Fill in the blank

You can create Fill in the Blank (FITB) questions in Cirrus. Simply go to your Library, create or select a collection and click ‘+ Add’ or use the drop-down arrow to select this question type. You will be presented with the screen below.

The Fill in the Blanks question type requires the candidate to fill in a blank. This may be a missing word from a sentence, or the answer to an acronym as in the example below.

Enter the Title

Write down your Item title here. This is for internal use only; this title will be visible in your Library and further in the process. This title is not visible for candidates taking their exam.

Enter the question

Click inside the text box to enter (or edit) your question. Use the text editor for a range of text editing options.

For example: ‘There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management's goals and objectives. What does S.M.A.R.T. stand for in our syllabus?’

Enter the answer

Enter the answer text into the answer box. Highlight any text you want to blank and click the ‘+Create Blank’ button – In the same way as when creating a Select from List question.

Once you have added the blank, the highlighted word(s) will be replaced with a highlighted number in brackets. The highlighted words will appear under ‘Blanked words’ below the answer box. This will be the correct answer that the candidate must type into the blank when answering the question.

If needed, you can add accepted alternatives in the ‘Correct alternatives’-box. Separate multiple alternatives with commas.

To delete a blanked out word, click ‘Remove’ at the end of the row. 

To edit the blanked out word, hover over and click on it.

Case-sensitive

You have the option to ensure that the correct answer is case-sensitive. Tick the box to apply this option.

Spelling tolerance

Set a spelling tolerance by setting a number in 'spelling error' number. This number is based on the Levenshtein-Algorithm. Based on this tolerance, candidates can make spelling errors, but the answer can still be counted as the correct answer.

Set maximum score for this question

You will also have to set a maximum score for the question. Simply enter a number into the box.

Scoring type

This Item type uses Dichotomous scoring by default. Polytomous scoring can be selected - see our article on 'Polytomous scoring rules'.

Save, close, preview & cancel

• Click the ‘Save’ button to save the item.
• Click ‘Save and Close’ if you wish to return to your collection overview.
• You can use the ‘Preview’ button to see what the question will look like to the candidate and make sure that the correct answer receives the correct marks.
• Hit 'Cancel' to exit the question editor. You will be see a warning about saving the page, otherwise your data will get lost.

Specific options

There are no specific options available for this question.

Each Item does has some general Item Options. Click here to learn more about these options.