Automatically marked question. The question is answered by typing a word or a short sentence.

The Text Entry question type in Inspera Assessment allows candidates to answer a question by typing a word or a short sentence into a blank field. This field can be placed anywhere within the question text (beginning, middle, or end). This question type is automatically marked. 

This article explains the layout of Text Entry questions, details their specific options and how to set correct answers, and clarifies the function of the Allow unique responses only setting.

Question layout

When you create or edit a Text Entry question, you can complete the following:

1. Replace text with desired question text.
2. Add math (LaTeX), files, tables, links, PDF, images and / or audio clips to the question text.
3. Insert more interaction elements by clicking on +Insert.
4. Set general options for the question type. For more information, refer to the Overview of question options in Inspera Assessment article.

5. Select Advanced settings. Then choose Allow unique responses only.

   This setting applies to questions with that have more than one Text Entry element. Its purpose is to prevent awarding too many marks if a correct answer is repeated across multiple text entry fields.
   
   Practical example: If a question asks for the four largest cities in Norway, and the candidate enters "Oslo" in all four separate text entry elements (and "Oslo" is a correct answer), they would normally receive marks for all four. With Allow unique responses only enabled, the candidate will only receive one correct mark for "Oslo," as duplicate entries are ignored.

   This setting is available at the question level and affects all Text Entry elements within that question.

Spesific options

Clicking on the interaction element (the text box itself) provides access to specific options unique to the Text Entry question type:

• Enter the correct answer(s) directly into the text box. The answer can contain both numbers and text (with a maximum of 50 characters, including spaces).

  Avoid using too many words or very long answers, as a single misplaced character in the candidate's response will cause it to be marked as incorrect. For questions requiring longer answers, consider using the Text Area question type instead.

  Correct answers are language-independent. If you use multiple language versions for your question, ensure you enter the correct answers for each language. 

  

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  • Case sensitive: If enabled, the automatic scoring mechanism will only mark the answer as correct if it matches the solution exactly, including capitalization. For example, if the correct answer is "task," then "Task" will not be considered correct.
  • Ignore whitespace: If enabled, this option will remove any whitespace characters (" ") from the candidate's answer before comparing it with the correct answer. This is useful if extra spaces should not affect scoring.
  • Expand input field automatically: If enabled, the text box will automatically expand as the candidate enters more text than the predefined width of the box. Note that this option cannot be combined with Restrict number of characters to input width.
  • Restrict number of characters to input width: This option sets the maximum number of characters a candidate can enter to be the same length as the text field's width. A warning will appear if the field's length is shorter than the length of the correct answer, and the question cannot be saved until this is addressed.
  • Expected length (characters): This setting specifies the visual width of the text box for candidates. It is predefined as 20 characters, but you can adjust this.
• An External Identifier is a unique string that helps link the question to external systems for data collection, without serving any internal purpose in Inspera Assessment.