Spreadsheet items are displayed to the candidate in a spreadsheet format and can make use of spreadsheets uploaded as assets.
- Select the Develop Questions → Write Item menu.
- Click the Write Question link.
On the Write Question page, select Spreadsheet from the Question Type drop-down list.
Assigning Weights
Weights affect the candidate's score for an item. If weights are assigned to individual Answer Options, they affect the total score of an item depending on which (and how many) Answer Options are answered correctly or incorrectly. Assigning weights is optional and can be done via the Weight drop-down list.
The default selection item is Default, which assigns a score of "1" to the item. The candidate scores "1" only when he/she selects all the correct Options and does not select any incorrect Options. Upon selecting even a single incorrect Option, he/she scores "0".
If you choose to assign a custom weight for the item, then you must select Item from the drop-down list. A text box appears adjacent to the drop-down list, where you can enter the weight value for the item. The candidate scores the specified weight value, only when he/she selects all the correct Options and does not select any incorrect Options. Upon selecting even a single incorrect Option, he/she scores "0".
You can assign custom weights to individual Answer Options, you must select Option from the drop-down list. A Weight text box appears next to the Answer Options, where you can enter the weight value for the respective Answer Options. The weight value is a decimal number. Weights assigned to incorrect Answer Options are ignored.
The candidate scores the specified weight value of the selected correct Option(s), regardless whether he/she also selects incorrect Options. The maximum score of the item is equal to the sum of the weight values for the correct Answer Options.
Item weight can be a positive decimal or integer value. It can range from ".001" to "9999".
Option weight can be a positive or negative decimal or integer value. It can range from ".001" to "9999".
Create a Spreadsheet type Item
- Add the question in the Question Stem field. It should include all the information required for a candidate to answer the item. It can have assets and tables and it can also be formatted with font size, style, and other table features.
The Spreadsheet option has two radio button options to select and this determines the spreadsheet that is displayed to the candidate in the Assessment Driver. The default selection here is Use default created by the driver, which displays an empty spreadsheet generated by the Assessment Driver.
You can also opt to provide your own spreadsheet here if you wish to display some already filled data. This spreadsheet can be an Excel file uploaded as an asset. To provide your own previously uploaded spreadsheet, select the Select from my assets radio button, which displays a Select spreadsheet box. You can then click the Browse button to open the Attach Asset pop-up window, retrieve the required Excel file, attach it, and close the pop-up window. The attached file name appears in the Select spreadsheet box, confirming that it has been successfully attached.
While you can also attach a newer format XLSX spreadsheet, a warning message is displayed in cadet blue text recommending that an XLS spreadsheet be used during test delivery.
You can now proceed to specify scoring results for the item in the Score results section. There are two radio buttons available to determine how scoring happens. The default selection is the Manually through spreadsheet result file radio button, which allows the scoring to be done via a separate spreadsheet.
Only the Manually through spreadsheet result file radio button is available by default and selected if the Yes check box for Show Scoring for Spreadsheet Questions is not selected on the Questions tab of the project's Configuration page, which is the default setting.
The second radio button Automatically through test driver is available when this check box is selected.
If you wish to specify your own scoring results, then you can do so by selecting the Automatically through test driver radio button, which allows you to specify combinations of Cell References and Correct Answers, in addition to deciding whether the specified Cell Reference are scored.
Here, you can specify the Cell Reference (an alphanumeric value such as A1, B2, C2, E5, etc.) for the spreadsheet being displayed to the candidate.
You can select the Apply Scoring check box if any entry in that cell is supposed to be considered for scoring. Answers entered by the candidate in a Cell Reference not marked with the Apply Scoring check box are not considered for scoring.
If you select the Apply Scoring check box, the Correct Answer text box appears where you must specify the correct answer. You can specify multiple correct answers by splitting them using the | (pipe) delimiter. The | (pipe) delimiter allows the candidate to enter either a number or the word for an answer (e.g., 12 or twelve would be scored as correct answers).
Use the
Add Scoring icon to add a Cell Reference, and use the 
Remove Scoring icon to remove any Cell Reference.
If you select Option as the Weight option for a Spreadsheet item, you can specify weights for individual Cell References in their corresponding Weight text boxes. The default value is "1" when this selection is made.
Since answers entered by the candidate in a Cell Reference not marked with the Apply Scoring check box are not considered for scoring, the Weight text box does not appear for such Cell References.
- The entire spreadsheet is displayed in the Assessment Driver by default, which is when no entry is made in the Maximum rows/columns boxes. Optionally, you can specify the maximum number of rows and columns to be visible to the candidate in the spreadsheet rendered in the Assessment Driver in these boxes. Additionally, it is also possible to specify the spreadsheet frame height in pixels in the Frame Height box. The Maximum rows range is from 1 to 500, Maximum columns range is from 1 to 100, and Frame Height range is from 1 to 9999.
Save the Item
You have several options to Save the item.
- Click the Add Question to Case button save the item and create a new case. The item is automatically attached to the case. Only users with permission to create cases will see this button.
- Click the Save button. The item is saved and the item is checked-out preventing other users from making edits to the item. You remain on the Write Question page where further edits can be made to the item.
- Click the Preview button. Changes to the item are saved, the item is checked-out, and the item is opened in the Preview window. Only users with permission to preview items will see this button.
- To save an incomplete item, click Save and Exit. The item is saved in a Draft state and checked-in so any user with access to the item may make edits to the item. It is visible in the Draft/Returned Questions tab of the Project Writing Summary page.
- To submit the item for review, click Submit. The item is saved and checked-in so any users with access to the item may make edits to the item. The item is advanced to the next reviewer in the list or to the next stage in the workflow.
You can click the Submit on Behalf of drop-down control and select one of the user names in the list to submit an item on behalf of the selected user. The user list contains names of users enabled in the current project, except the user currently logged in and viewing the list. The list is displayed in ascending order by last name, first name, and user name. Once you click the Submit button, the item is saved to the Draft mode and does not show for the current user.
Submit on Behalf of drop-down list is not available at the time of Modify Question.
Click the Check Spelling link to check spelling for text in Stem and Options. The spelling is checked first against the built-in or installed dictionary and then against the words specified for exclusion on the Dictionary tab of your project's settings.
