Format Reference

Optional. Goes at the top of the file, before any questions:

Quiz title: Unit 4 Mid-Chapter Check
Quiz description: Covers sections 4.1 through 4.3. 25 minutes.

Skip it and your quiz imports as "Quiz" with no description — easy to fix in Canvas, but most teachers want the title set in the file.

After the header, before any questions. Each on its own line. Values are true or false only.

shuffle answers: true
show correct answers: true
one question at a time: false
can't go back: false

• shuffle answers — randomizes the order of answer choices for each student
• show correct answers — whether students see correct answers after submitting
• one question at a time — forces students to answer sequentially
• can't go back — only meaningful when one-question-at-a-time is true

Two optional lines can appear right above any question:

Title: Mitosis vocabulary
Points: 2
1. What does mitosis produce?
*a) Two genetically identical daughter cells
b) Four haploid gametes
c) One polyploid cell
d) Cells with random genetic variation

• Title: shows up in Canvas SpeedGrader and item analytics. Worth setting on every question if you plan to look at item analysis.
• Points: overrides the default of 1. Decimals are allowed (Points: 0.5).

The asterisk directly before the letter marks the correct answer:

1. Which event marked the start of the Reformation in 1517?
a) The Council of Trent
*b) Luther's posting of the Ninety-five Theses
c) The Edict of Worms
d) The Diet of Augsburg

Rules:

• The asterisk must touch the letter — *b) works, * b) does not.
• Answer text must be unique within a question.
• Any number of choices is fine; any letter range works.

Multiple choice with True and False as the only options — the parser auto-detects and promotes it to true/false type on import:

1. Mitochondria contain their own DNA.
*a) True
b) False

Use [*] for correct options and [ ] for incorrect (bracket-space-bracket):

1. Which of these are noble gases? (Select all that apply.)
[*] Helium
[ ] Oxygen
[*] Neon
[*] Argon
[ ] Hydrogen

At least one correct answer required. Most teachers want at least two so the question type is obviously distinct from single-answer multiple choice.

Three formats supported, each on a line beginning with = :

1. What is 12 × 8?
= 96

2. The boiling point of water at standard pressure falls within what range, in °C?
= [99, 101]

3. To three decimal places, what is the value of pi?
= 3.142 +- 0.001

• Exact match: = 96
• Range: = [low, high] — both endpoints accepted
• Margin of error: = 3.142 +- 0.001 — value plus or minus the tolerance

Each acceptable answer is a separate line beginning with * :

1. The Spanish word for "library" is _____.
* biblioteca
* la biblioteca

• Canvas matches case-insensitively, but list common variants (with and without article, common misspellings you want to accept) explicitly.
• Imports as Open Entry in New Quizzes. Word-bank or dropdown variants need to be set manually in Canvas after import.

Four underscores on a line by themselves:

1. Compare the role of the chorus in two of the plays we read this semester. Use specific examples and at least three terms from our literary devices unit.
____

Essay questions don't auto-grade. Teacher reviews each in SpeedGrader. Only general feedback (...) is supported on essay questions.

Four carets on a line by themselves:

1. Submit your completed lab report as a PDF. Be sure your data table and conclusion are on the same page.
^^^^

File uploads also need manual grading. Only general feedback supported.

General feedback — shown to every student regardless of how they answered:

1. What is 2 + 3?
... Double-check your basic addition before moving on.
*a) 5
b) 4

Correct / incorrect feedback — shown depending on whether the student answered correctly. Place after the question line, before the answers:

1. What is 2 + 3?
+ Right — basic addition like this should be quick.
- Worth a second look. Try counting on your fingers if it helps.
*a) 5
b) 4

Per-answer feedback — shown only when the student picks that specific choice. Place right after the answer it applies to:

1. Which is the sum of 2 and 3?
a) 6
... Close, but that's 2 × 3, not 2 + 3.
*b) 5
... Yes — basic addition.
c) 4
... Not quite. You may have subtracted instead of added.

