Random Question Block Specification

Owned by Neill Magill
Oct 25, 2022
2 min read

Purpose

Random question blocks select a question from a predefined pool of questions.  They do not select a question at random from the bank.  This means, that unlike the Keyword-Based question type, that random question blocks are predictable within a certain range of questions.

Pre-Exam

The only section the screen presents is the Question screen.  The setter provides a title and a set of questions.  The Questions field is a list of questions with checkboxes to allow inclusion.  Clicking the Add Questions button shows the following Questions Bank dialog:

You can locate questions using the following criteria

  • My Unused questions:  shows all questions that have not been used on any paper
  • All My Questions: All the questions you own
  • By Keywords: All you personal keywords and keywords for modules for which you are a member
  • By Status: Shows a list of folders that collect questions by status:  Normal, Incomplete, Beta, Retired or Experimental
  • By Paper: Lists papers by both type and team, and allows drilling down to individual papers
  • By Team:  Lists teams and allows drilling down to papers
  • Search: Free text search, allows specification or paper type and/or owner.

Once a question has been located, you tick its checkbox and click Add Questions to add it to the random question block.

The question appears in the question list for the paper:

Note the warning symbol:  this is indicating that the random block's marks will vary between invocations.  

During the Exam

Warning

During the examination, if the student presses F5 before the question has been saved, the screen will refresh and a different question could be shown. This is one reason among many why reason random question blocks should not be used in summative assessments.

The block will present one question at random from the pool.  The student will be unaware that the question has been chosen randomly.

Post Exam

Marking proceeds as per the type of the question randomly selected.

Note

All the questions in a random block should have the same number of marks, otherwise reporting becomes unpredictable and inconsistent.