type for Ordering questions. Enter the type code before the question number. This code enables the file parser to identify this question as an Ordering question.

Question Number: A question number is always required. You can enter a period or a closing parenthesis after the number.

Answer Choices: 
  • List the answer choices with lowercase or uppercase letters, a period, and the answer options. Insert three dashes followed by the order in which the answer should appear.

  • For this type of question, there is a partial credit option, which you can apply after you upload the import file. If you intend to use this option, we recommend that you include instructional text advising the exam-takers not to guess.
Matrix Questions Type: MTX Folder: Matrix Title: SYR-221012-MatrixTestNewAnswer-MR Title-Prompt: Prompts 13) SYR-221012-MatrixTestNewAnswer-MR
A) Orange --- 1,2
B) Green --- 2,3
C) Purple --- 1,3

1.- Red
2.- Yellow
3.- Blue		 Type: You must specify the type for Ordering questions. Enter the type code before the question number. This code enables the file parser to identify this question as a Matrix question.

Question Number: A question number is always required. You can enter a period or a closing parenthesis after the number.

Answer Choices: 
  • List the answer choices with lowercase or uppercase letters, a period, and the answer options. Insert three dashes followed by the order in which the answer should appear.

  • Include instructional text to help the exam-takers understand what to do in the Matrix interaction, including whether a single correct response is required or multiple correct responses are allowed.

  • You can list up to 26 prompts (rows), and between 2 and 5 answer choices (columns). Include text for the title row.

  • If you want the question type to allow Multiple Response, you can add multiple correct answers to one or more prompts separated by commas.

Note: For more examples, see the More Sample Questions section of this article.

Optional Question Components 

You can include optional components to place the question in a folder, specify a title, tag it with a category, add a rationale, or insert a comment.

Example

Type: MA Folder: Geography 101  Title: European Countries  Category: Countries/Europe  1. Which of the following countries are located in Europe?
~ Refer to the map of Europe in Ch. 2 of our textbook.
a. Angola
*b. Andorra
*c. Morocco
d. Monaco
@Many found that many exam-takers confuse similar-sounding place names.

 

Component Required? Notes
Folder Optional If you include this information, the question will be assigned to a folder during the import process. You can indicate a sub-folders by entering a forward slash (/) after the folder name. If the folder does not yet exist, the importer will create it. 

Place this information after the question type (if any) and before the question number.
Title Optional The question title is not shown to exam-takers. It is used to identify the question on various screens in your ExamSoft Portal. If no title is set, ExamSoft creates it by using the first 20 characters of the question stem. It can be helpful to center a short, descriptive title for your reference in ExamSoft. Place this information after the question type (if any) and before the question number. 

Place this information after the question type (if any) and before the question number.
Category Optional If you include this information, the question will be assigned to the specified category(ies) during the import process. To specify a sub-category, enter a forward slash (/). If there are multiple categories, separate them with commas.

Important: Be sure that the category is set up in ExamSoft before you do the import and that you type the category name exactly as it appears in ExamSoft. The import process will not create new categories or sub-categories.

Place this information after the question type (if any) and before the question number.
Rationale Optional It can be useful to include a rationale, either for your own reference or to share with students. (Students will see the rationale only if this option is selected when releasing the results.) Enter a tilde (~) and a space, and then enter the text of the rationale.

Place this information after the question stem and before the answer choices.
Answer Comments Optional Answer comments can be useful for reference when working with questions. This information is not shared with exam-takers. Add @ followed by a space, followed by the answer comment.

Place this information after the corresponding answer choice.

 

More Sample Questions

For more examples, download our sample RTF question file (RTF). (It will be downloaded immediately. Check your Downloads folder.)

 

Answer Key Alternative for Multiple Choice Questions

If your exam consists of only Multiple Choice questions, you can designate the correct answer choices by providing an answer key, rather than entering the asterisks in the answer choices. 

Example Exam with Answer Key

1. When using Examplify for a secure exam, exam-takers will have the ability to: a. set an alarm
b. listen to music
c. check their e-mail
d. search google

2. If backwards navigation is enabled, exam-takers can _____ their questions and come back to them. 
a. challenge
b. flag
c. mark
d. delete

Answers:
1. a
2. b  

 

Next Steps

After you prepare your question file, you can import it. See: Legacy Portal: Import Questions from an LMS or a Question File

 

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