Before an exam can be published, it must first be composed.
During composition, PrimeExam determines how many forms of the exam will be created and whether questions and answer choices will be shuffled.
Composition also allows you to configure answer key options and several publishing settings that affect the appearance of the finished exam.
After composition is complete, the exam is ready to be published.
See Exam Publishing.
The Composition Process
Exam preparation consists of two stages:
- Compose the exam.
- Publish the composed exam.
Composition determines the logical structure of the published exam.
Publishing generates the HTML and PDF files.
Opening the Compose Tab
To compose an exam:
- Open the Exam Editor window.
- Select the exam you wish to publish.
- Select the Compose tab.
The Compose page contains several groups of options.
Exam Composition
The first section determines how the published exam will be generated.
Number of Forms
Specify how many forms of the exam should be created.
Each form contains the same questions but may differ in question order, answer choice order, or both.
Generating multiple forms is useful when administering exams to large groups of students.
Shuffle Questions
Enable Shuffle Questions to randomly change the order of questions for each generated form.
Question shuffling helps reduce opportunities for students to copy answers from nearby students.
Shuffle Choices
Enable Shuffle Choices to randomly change the order of answer choices for Multiple Choice questions.
PrimeExam automatically updates the answer keys to reflect the shuffled choice order.
Answer Key Options
The Keys section controls the appearance of the generated answer keys.
Separate Answer Keys
PrimeExam generates a separate answer key for each exam form.
Each answer key corresponds to the question and choice order used for that form.
Include Stem Text
Enable Include Stem Text to include the question stem in each answer key.
This makes answer keys easier to read without referring back to the exam.
Include Choice Text
Enable Include Choice Text to include the complete answer choice text rather than only the correct answer letter.
This option is particularly useful when reviewing or grading exams.
Combined Keys
PrimeExam also generates a combined answer key containing the answers for every generated form.
Enable Combined Include Choice Text to include the full answer choice text in this combined document.
Miscellaneous Options
The Miscellaneous section controls additional publishing features.
Header
Enable Header to display a header at the top of every published page.
In the current version of PrimeExam, the header contains:
- Exam name
- Form name
Future versions will allow fully customizable headers.
Draw Answer Box
Questions of the following types include an answer area:
- Fill-In
- Short Answer
- Essay
Enable Draw Answer Box to draw a rectangular border around the answer area.
If this option is disabled, the answer area remains blank without a visible border.
Composing the Exam
After selecting the desired options:
- Review the composition settings.
- Click Compose.
PrimeExam prepares the specified number of exam forms using the selected options.
Composition does not generate the final HTML or PDF files.
Instead, it prepares the exam for the publishing stage.
Publishing the Exam
Once composition has completed successfully, continue to the publishing stage.
Publishing generates the HTML and PDF files for the composed exam.
For more information, see Exam Publishing.
Best Practices
When composing an exam:
- Generate multiple forms when administering exams to large classes.
- Enable question and answer choice shuffling whenever appropriate.
- Include question stems and answer choices in answer keys when they will be used for grading or review.
- Review the composition settings before publishing to ensure the desired options have been selected.