Embedded answer (Cloze) quiz question

Embedded Cloze questions are used to combine different question types into one question (such as multiple choice, missing words, short answer, numerical, etc.).

Questions are added using specific code or question text formats. The Totara Academy has a useful resource providing a list of the text formats for each question type.

Cloze question types

The following question types are available to add in an Embedded answer (Cloze) quiz question.

Formatting

Let's look at an example question to see how to format a Cloze question:

The capital city of New Zealand is {1:MULTICHOICE:Auckland#Wrong!~Christchurch#That's not right.~=Wellington#That's right!}

This subquestion is made up of the following features:

• Each Cloze subquestion in contained within curly brackets: { }
• The first number inside the curly brackets indicates the grade for this subquestion. In this example a correct answer gives a score of 1. You can use this value to give each subquestion a different weighting. Note that this number must be a positive integer.
• Next the code between two colons defines the question type. In this example, :MULTICHOICE: means this is a multiple choice question with options displayed in a dropdown list.
• Answers are separated by the tilde symbol: ~
• The correct answer is marked with the equals symbol: =
• After each answer you can optionally add specific feedback with the hash symbol: #

Examples

Multiple choice question

Here is an example of a multiple choice question:

The American flag is red, white and {1:MULTICHOICE:black~=blue~yellow}

Short answer question

Here is an example of a short answer question:

The capital of Japan is {1:SHORTANSWER:%100%Tokyo#That's right!}

Instead of an equals sign, the correct answer in this example is denoted with %100%, which indicates that this answer is worth 100% of the grade. You can add additional answers with different weightings if you wanted to provide partial credit for other answers.

The capital of Japan is {1:SHORTANSWER:%100%Tokyo#That's right!~%25%Kyoto#Kyoto was the capital until 1868}

In this example a user answering 'Kyoto' would receive a score of 0.25 (25% of 1), while a user answering 'Tokyo' would receive a score of 1.

Numerical question

Here is an example of a numeric question:

A hexagon has {1:NUMERICAL:%100%6} sides

In this example, users must answer '6' exactly, and any other answer would receive a score of 0. However, you can also include a range/interval so that users' answers can be will be marked as correct provided they are within the specified range of the correct answer, e.g.:

The value of pi is approximately {2:NUMERICAL:%100%3.14159:0.01~%50%3.14159:0.02}

In this example, a more precise answer will achieve a higher score. The number after the colon for each answer represents the accepted error. For full marks, the user's answer could be 0.01 above or below the specified answer, i.e. between 3.13159 and 3.15159. A less precise answer between 3.12159 and 3.16159 would still receive a score of 1 (50% of 2, the grade for the subquestion).