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
- Overview of Requirements
- Required Order
- Example Questions with Required Components
- Optional Question Components
- More Sample Questions
- Answer Key Alternative for Multiple Choice Questions
Before You Begin
If you want to use questions from your LMS, you must first export them.
- Blackboard: Export Test Pools from Blackboard
- Canvas: Export Questions from Canvas
- D2L: Export Questions from D2L
- Elsevier (Evolve): Export Test Banks from Elsevier (Evolve)
- ExamView: Export Questions from ExamView
- Moodle: Moodle: Export Questions
- PARtest: Export Item Banks from PARtest
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
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
- Type
- Question Number
- Question Stem
- 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
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:
|
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:
|
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:
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:
|
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:
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.
|
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.
|
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:
|
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:
|
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