Importing questions into a course that is in a conversion state will completely replace any previously existing questions. Once a course is in a published state, you will only be able to add additional questions via an import.

Instructions

1. View the “Breakdown of Spreadsheet” section below. 
   1. The order of column headers must match the order below. Include all headers even if you will not supply content under all of them. 
2. Following the information under “Breakdown of Spreadsheet,” add values to your spreadsheet.
   1. Any formatting within your content will need to be written as HTML (e.g. bold, italics, lists, line breaks, links, etc.).
   2. Any special characters should be amp-encoded with their corresponding HTML entities. You can use an online tool like this one to encode special characters appropriately.
3. Export the spreadsheet as a CSV UTF-8.
4. Compile and compress content files directly referenced in the spreadsheet.
5. Import your questions in BluePrint: 
   1. Navigate to your course in BluePrint, and click on Other Tools. Select Import Content. 
   2. Under "Questions," click on Choose File, and upload your CSV and any zipped files referenced in HTML.
   3. Click on Import at the bottom of the screen.
   4. Navigate to the Activity Log to see when your import is complete. It will read “successful” when complete.
6. You should be able to see all imported content within Questions and Question Categories on the left-hand nav.

Breakdown of Spreadsheet

Below is information on what to include under each column (* = value required). Questions Import template can be downloaded here.
A formatted import sample file that includes SMC, MAMC and FR question types can be downloaded here.

Note: The order of questions and categories in your CSV affects the end order. If necessary, the order for categories, subcategories, and individual questions is changeable after importing.

1. first column: question_content_file*
   1. What: question content and answer choices
   2. Formatting Options:
      1. Well-formed HTML (HTML5 compliant)
      2. For applicable question types, include answer choices as ordered lists. Do not type the answer choice letter or number:

         <ol>
         <li> 1st answer choice content</li>
         <li> 2nd answer choice content</li>
         </ol>

      3. Name of the .html file that will be concurrently uploaded as .zip file

         1. However, this method cannot be mixed with plain-text or inline HTML within a single question CSV

      4. To upload images, structure tag as <img src="filename.png" /> and compress all images in a separate archive

         1. Src value is case sensitive!

   3. Use amp-encoding for any special characters

2. second column: answer_content_file

   1. What: the answer explanation for the question. Appears in review mode after the user attempts the question.

   2. See parameters for “question_content_file” above

   3. Can also be completely plain text

3. third column: exam_name

   1. What: if applicable, name of exam that question should live within b. If this column is filled in but the exam_section column is left blank, the question will be created and added to an untimed exam.

4. fourth column: exam_section

   1. What: if applicable, indicates which section within exam_name to add the question to

   2. If included, you must also include *exam_section_time_allowed (see below)

5. fifth column: question_category_name*

   1. What: name of category the question belongs to

6. sixth column: sub_question_category_name

   1. What: name of subcategory the question belongs to

7. seventh column: question_type*

   1. Must be one of the following:

      1. SMC

         1. Single answer Multiple Choice

         2. Result: One correct answer

      2. MAMC

         1. Multiple Answer Multiple Choice

         2. Result: One correct combination of answers

      3. SAMV

         1. Single Answer Multiple Valid

         2. Result: One answer to select, but more than one is correct

      4. NE

         1. Numeric Entry

         2. Result: Asks users to enter text

         3. Can be negative and/or decimal, but not fractions (use hyphen glyph to specify negative)

         4. Requires literal specification of answer(s) except mathematically equivalent answers such as "1000.30" and "1,000.3"

      5. TEXT

         1. Text entry

         2. Result: Asks users to enter text

         3. Requires literal specification of answer(s)

         4. Not case-sensitive

         5. Accepts any character

      6. FR *Please reach out to BenchPrep for assistance with this question type

         1. Free Response

         2. Result: Users enter anything they want in a large text box with basic formatting tools

         3. Always marked correct

      7. TE: *Please reach out to BenchPrep for assistance with this question type

         1. Table Entry

         2. Result: Multiple questions, each with a single correct answer

         3. Used as the basis for dropdown questions and other advanced types

         4. Note special format of correct_answer (see below)

8. eighth column: choices_count

   1. *Required for SMC, MAMC, SAMV

   2. What: Number of answer choices for the question

   3. Input: Positive integer

9. ninth column: correct_answer*

   1. For SMC

      1. use a capital letter corresponding to position of correct answer

   2. For MAMC

      1. use a capital letter corresponding to position of correct answer ii. separate answers with comma

