Prepare Questions for Import with Aiken/Plain Text Format

Open Microsoft Word or another text editor to compose/collect your questions.

Whether you copy and paste or type your questions into the Word document, you will need to make sure you exactly follow the AIKEN format.

The AIKEN format:

• Question text: The question text should not include a number and should be followed by a single, line break.
• Choices: The choices should all be labeled with a capital letter “A, B, C, etc.” followed by a period and a single space (or tab) before the answer text begins.
• Answer: The word ANSWER should be typed in all caps followed by a colon (:), a space, and the letter of the correct choice. You will need to leave a blank line between the answer and the start of the next question.

NOTE: Formatting—such as font color, highlighting, and bold—will not transfer to the final file.

Example

Once you’ve finished entering and formatting your questions, save the file as a plain text document with UTF-8 encoding.

Click the File > Save As.

Choose where to save the file, or click Browse if you don’t see the folder listed.

Type the File name in the Save As dialog box.

From the Save as type drop-down menu, select Plain Text.

Click the Save button.

In the File conversion dialog box:

Select the Other encoding radio button.

Select Unicode (UTF-8) from the list of options.

Click the OK button.

Now you are ready to Import these questions into a question bank in Moodle.