How to make a quiz or test from a text (with an answer key)

Where do you start when making a test from a text?

Start with the goal, not the questions. Before writing anything, answer in one sentence what a student who understood the text should know or be able to do. That sentence decides which parts of the text deserve a question and which do not.

With the goal in mind, read the text and mark the key ideas. A key idea is something students need for that goal: a concept, a cause and effect, a procedure, a comparison. Isolated details, like a date or a name that never comes up again, rarely deserve a question.

• A short reading of one or two pages usually supports 5 to 10 good questions.
• A full handout or unit can support 15 or 20, spread across all its sections.
• If a section has no questions at all, ask yourself whether it really did not matter or whether you missed it.

Which question types should you use?

It depends on what you want to measure. In practice, mixing types works best: closed questions cover a lot of content quickly and are fast to grade, while open questions show whether students understand and can explain.

A common mix is roughly half multiple choice, a quarter true/false and a quarter open-ended. It is not a rule: for a short reading check you may prefer only open questions, and for a quick vocabulary quiz, only multiple choice.

How do you write a good multiple choice question?

A good multiple choice question can be answered without looking at the options if the student knows the material. If the stem makes no sense without reading the options, it is incomplete.

1. A clear, complete stem. One idea per question, no double negatives.
2. Exactly one correct answer. If two options can be defended, expect complaints.
3. Believable distractors. Wrong options should reflect real student mistakes, not absurd statements.
4. Options of similar length and form. The correct answer should not always be the longest or most precise.
5. Avoid “all of the above” and “none of the above”. They tend to reward test-taking strategy rather than knowledge.
6. Vary the position of the correct answer. If it is always C, someone will notice.

Write the correct answer in the key the moment you write the question. If you struggle to decide which one it is, the question is ambiguous and should be rewritten.

What about true/false and open-ended questions?

For true/false, each statement must be entirely true or entirely false. A sentence that is half true and half false confuses students and measures attention, not understanding. Use roughly as many true statements as false ones.

For open-ended questions, the real work is in the key. Before giving the test, write the expected answer and what it must include for full, partial and minimal credit. That way you grade the first and the last paper the same way.

• Full credit: the answer has every expected element and connects them correctly.
• Partial credit: it has some of the elements or mentions them without explaining.
• No credit: it does not answer the question or contradicts the material.

How can AI help you make a test from your material?

AI is good at the draft: reading all of your material, proposing questions that cover it and writing the key at the same time. What it cannot know is what you covered in class, what your students struggle with or what you want to emphasize. So the output is a starting point, not the final test.

With Create a test you upload your handout, notes or slides, choose the question type, how many questions and the level, and get the test and its answer key separately. Each question shows where its answer appears in your material, so you can check it quickly.

When reviewing an AI-generated draft, pay special attention to these points:

• The answer is in the material. If a question asks about something your students never saw, delete it.
• There is exactly one correct answer in every multiple choice question.
• No question repeats another in different words.
• The level fits your class. Adjust the vocabulary if needed.

What do you do with the answer key after the test?

The key you wrote with the test is the same one you grade with. If you have it as a file, you can upload it with each student's answers to Grade tests and get a proposed score and feedback for each question, which you review and confirm.

After grading, note which questions most of the class got wrong. Sometimes the problem is the content, which is worth teaching again. Other times it is the question, which was poorly written and should be fixed before you use it again.

Summary: a test in five steps

1. Define in one sentence what students should be able to show.
2. Mark the key ideas in the text, spread across all its sections.
3. Choose the mix of question types based on what you want to measure.
4. Write each question together with its answer and points in the key.
5. Read the whole test as if you were a student: is it clear? Is there only one correct answer?