Test elements

Creating multiple choice tests, drag&match tests, etc.

Apart from standard question-answer items, you can also create a variety of other tests such as:

• multiple choice tests
• spelling tests
• pronunciation tests
• drag&match tests
• point&click tests, and more

Tests which are easy to prepare

Multiple choice test

To create a multiple choice test do the following:

1. Create a couple of text components (question, correct answer and a couple of wrong answers)
2. On the component menu of the correct answer choose MCT and check the submenu item Correct
3. On the component menu of the wrong answer choose MCT : Wrong
4. Test the item by trying to click particular components. The correct response should be highlighted yellow, and you should get the correct or wrong response feedback (e.g. with custom sounds, etc.)

You can also quickly create multiple choice tests by using the Multiple Choice template (press Ctrl+Shift+M] and choose Multiple Choice to apply the template). Use Ctrl+T to switch between components while editing.

Pictures can also be used in multiple choice tests.

Spelling test

To create a spelling test, use a predefined template Spelling or simply place a Spell-Pad component in the element window and fill it out with the correct spelling (or with spelling variants separated by a slash, i.e. /). Press Esc to move to the presentation mode, and test the spelling by typing in the text in the spelling field and pressing Enter.

You can use more than one correct answer in a spelling test. For this purpose, simply separate all correct variants with a slash (i.e. /). Please remember that SuperMemo will accept the first match from the left and that it is important to consider that in determining the optimum sequence of variants.

Pronunciation test

To create a pronunciation test, use a predefined template called Pronunciation, or place a Sound component in the element window and check the Sound : Panel : Recorder option on the component menu. Link the correct pronunciation MP3 or WAV file by using File : Import file or Links : Registry member on the same menu. Your pronunciation test is ready. The user can now record himself by pressing the microphone button and play his own or the correct pronunciation by using blue and green play buttons respectively. Finally, he can erase his recording by pressing the Recycle bin button. All user recordings are kept in [TEMP] subfolder of the collection folder and can only be deleted with the recorder Recycle bin button. To clean all recordings, go to the [TEMP] subfolder and delete all sound files.

Pronunciation tests can be enhanced with phonetic transcription. For example, using an IPA font (available with a number of collections for learning English).

Tests which are more difficult to prepare

Creating Drag&Match and Point&Click exercises is more difficult and requires using scripts and the hit-area editor.

Point&Click test

An element used for the Point&Click test must contain an image component. The user is supposed to click the right place in the picture. This test may be used, for example, to click the described organ on an anatomical cross-section image. Another example is pointing to the recognized picture in a word recognition test. Here, the question can be a recording of the recognized word, and the test will require clicking the pictorial representation of the word.

To create Point&Click test, place a Script component in the element window (make sure it is the first playable component, e.g. by placing the script before placing all other components). To make sure that the script is run as you enter the element, check AutoPlay on the element menu. The script must contain the HITTEST command that will evoke Point&Click test, and all other components of the test if necessary (e.g. playing the question).

In the example below, the script plays the component with the question (component no 3) and calls the HITTEST command to execute the test. HITTEST says that the image component used in the test has the number 4, and that the coordinates of the correct selection area are [(387,10)(444,237)(546,229)(536,4)]

Note that these coordinates can be determined by means of Image : Edit hit-area on the image component menu (see below).

It is worth remembering that the numbers of components in an element can be displayed with the 123 button on the Compose toolbar. Alternatively, Compontents : Component order (Ctrl+Shift+O) on the element menu can be chosen for the same purpose.

Here is the script:

START 3
HITTEST 4 [(387,10)(444,237)(546,229)(536,4)]
WAITGRADE
GOTO 2

Commands WAITGRADE and GOTO 2 make sure that after the test (i.e. after the grade is given to the user), the script goes back to line 2 and makes it possible to resume the Point&Click test.

Drag&Match tests

Single Drag&Match test

This is a test for matching text components with hot spots in a single image component. The user is supposed to drag text components and drop them at appropriate places in the image component. Single Drag&Match is implemented with a DRAGMATCH script command.

For example, let us imagine an exercise in which the user is to drag text components numbered 5, 6, 7 and 8 to appropriate hot spots on the image component number 2. Let us now assume that the hot spot for dragging the text number 5 is delimited by a rectangle having the following coordinates: (123,315,264,357). By analogy, components 6, 7 and 8 also have their own hot spot rectangle coordinates. The following script might do what is needed in this exercise:

DRAGTEXTMODE TRANSPARENT
SHOW 5
SHOW 6
SHOW 7
SHOW 8
DRAGMATCH 2 [5,6,7,8] [(123,315,264,357)(34,37,64,77)(43,37,58,177)(21,25,53,37)]
WAITGRADE
GOTO 2

In the above script:

• DRAGTEXTMODE makes sure that texts are transparently displayed on the image upon dropping
• The SHOW commands will redisplay all text components after executing GOTO 2 (dragging will make the components invisible)
• DRAGMATCH will define the appropriate relationships between text components and hot spot rectangles in the image component number 2
• WAITGRADE will suspend the execution of the script until all texts are dragged into appropriate places or until the first mistake is made by the user.
• Finally, GOTO 2 will allow repeated execution of the exercise until satisfactory performance.

To simplify determining the correct rectangle coordinates, you can use Image : Edit hit-area on the image component menu. This command is described below.

Multiple Drag&Match test

This is a test for matching text components with a number of image components. The user is supposed to drag the text components to appropriate image components. Multiple Drag&Match is also implemented with a DRAGMATCH script command. This time its syntax differs slightly. There is no image argument. Instead, a list of images is used to match a list of text components.

For example, let us imagine an exercise in which the user is supposed to drag text components numbered 2, 3, 4 and 5 to image components numbered 6, 8, 7, and 9. Those two lists of components will form the two arguments of the multiple DRAGMATCH script command. Again DRAGTEXTMODE determines if the texts erase the background or are displayed transparently:

DRAGTEXTMODE OPAQUE
SHOW 2
SHOW 3
SHOW 4
SHOW 5
DRAGMATCH [2,3,4,5] [6,8,7,9]
WAITGRADE
GOTO 2

The behavior of the above script is analogous to the behavior of the script described in the previous section devoted to single DRAGMATCH command.

Hit-Area Editor

Hit-Area Editor is used to easily determine the coordinates of image hot spots for HITTEST script command and for single DRAGMATCH script command. Currently, the editor supports only the BMP file format (i.e. you cannot use the editor with JPG, GIF or PNG images). If you are concerned with the space used up by BMP files, create the HITTEST script first and compress the image later. Images pasted from the clipboard are always compressed.

To use Hit-Area Editor follow the steps listed below:

1. Close the Script Editor if you are in the middle of writing a script
2. Right click the image whose hot spots you want to edit
3. Choose Image : Edit hit-area on the component menu
4. At the bottom of the Hit Area Editor choose the command for which editing is to be used: HitTest or DragMatch
5. For DragMatch exercise, click in turn top-left and bottom-right corners of rectangles describing the hot spots (you can create up to ten rectangles)
6. For HitTest exercise, click in turn all corners of the hot spot area (the area cannot be more than pentagonal, i.e. you should click no more than five points)
7. If you make a mistake, you can clean the editing area by choosing Clear
8. After you are done with editing, click Copy to move the edited coordinates to clipboard
9. Now you can close Hit-Area Editor and return to Script Editor
10. Place the cursor in the appropriate place of the DRAGMATCH or HITTEST command and paste the coordinates from the clipboard (e.g. with Shift+Ins or Ctrl+V)

Further reading

FAQ: Collection authoring