Assessment Form: Questions

Managing questions in your Assessment Form

In the assessment form, the Questions tab provides an overview of all questions and sections to be delivered to the candidate.

Fixed vs random forms

For random forms, individual questions cannot be specified. Questions are selected automatically based on criteria such as the number of questions, difficulty level, Blueprint, and (planned for the future) Friends & enemies.

For fixed forms, individual items can be included or excluded. Drag and drop to set the question order (when the assessment option Randomise questions is not enabled).

To preview an item, click the preview icon to the right of the question.

Including items

Items set to appear in the assessment are called Included Items. At least one question must be included.

By default, items are included based on the options selected during form creation. Included items appear at the top of the list; excluded items appear at the bottom.

Excluding items

Items that should not appear in the assessment can be excluded.

Sections

Sections display questions, similar to regular items. Sections are primarily configured in the Library, but the following options are available within the assessment form:

1. Randomising Questions

Shuffles the order of questions within the section for each candidate.

2. Advanced Settings

Configure section-specific requirements:

• Time Restrictions: The maximum time a candidate has for this section.
• Introductory Text: Displays an introduction at the start of the section.
• Section Pass Mark: A specific score required to pass the section.
• Question Count Requirement: Specifies how many questions a candidate must answer.

See Sections for more information.

Assessment-Form Based Sections

The option to create Assessment-Form Based Sections is no longer available for new assessments as of 14 November 2023. Existing Assessment-Form Based Sections can still be modified.

Private notes

Collection-based sections vs assessment-form based sections

Cirrus offers two distinct types of sections. We recommend transitioning to collection-based sections for a more streamlined experience.

1. Collection-Based Sections:

• Creation and linking of questions (referred to as 'friends').

2. Assessment-Form Based Sections:

• Primary content including text and multimedia is curated in the Library as a regular item.
• Add relevant questions to the assessment form.
• Use the form button to select the section and move items into it. This assembly occurs at the form level only.

How to add an assessment-form based section

1. After creating the assessment form, open it and click Add Section to divide the assessment into blocks.
2. On clicking Add Section or the pencil icon, the Add Section page appears.
   • Select the section page to display on the left side of the candidate's screen.
   • Use the magnifying icon to preview section pages; use the ID for precise selection.
   • Click Save.
3. Go to the Select Questions tab.
   • Drag and drop items into the section.
   • To exclude items, drag them back to the available questions list.
   • Set fixed or randomised question order using the Randomise checkbox.
   • Filter by question text, item ID, or label.
   • Click Save and Close when done, or Save and proceed to the Options tab to set a timer.
4. Under the Options tab, sections can be made timed. Note that Assessment-Form Based Sections have fewer configuration options than Collection-Based Sections.

Note on section relationships: There is no built-in relationship between an assessment-based section and its questions. To help authors visualise connections:

• Use Item IDs (for example, Section xx corresponds to questions xx-1, xx-2).
• Apply labels to questions and sections for easier identification.
• Use both labels and Item IDs when searching on the question selection tab.

Forgotten to include an item

To add a new or forgotten question to the form, use the back button or click the assessment title in the breadcrumb to return to the question selection tab.

The form can also be reset and recreated from scratch by deleting it and adding a new one.

Note: if the assessment has already been published, create a new version.