Multiple Choice – SchoolCity

This lesson provides step-by-step guidance on creating a Multiple Choice item in the Item Bank. This item type requires students to choose one correct answer from several answer choices. This question type can be administered online or on paper, does not offer partial scoring, and is automatically scored.

Before You Begin

This lesson begins assuming that users have the permissions to create new Item Bank items, and are familiar with the item creation process. To learn more about creating Item Bank items, take a look at the Create Items article.

Create Multiple Choice Item

An example Multiple Choice item creation screen, with Item Type labeled as step 1, Link Passage labeled as step 2, Include Teacher Instructions labeled as step 3, Question labeled as step 4, Total Possible Points labeled as step 5, # of Choices labeled as step 6, Type of Choices labeled as step 7, Answer Choice Format labeled as step 8, Lock Choices Order labeled as step 9, Include Rationale labeled as step 10, the Answer Choices column labeled as step 11, the Answers labeled as step 12, Rationale labeled as step 13, the trashcan icons labeled as step 14, Add Choice labeled as step 15, Include Answer Hint labeled as step 16, and the Save and Next buttons labeled as step 17.

Select the Multiple Choice item type.
(Optional) Choose one or more passages by selecting Link Passage.
- Passages must be published and located in the same Work Space to be available for linking.
Use the slider to determine if the item should Include Teacher Instructions.
- If the slider is set to Yes, enter teacher instructions into the text box.
Enter the Question in the text box.
- The Question may also include audio, video, images, equations, or tables, as shown in the CKEditor formatting tools. Take a look at CKEditor Formatting Tools for Staff Users for more details.
Enter the Total Possible Points students can earn for the item.
Select the # of Choices that students must choose the correct answer from, with a minimum of two and a maximum of nine.
Select the desired Type of Choices, letters or numbers.
Select the desired Answer Choice Format, Horizontal, Vertical, Stacked Horizontal, or Stacked Vertical.
Use the slider to Lock Choices Order to prevent answer choices from being randomized during online testing.
Use the slider to Include Rationale, if desired.
Select the correct answer under the Answer Choices column.
Enter the choices students can choose from, including the correct answer, under the Answer column.
If Rationale was enabled, enter Rationale for each answer choice.
Select the trashcan icon to delete an answer choice row.
Select Add Choice to add an answer choice row.
Use the slider to Include Answer Hint, if desired.
- If the slider is set to Yes, enter an Answer Hint into the text box.
Select Save to save the item progress, or select Next to save and continue to the next step.

Next Steps

To learn more about creating different item types, take a look at the other articles in the Item Types manual.