This type of question allows the student to enter a numerical answer, which is assessed by comparing it with the standard answer(s) which you provide. It is possible to check the correctness of entered units and take into account a tolerance threshold (for example when the correct answer is: 500 ± 2).
This is the text of the question that the students will see.
In this section, you define the correct numerical answer(s). You may also define ranges of errors or nearly-correct answers.
For each of the answers, you may set a percentile grade depending on how correct the answer is. For a completely correct answer the rating should be set to 100%. For a completely incorrect answer it should be set to 0%. (There is no need to enter a 0% because all answers other than the correct one(s) will be treated as incorrect.) You also have the ability to indicate some answers as almost-correct or partially-correct and assign them a lower percentile score accordingly.
You may indicate a margin of toleration in the ‘error’ input box. For example, if the correct answer is ‘256 plus or minus 4’, then you would enter ‘256’ as the answer and ‘4’ as the error.
Each of the provided answers may have defined feedback (and this may also applies to defined incorrect answers).
In the ‘Unit handling’ section, you can specify whether or not the student must also enter the unit in which the numerical value is expressed. When you decide that the student may (or must) enter a unit, then you should enter one or more valid options for that unit in the ‘Units’ section.
When you force the student to specify the unit (the ‘the unit must be given, and will be graded’ option is selected), you should also set how the score for an incorrectly stated unit should be lowered, and whether the score on only this part of the answer should be lowered (in the case when several answers within the question are correct) or whether the reduction of points applies to all points earned for this question.
You also have the option of specifying how the students will input the unit: whether they must enter the unit manually into an input box, or choose it from several suggested options.
If you want the student to provide a unit (that is, the ‘Units are optional’ or ‘The unit must be given’ options are selected in the ‘Unit handling’ section), the unit and its possible variants should be given in the ‘Units’ section, and a multiplier should be stated relative to the basic unit.