Exam question template — step-by-step guide
This is the exact format the exam creation form expects when you upload a questions-and-answers file, instead of adding rows one at a time in the browser.
1. Download the template
On the Exams page, click Download the
template (.csv) above the file upload field, or grab it directly
at templates/exam-questions-template.csv. It already
contains a header row and a few worked examples — open it and you'll see
exactly what a valid file looks like before you change anything.
2. The three columns, exactly as required
| Column | Required? | Accepted values |
|---|---|---|
question_text | Always | Any text — the question itself. |
type | Always | Exactly one of: mcq, true_false, short_answer (lowercase, no spaces). |
answer | Required for mcq/true_false; blank for short_answer | The exact correct answer. |
answer: for mcq
and true_false, a student's submitted answer is compared to
this column as plain text, ignoring case and leading/trailing spaces —
so Paris, paris, and Paris
all count as correct, but Paris, France would not match.
For true_false, use the literal words true or
false. short_answer rows are never
auto-scored — the host reviews these manually on the results page.
The template intentionally has only these three columns.
Extra columns (e.g. multiple-choice options like A/B/C/D) aren't read by
the system yet — write the correct option's full text directly into
answer, and put the options themselves inside
question_text if you want students to see them (e.g.
"Which is the capital of France? A) London B) Paris C) Rome — type
your answer").
3. Filling it in
Excel or Google Sheets
Open the .csv file directly, edit like a normal
spreadsheet, and when saving choose CSV (Comma delimited)
or CSV UTF-8 as the file type — not .xlsx,
since the system only reads .csv. UTF-8 is safer if any
question text uses non-English characters.
Notepad / any plain text editor
Write each question as one line, values separated by commas, matching the header order exactly:
question_text,type,answer
What is 7 x 8?,mcq,56
Water is a compound.,true_false,true
Describe Newton's second law.,short_answer,If a question or answer contains a comma, wrap that whole field in double quotes so it isn't mistaken for a column break:
question_text,type,answer
"Which of these are prime numbers: 2, 3, 4?",short_answer,Keep the header row as the very first line — don't delete, rename, or reorder it.
4. Uploading it back
On the exam creation form, click Browse under
"Questions and answer key" and select your saved .csv file.
You do not also need to fill in the manual question rows
— if a file is uploaded, it's used as the complete question set and any
rows added by hand are ignored entirely. Prefer to build the exam
entirely by hand instead? Just skip the file and use the "Add question"
rows as before.
5. If the file has a mistake
The system checks the file on the server and rejects it with a specific message rather than silently dropping bad rows:
- Missing/misnamed header → "Template file must have columns named exactly: question_text, type, answer."
- Invalid
typevalue → "Row 4: type must be exactly one of mcq, true_false, short_answer — got 'multiple'." - Missing answer on a scorable row → "Row 2: answer is required for type 'mcq' (only short_answer can be left blank)."
Fix that specific row in your spreadsheet, save, and re-upload — the rest of the file doesn't need to be touched.
6. Worked example, start to finish
question_text,type,answer
What is the capital of Japan?,mcq,Tokyo
The Great Wall of China is visible from space with the naked eye.,true_false,false
Summarize the causes of the French Revolution.,short_answer,Uploading this creates a 3-question exam: the first two are auto-scored the moment a student submits, and the third appears in the host's results view for manual reading — no extra setup required beyond this one file.
← Back to FocuXTE