MCQ Advanced
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QUIZZES FOR TEACHING · FREE SOFTWARE · IN DEVELOPMENT
MCQ Advanced helps teachers write good questions, runs the exam with no account and no server, then tells the class what to revisit, topic by topic. It is the rewrite of a tool already used in class.
Follow the project on GitHubFree software · GPL-3.0 · no download yet
What does list.Count return on an empty list?
Suspicious length One distractor is three times longer than the others: students quickly learn that the most detailed answer is often the right one, or else the bait. Shorten it or balance the options.
01 · THE EDITOR
A quiz is written as plain text, by hand or from a draft generated by an AI, and a visual editor works on that same file.
Like a spell checker, but for question writing: longest answer, right answer always in the same place, negative stem, "all of the above", near-duplicate questions. Every rule comes from the research on writing multiple-choice items.
One explanation per option, wrong ones included: students understand why their choice was wrong, not only that it was.
Global, per-question or no time limit, extra time for students who need it, penalties, partial credit, a random draw of N questions out of M, an introduction text, the correction shown at the end or not.
Optionally, students say how sure they are: a confident mistake costs more than a cautious one. A method proven in medical schools, which also measures what students know about their own knowledge.
Import from Moodle (GIFT, Moodle XML) and Aiken, export to Moodle XML and QTI 2.1: nothing is locked in.
A quiz is a text file you can reread, compare and keep in Git, from one year to the next.
02 · THE EXAM AND AFTER
The code is public: protection rests on keys alone, with standard cryptography and a page that says plainly what is guaranteed and what is not.
The quiz is signed and encrypted. It opens with a code given when the exam starts, generated automatically or chosen by the teacher.
The answer key is encrypted separately: it stays out of reach during the exam and opens only once the answers are sealed.
Each student gets their own draw and order. Leaving the window is logged and reported to the teacher, never hidden from the student.
In the browser first, phones included, and it works offline once loaded. A desktop version will follow.
No student account, no server, no usage tracking: answers go from the student's device to the teacher's, and nowhere else.
Mastery per topic for each student and for the class, questions that are too easy or misleading, shared misconceptions, spreadsheet export.
03 · QUESTIONS
There is no date yet. The project is at the design stage: the GitHub repository shows where it stands.
Yes, and free software under the GPL-3.0: anyone can read the code, check it and improve it.
They cannot read the quiz before the code, nor the answer key during the exam, nor change their answers after handing them in. During the exam the quiz is on their screen: a photo remains possible, as on paper. Without a server, the real duration is not guaranteed, only measured and reported.
Moodle needs a server and accounts; Google Forms collects data and analyses neither the questions nor the results. Neither helps you write a better quiz. MCQ Advanced will import and export Moodle questions.