Short Answer

A Short Answer question presents candidates with a single-line text input field. They type a brief response — a word, a phrase, a number written as text, or a short sentence. The response can be auto-graded using validation rules, evaluated by AI, or reviewed manually with a rubric.

Writing the Question

Start by writing your question prompt using the content editor. The editor supports rich content including images, tables, equations, and code blocks. You can also set the layout to sidebar to display reference material alongside the question. See Content Editor and Layout for details.

Validation Rules

Validation rules let you auto-grade Short Answer responses without manual review. The response is checked against one or more rules and the result determines the success rate.

• Exact match — the response must exactly match a specified string (case-sensitive or insensitive)
• Contains — the response must contain a specified substring
• Regular expression — the response must match a regex pattern, giving you full control over accepted formats (e.g. email addresses, codes, specific structures)

You can define multiple rules. Each rule contributes a percentage to the overall success rate, which is then multiplied by the question’s point multiplier to produce the final score. See Scoring — Multipliers & Dimensions for how the success rate translates to points.

Virtual Keyboard

For assessments where candidates need to type characters not easily available on standard keyboards — such as phonetic symbols, mathematical notation, or non-Latin scripts — you can enable an on-screen virtual keyboard. Candidates click keys on the virtual keyboard to insert characters into their response.

AI Evaluation

When validation rules are not enough — for example, when any reasonable paraphrase of an answer should be accepted — enable AI evaluation. You provide a grading prompt and the AI scores the candidate’s response automatically. See AI Evaluation for how to write effective grading prompts.

Rubric Scoring

For responses that require structured manual evaluation against multiple criteria, attach a rubric. A rubric breaks the assessment into named criteria, each scored independently. See Rubric Scoring for the four available rubric types.

Scoring

Set the question’s point value using the positive multiplier and optionally configure a negative multiplier for wrong answers. Assign dimensions to track competency scores in result reports. See Scoring — Multipliers & Dimensions.

Hint

Attach optional guidance candidates can reveal during the test. See Hint.

Answer Explanations

Add an explanation shown after submission. See Answer Explanations.

Folder & Tags

Assign a folder and tags before saving. See Folder & Tags.

Preview & Scoring Simulation

Use Preview to test the question and simulate how responses are scored. See Preview & Scoring Simulation.

Saving

Use Save to stay on the editor, Save & Close to return to the question bank, or Save & Add Another to immediately start a new question of the same type.