Tests and scoring

A test is a lesson that is scored. You set the questions and the points, Zunderwork marks every attempt, and the learner cannot continue until they pass.

#Making a lesson a test

When you add a lesson, choose Test as its type. It is then built the same way as any other lesson, out of blocks, except that the test blocks in it count towards a score.

You can mix in ordinary content, though a test lesson offers a deliberately short list of it: headings, text, images, a column layout and info callouts. An explanation or a reminder of the rules before the questions start is often better than a bare list of questions.

#The question types

• Multiple choice, with one correct answer or several.
• True or false.
• Text input, where you list the answers you accept.
• Numeric answer, including a band of acceptable values rather than one exact number.
• Fill in the blanks, where the learner types the missing words or drags them from a word bank.
• Matching pairs, joining prompts to answers.
• Ordering, putting steps into the right sequence.
• Sort into buckets, dividing items across categories.
• Hotspot, clicking the right place on an image.

The last few are worth reaching for when a written answer would not prove much. Ordering a set of steps or pointing at the right control on a photo of a machine tests something a multiple choice question cannot.

#Points and passing

Every question carries points, and you decide how many. A question that matters can be worth more than one that does not.

The test itself has a Passing score: the minimum total needed to pass, shown against the total available. Someone who reaches it passes; someone who does not, fails.

Several question types also support partial credit. You set a threshold, for example four of six pairs matched correctly, and award points when the learner reaches it. This is fairer on questions with many parts, where an all-or-nothing score punishes a single slip as harshly as not knowing the material.

#Retries

Allow retries decides what happens after a failed attempt. Leave it on and the learner can try again. Turn it off and they get one attempt only.

Be careful with switching it off. A learner who fails a single-attempt test cannot complete the lesson, and therefore cannot finish the course, and the only way out is for an administrator to intervene.

#Shuffling

Several question types can shuffle themselves: the order of options, of prompts and answers in matching pairs, of items in an ordering question, of the words in a word bank. Shuffling makes it harder to pass a test by remembering the shape of the previous attempt, and it costs you nothing to switch on.

#What the learner sees

The learner answers, submits, and gets their result immediately, including which questions they got right. Their score, the passing score at that moment, and their answers are all recorded.

A test lesson only counts as completed once it has been passed. Until then the course cannot be finished, which is the whole point: a certificate for a course with a test means the test was passed.