Creating Tests and Quizzes

[Tasha_Dunaway]

What simple techniques have you found effective in creating Tests and Quizzes in Mathematica?

[Bruce_Torrence]

I think the big advantage in using Mathematica for tests and quizzes is the ability to produce graphics. One can double-click the output cell to hide the input code. This makes it a snap to edit the input at a later date to produce a slightly different version (e.g. for a make-up test). There are a few keyboard shortcuts that are also really helpful. For instance, option-return will create a new cell of the same type as the current cell -- terrific for starting a new text paragraph -- and of course, control-9 for typing inline mathematics. I use a stylesheet with "exercise" and "exercisePart" cell styles. These create cells with automatic numbering and indenting. So you can move them around (e.g. to get the page breaks right) and the numbering is always correct.

[James_Hill]

Yeah, I think making a standard stylesheet would be the way to go, then your format is set and both you and the students ae more comfortable. So, I am on my way to making a stylesheet. Thanks for your question.

[Adam_Caudell]

I came across a demonstration that had code for a quiz generator, but cannot find it now. Does anyone have a template that they can share that is used to generate multiple versions of tests and quizzes?

[Kathy_Bautista]

I came across a demonstration that had code for a quiz generator, but cannot find it now. Does anyone have a template that they can share that is used to generate multiple versions of tests and quizzes?

Hi Adam,

Is this the Demonstration you had seen previously?
http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/AlgebraQuiz/

Simply click on "Download Source Code Notebook" to download the associated Mathematica notebook, and then you'll be able to customize it for your own classes.

If anyone else has created quizzes or tests in Mathematica and would like to share your template, please post a link.

-Kathy

[Andrew_Bayliss]

The code below is a question generator that I have been working on. It creates a graph of a line with two points clearly defined, and asks the student to identify the equation of the line in standard form. It is a multiple choice question where I have defined six possible wrong answers, and randomly grabs three of them. The code makes certain that there shouldn't be any duplicates in the answer set. I also had a hard time making sure +1, or -1 did not show up as a coefficient. In addition there are no double signs in front of the y-variable. The only things I haven't done so far is to identify which is the correct answer, even though I know it is there, and then I would like to include code to write the question & answer to two different notebooks in order to generate a quiz.

Code: Select all

x1=RandomInteger[{-9,9}];
y1=RandomInteger[{-9,9}];
x2=RandomInteger[{-9,9}];
y2=RandomInteger[{-9,9}];
marks=Table[j,{j,-10,10,1}];
If[x1==x2,x1=-9+RandomInteger[{1,4}];x2=RandomInteger[{1,4}]];
If[y1==y2,y1=-9+RandomInteger[{1,4}];y2=RandomInteger[{1,4}]];
mtop=y2-y1;
mbot=x2-x1;
g=GCD[Abs[mtop],Abs[mbot]];
mtop=mtop/g;
mbot=mbot/g;
m=mtop/mbot;
WrongChoices=Complement[{{mtop,-mbot,mtop x2-mbot y2},{mtop,mbot,mtop x2+mbot y2},{mtop,mbot,-(mtop x2-mbot y2)},{mtop,-mbot,-(mtop x2-mbot y2)},{mbot,mtop,mtop x2-mbot y2},{mbot,-mtop,mtop x2-mbot y2},{mbot,mtop,-(mtop x2-mbot y2)},{mbot,-mtop,-(mtop x2-mbot y2)},{mbot,mtop,mtop y2-mbot x2}},{mtop,mbot,mtop x2-mbot y2}];
Ch=Permutations[WrongChoices][[RandomInteger[{1,Length[Permutations[WrongChoices]]}]]];
f[x_]:=m x-m x2+y2;
FormattedAns={StringForm["`` x `` `` y = ``",mtop/.{1->"",-1->"-"},Positive[mbot]/.{True->"+",False->"-"},Abs[mbot]/.{1->"",-1->""},mtop x2-mbot y2],StringForm["`` x `` `` y = ``",Ch[[1,1]]/.{1->"",-1->"-"},Positive[Ch[[1,2]]]/.{True->"+",False->"-"},Abs[Ch[[1,2]]]/.{1->"",-1->""},Ch[[1,3]]],StringForm["`` x `` `` y = ``",Ch[[2,1]]/.{1->"",-1->"-"},Positive[Ch[[2,2]]]/.{True->"+",False->"-"},Abs[Ch[[2,2]]]/.{1->"",-1->""},Ch[[2,3]]],StringForm["`` x `` `` y = ``",Ch[[3,1]]/.{1->"",-1->"-"},Positive[Ch[[3,2]]]/.{True->"+",False->"-"},Abs[Ch[[3,2]]]/.{1->"",-1->""},Ch[[3,3]]]};
Choices=Permutations[FormattedAns][[RandomInteger[{1,Length[Permutations[FormattedAns]]}]]];
P=Plot[f[x],{x,-10,10},PlotRange->{-10,10},GridLines->{marks,marks},FrameTicks->{marks,marks,{},{}},
ImageSize->300,Frame->True];
P1=Graphics[{PointSize[.03],Point[{x1,y1}]}];
P2=Graphics[{PointSize[.03],Point[{x2,y2}]}];
L1=Graphics[{Thickness[.01],Line[{{0,-10},{0,10}}]}];
L2=Graphics[{Thickness[.01],Line[{{-10,0},{10,0}}]}];
DisplayForm[Grid[{{"1.) Find the equation of the line in standard form that passes through the given points and represents the line on the graph below.",SpanFromLeft},{Item[Show[P,P1,P2,L1,L2],Alignment->Center],SpanFromLeft},{StringForm["a.] `` ",Choices[[1]]],StringForm["b.] `` ",Choices[[2]]],StringForm["c.] `` ",Choices[[3]]],StringForm["d.] `` ",Choices[[4]]]}},Alignment->{Left},Spacings->{3,3},ItemSize->13]]

I don't know if you can copy the code and try it, but maybe let me know what you think. Are there any ways I could improve it? A fellow teacher and I are going to be working on making more questions, if any of you have good linear questions, send them to me, & I will see if I can program it.

[Tom_DeVries]

Hi, when I create tests and quizzes this way, I first create one file with the question and answer, then delete the answer cells to create the questions file (for the student). That way, once I grade the test, I can send the student a "complete" file with question, solution, and my comments.

When creating questions, each part of the answer will be created with a cell tag. It's easy, once a test is formed, to search for those cells and delete them.

You can automate this process so Mathematica does the work of assembling a test with a particular "version" number, saving the complete file, deleting the answers, saving it again as a questions only file, then repeat for the number of versions of the test you want.

When creating multiple choice questions, I create the responses, and you can use permutations to scramble these but always know which one is correct.
This works really well if the order of the responses is not critical to the question.

Sorry, I could elaborate more if anyone is interested..

permlist = Permutations[{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}];
num = RandomInteger[{1, 120}];
letteranswer =
Extract[{"A", "B", "C", "D", "E"}, Position[permlist[[num]], 1]][[
1]];


I know this kind of sharing be very difficult to do, but I would be very interested in collaborating with other teachers who are using Mathematica in this way to create "generated" tests. As teachers, we all work too hard doing things on our own, it would be great to share the load and broaden our reach without adding more prep time! It would be good encouragement for me to document some of the things I have done, if it meant being able to work together to with other teachers to improve my testing procedures.

Sincerely, Tom De Vries