Not every question type accepts every feedback marker. The grid:

Question type	General (...)	Correct/Incorrect (+/-)	Per-answer
Multiple choice	Classic + New	Classic + New	Classic + New
True/False	Classic + New	Classic + New	Classic + New
Multiple answer	Classic only	Classic only	—
Essay	Classic only	—	—
File upload	Classic only	—	—
Numerical	causes errors	causes errors	causes errors
Short answer	causes errors	causes errors	causes errors

The validator flags feedback on numerical and short-answer before conversion runs.

A GROUP block tells Canvas to randomly select N questions from a pool every time a student takes the quiz. Use this to build a single quiz that draws, for example, 9 random questions from a Recall pool plus 3 from an Application pool — without writing the same quiz multiple times.

GROUP
pick: 9
points per question: 1

1. What does mitosis mean?
*a) Cell division producing genetically identical daughter cells
b) The process of meiosis
c) Cellular respiration
d) DNA replication

2. The function of a ribosome is to:
*a) Synthesize proteins
b) Produce ATP
c) Store genetic information
d) Filter waste

[as many recall questions as you want in this pool]

END_GROUP

GROUP
pick: 3
points per question: 2

1. A patient's white blood cell count is rising rapidly during an infection. Which cellular process is most directly accelerated?
*a) Mitosis in lymphocyte precursors
b) Meiosis in germ cells
c) Apoptosis in red blood cells
d) Photosynthesis

[as many application questions as you want in this pool]

END_GROUP

A student taking this quiz gets 12 questions total: 9 randomly chosen from the recall pool, 3 randomly chosen from the application pool. Different students see different selections.

Rules:

• GROUP and END_GROUP must be in ALL CAPS, on their own lines, starting at column 1.
• pick: sets how many questions each student sees from the pool. Defaults to 1 if omitted.
• points per question: sets the value of each question in the group. Defaults to 1.
• Every question inside one group must be worth the same number of points.
• You can mix GROUP blocks and standalone questions in the same file. Standalone questions appear in every attempt; group questions are randomized.

Common patterns

GROUP blocks aren't just for randomization — they're how you structure a quiz into named, semantically-meaningful item pools. Patterns teachers actually use:

Stratified by cognitive demand (Bloom's / DOK). One pool per cognitive level. A typical mid-chapter check: 9 random from a Recall pool of 25, 6 from an Application pool of 15, 2 from an Analysis pool of 6. Every student sees the same exam structure (same mix of thinking levels) but different specific questions.

One pool per topic, text, or source. For exams covering multiple specific readings (4 poems, 5 primary documents, 3 case studies), make one pool per source. Random draws guarantee every student answers questions about every source, just different ones. Example for a Romantic poetry exam:

GROUP            % The Raven pool
pick: 2
points per question: 2
[10 questions about The Raven]
END_GROUP

GROUP            % Mending Wall pool
pick: 2
points per question: 2
[10 questions about Mending Wall]
END_GROUP

GROUP            % Sonnet 18 pool
pick: 2
points per question: 2
[10 questions about Sonnet 18]
END_GROUP

One pool per chapter or section. For unit finals or comprehensive exams. One pool per chapter, drawing a few from each to guarantee coverage of all material taught without writing a specific 60-question test.

Skill pools (math, world languages). For repeated-practice quizzes. One pool per discrete skill: "Solving for X," "Factoring quadratics," "Word problems." For languages: "Present tense conjugation," "Past tense," "Subjunctive." Mix and match to build different practice sets across the unit.

Difficulty pools within one topic. Easy, medium, and hard banks on the same topic. Drawing some from each guarantees a mixed-difficulty exam regardless of which specific questions get picked. Useful when you want every student to encounter some accessible questions and some stretch questions.

Source-based pools for primary documents. For history and social studies. One pool per primary source: "Document A questions," "Document B questions," "Document C questions." Random draws ensure every student engages with each source, varying which specific aspects they're asked about.

The shared idea: pools become reusable, semantically-meaningful units — not just buckets for randomization. Pick the pattern that matches the way you already think about your unit.

Notes for yourself that won't appear in the final quiz.

