This article describes the AIKEN Format.
TOPICS
Introduction
The Aiken format is a very simple way of creating multiple choice questions using a clear human-readable format in a text file. (The GIFT format has many more options and perhaps is less prone to errors, but doesn't look as straight-forward as AIKEN. ) The question must be all on one line. Each answer must start with a single uppercase letter, followed by a period '.' or a bracket ')', then a space. The answer line must immediately follow, starting with "ANSWER: " (NOTE the space after the colon) and then giving the appropriate letter.
NOTE
- You have to save the file in a text format. Don't save it as a Word document or anything like that.
- Non-ASCII characters like 'quotes' can cause import errors. To avoid this always save your text file in UTF-8 format (most text editors, even Word, will ask you).
- The answer letters (A,B,C etc.) and the word "ANSWER" must be capitalized as shown below, otherwise the import will fail.
Here is an example of the format:
What is the correct answer to this question?
A. Is it this one?
B. Maybe this answer?
C. Possibly this one?
D. Must be this one!
ANSWER: D
TIP
Use a text editor, like PSPad, (Windows "notepad" may not save with right encoding) to write the file with questions and save as a TXT file in UTF-8 format.
Use only simple ' not slant ones ´ ` !
Avoid other exotic characters like … HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS (http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2026/index.htm, three dots as a single character).
Importing
When importing there are many options, but these do not influence Aiken Format import:
- Get category from file [_]
- Get context from file [_]
- Match grades [Error if grade not listed/Nearest grade if not listed]
- Stop on error [Yes/No]