   3. For SAMV

      1. use a capital letter corresponding to position of correct answer ii. separate multiple correct answers with pipes; *there can be no spaces between letters and pipes in the CSV

         1. ex: A|B

   4. For NE and TEXT

      1. separate multiple correct answers with pipes

   5. For TE: *Please reach out to BenchPrep for assistance with this answer type

      1. use a capital letter corresponding to position of correct answer

      2. separate answers with comma

      3. add a number after each letter corresponding to the question sequence (e.g. "A1, B2" indicating "A for question 1, B for question 2")

10. tenth column: related_lessons

    1. What: Comma-separated lesson sort order numerical value, based on the order of the lesson in the course (first lesson = 1, etc.)

    2. Can be ordered non-linearly

    3. If you want lesson 4 to appear before lesson 1, include under related_lessons: 4,1.

11. eleventh column: exam_section_time_allowed

    1. *Required if value included under exam_section

    2. What: Time in seconds for each exam section

       1. ex: input 900 if you want the section to be 15 minutes

    3. Input: Integer

12. twelfth column: question_voiceover_file

    1. What: Voiceover of question

    2. Full filename of file uploaded previously or as part of this upload

13. thirteenth column: answer_voiceover_file

    1. What: Voiceover of answer

    2. Full filename of file uploaded previously or as part of this upload 4

Importing Side by Side Questions

If your course uses a Side by Side question display, you can import questions using the same instructions above. However, you will also need an Answer Choices CSV file. Once you have both a Questions and Answer Choices CSV file, these will be uploaded at the same time using the Import Tool.

Questions File

Follow the same instructions above under “Breakdown of Spreadsheet" to create your Questions import file. When setting up your columns, make sure to include an "external_id" column to identify your questions. The same external IDs will be included in your Answer Choices import file. This way when both files are imported, our platform will know how to match up your questions and answers together.

For your answer content, leave the "answer_content_file" column blank, as the answer rationales will be included in your Answer Choices import file instead. This is assuming you'd like to use Rationale By Answer Choice (each answer choice has it's own rationale) for your answer content. If you'd like to use Basic Rationale (each question has only one rationale), fill out the "answer_content_file" column as you normally would for a standard course.

Answer Choices File

Include the following columns in your Answer Choices spreadsheet:
 

1. question_external_id
   1. What: External ID of your question (this should match what you included in your Questions import file)
2. choice_content
   1. What: Answer choices for each question
   2. Example: If your question has 4 answer choices, you will need to include 4 separate rows for each answer choice.
3. solution_content
   1. What: Answer rationale for each answer choice. This will appear in review mode after the user attempts the question.
   2. NOTE: If you'd like to use Basic Rationale instead for your answer content, leave this column blank, and make sure your answer rationales have been included in your Questions import file.
4. sort_order
   1. What: Indicates the order of your answer choices
   2. First answer choice for each question starts with 0 and then increments for each answer choice (0, 1, 2, 3, etc.)
5. correct
   1. What: Indicates the answer choice is correct or incorrect
   2. Value should be either TRUE or FALSE

Example Spreadsheet:

In the example below, there are 2 questions with external IDs 10001 and 10002. Each of them have 4 possible answer choices with one correct answer.

Importing Your Files

Once you have both files, follow the same instructions when importing a Questions CSV file. When uploading your Questions file though, you will also need to select your Answer Choices file.

After your import is complete, check your new questions to make sure your question and answer choice content has been matched correctly.