Line comments start with % :

% Replace this with the new version after the curriculum review
% TODO: add 3 more application questions before midterm

1. What does mitosis produce?
*a) Two genetically identical daughter cells
b) Distractor

Block comments wrap content between COMMENT and END_COMMENT, each on its own line, all caps, no leading whitespace:

COMMENT
Pulled this question for now — the wording was confusing students.
1. The phase between cell divisions is called:
*a) Interphase
END_COMMENT

1. What does mitosis produce?
*a) Two genetically identical daughter cells

The block comment makes it easy to "park" questions you might want back later without deleting them.

Question text, answer choices, and feedback support standard Markdown:

You write	It renders as
**bold**	bold
*italic*	italic
`code`	code
[link text](https://example.com)	clickable link
	embedded image (file uploaded separately to Canvas)

Markdown only works in content areas — quiz titles and question titles are always plain text, no rendering.

Raider Quiz Builder converts one source file into one quiz, which lands in one question bank on Canvas import. Canvas's QTI workflow is fundamentally one-file-one-bank.

For most "categorized by taxonomy" use cases, GROUP blocks are the right tool — write all your Recall, Application, and Analysis questions in one file, each in their own GROUP block, and Canvas does the random draw at quiz time within a single quiz.

If you want reusable banks (a Recall bank that several different quizzes draw from across a semester), write each bank as its own source file and run the converter once per bank. After importing each into Canvas, build the quiz manually:

• Classic Quizzes: New Quiz → New Question Group → Link to Question Bank → "9 questions, randomly selected"
• New Quizzes: import the .zip into an item bank, then New Quiz → Add from Item Bank → "Randomized, 9 questions"

This is the same approach publisher test banks use (Pearson, McGraw-Hill, etc. ship one ZIP per chapter).

The things that actually trip teachers up:

• Smart quotes from Word. Word and Google Docs auto-replace " with curly quotes. The validator normalizes most of these, but if you're hand-editing in Word, turn off AutoCorrect → AutoFormat As You Type → "Straight quotes with smart quotes." Or paste through Notepad first.
• +- becoming ±. Word's autocorrect will silently turn +- into the plus-minus symbol. Numerical ranges with ± won't parse. Type +- and double-check it stayed as two characters.
• -- becoming an em-dash. Same problem. The validator usually catches it, but the safer move is to disable Word's dash autocorrect.
• The asterisk position in MC. *a) is correct; * a) (with a space between * and the letter) is invalid and confuses the parser.
• Leading whitespace as continuation. If your question won't be recognized, look for an invisible space or tab before the 1. The parser treats anything indented as a continuation of the previous element.
• Multi-line questions. A question or answer that wraps to a second line needs the continuation indented. Four spaces or one tab is the convention. Without indentation, the parser treats the second line as a new element.
• Don't add feedback to numerical or short-answer questions. It causes conversion errors. Validator will catch it before conversion runs.
• Blank lines between questions. Optional but strongly recommended. Two questions back-to-back with no blank line will eventually cause a parse error you spend ten minutes hunting for.
• Image references. ![alt](image.jpg) is supported syntactically, but the image file itself has to be uploaded separately to Canvas after import. The QTI carries only the reference.
• Tables in DOCX. Get flattened to plain text on parse. Don't write a multiple-choice question as a Word table.
• Equations in DOCX. Complex equations don't round-trip. Paste LaTeX or unicode directly into the question stem if math notation matters.

Before generating the QTI bundle, Raider Quiz Builder validates the source file and shows results inline with line numbers. Errors block conversion until fixed. Notes are advisory and don't block — bypass with the "Convert anyway" option if you understand the consequences.

Common errors that block conversion:

• Question with no answers
• Multiple choice with no * marker
• Multiple choice with more than one * marker
• Multiple answer with no [*] markers
• Numerical question with no = line
• Numerical answer in an invalid format
• Duplicate answer text within a question
• Feedback on a numerical or short-answer question
• Mismatched GROUP / END_GROUP
• Mismatched COMMENT / END_COMMENT
• Leading whitespace on marker lines

Common notes (advisory only):

• Smart quotes auto-normalized to straight quotes
• Em-dashes or ± auto-normalized
• Feedback that only renders in Classic Quizzes (silently dropped by New Quizzes)
• Question groups with pick: larger than the pool size
• Non-breaking spaces or zero-width characters removed