It is usually a good idea to construct a quiz using more than one question type, to provide more variety and challenge for the learner.

True / False questions

This type of question is usually only used for one try as the answer will be obvious after the first try. Filling up your quiz with true / false questions will make a very boring quiz and easy to pass at a second attempt 24 hours later. One True / False question per 5 questions is probably a better mix.

Select missing words questions

This type of question is used when a long piece of text has missing words which the learner needs to complete. It is used when there isn’t enough screen space for drag and drop words below the piece of text. The missing words option uses dropdown lists instead. This type of question is keyboard accessible using the tab key and up and down keys.

Drag and drop questions

Drag and drop into text is used for dropping missing words into spaces in a piece of text (in pre-defined gaps).

Drag and drop into an image can be used to label an image. 

Providing additional words in the list of words to drag and drop increases the difficulty for the learner.

Matching questions

The quiz author provides several questions and correct answers. The computer lays out the questions then shuffles the answers in a dropdown list. It is worthwhile adding extra answers as distractors to make the question more challenging.

Essay questions

In a quiz which is not going to be marked by a human, there is a limit on the type of question available, for example essay questions cannot be used. 

Pattern match questions

Pattern match questions can be used if short free-text learner responses match a response pattern. It can cope with misspellings, specification of synonyms and alternative phrases, flexible word order and can check on the proximity of words. The learner response needs to match against any number of response matching patterns – each pattern is compared with the learner response until a match is found so that feedback and marks can be assigned. So the key to using it is asking questions which can be marked accurately and it is strongly recommended to limit the response to 20 words maximum.

Pattern match can be used as an alternative to 'drag and drop' or 'select missing words' in a paragraph of text.

Multiple-choice questions

There is a skill involved in writing good multiple-choice questions to provide questions which expose learner misunderstanding of the materials. Use plausible distractors in questions, especially for multiple choice / multiple responses questions as learner response to the distractors can be used to provide remedial feedback which will help learners overcome their misunderstanding.

You need to offer more options of responses than the number of tries you are offering because if the quiz is set to ‘Interactive with multiple tries’ and you are providing hints, learners will have more than one opportunity to try a question in a quiz attempt and will eventually get the right answer without being fully tested on their understanding of the material.

It is helpful to provide hints or feedback for every try as well as for the completion of the question.

You can choose to have a penalty for each incorrect try if you wish (for example a deduction of 33.33% of the mark for each incorrect try). However, you also need to think about what the pass grade is for the whole quiz in relation to penalties, as the quiz could quickly become hard to pass if the pass grade is set very high (such as 80%).

You could use the OU multiple response question option rather than multiple-choice for multiple response questions. The OU multiple response questions option is an improvement on multiple choice in the way it marks the question. This is explained in more detail in Hands-on Moodle Quiz, however you need to enrol on the course to see the information about how it works.

Numeric questions

There are various numerical question types which are suited to scientific and mathematical quizzes. For example:

1. Numerical

2. Variable numeric

3. Variable numeric sets

4. Variable numeric sets with units

5. Combined

6. STACK.

For a demonstration of how these work, go to Questions requiring numeric responses quiz OLCreate: eAssessment@OU: Questions requiring numeric responses (open.edu) in eAssessment with Moodle.