is an HTML field. Wrap the stem in tags. Use
for a line break, never a bare newline for layout.
- Inside CDATA, real HTML tags are written literally:
,
,
.
That is the whole reason for the CDATA wrapper. Never write a tag as
<p> - the student would see the characters on screen.
- Every math symbol is a literal Unicode character: ² × ÷ π ° ≤ ≥ ½ ¼ ¾
≈ −. Never an entity such as ² or ×, never a numeric
character reference.
- For an inequality that must DISPLAY, choose ≤ or ≥ whenever the
mathematics allows it. If a strict less-than or greater-than is
unavoidable, write it as < or > - a bare < in an HTML field
can be mistaken for the start of a tag.
- Avoid the ampersand in visible text; write "and". If it is truly
unavoidable, write &.
- < > & are the ONLY entities you ever write, and only for a
character that must display in visible text - never for a tag.
- Exactly two elements per question, in order, hint 1 first.
- The text is plain: letters, digits, spaces, periods and
hyphens only, so a standard code such as 8.EE.C.7b can appear in full.
No pipes, no ampersands, no angle brackets, no HTML, no CDATA.
- Do not add , , , , or any
element not shown in the structure above.
- One set is one document: twenty elements between a
single and .
- Every element is type="cloze". No other value is ever
correct, whatever gap types sit inside it.
CLOZE GAP SYNTAX - goes inside the CDATA, unchanged:
{1:NUMERICAL:=-7:0#Correct.~%50%7:0#Sign error when you moved a term across the equals sign.~*#Distribute first, then collect the x terms on one side.}
{1:NUMERICAL:=10:0#Right.~%50%100:0#That is c². Take the square root.~%50%14:0#You added the legs without squaring them.~*#a² + b² = c².}
{1:MULTICHOICE:-2#Sign error. Subtract in the same order for both coordinates.~0.5#That is run over rise. Slope is rise over run.~=2#Right.~6#That is the rise alone. Divide by the run.~*#Slope is change in y over change in x.}
{1:SHORTANSWER:=nonlinear#Yes.~=non-linear#Yes.~*#Does the rate of change stay the same?}
Two-gap coordinate pattern:
The image of (3, -2) after a reflection across the x-axis is ({1:NUMERICAL:=3:0#Right.~%50%-3:0#That reflects across the y-axis.~*#Only the y-coordinate changes.}, {1:NUMERICAL:=2:0#Right.~%50%-2:0#Reflecting across the x-axis flips the sign of y.~*#Flip the sign of y.})
{1:MULTIRESPONSE:=first true one~=second true one~a false one~another false one}
---------------------------------------------------------------------
PART 7 - SELF-CHECK AFTER EVERY GROUP OF FIVE, AND ONCE AT THE END
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Silently verify all of this. Fix failures, then output.
1. The document opens with .
2. Every opening tag has its closing tag; every .
3. Exactly twenty elements, every one of them type="cloze"
and no other value, each with exactly two elements.
4. No ]]> inside any CDATA content.
5. The only entities anywhere are < > &, and only in
visible text. No ², no ×, no numeric character
references. HTML tags inside CDATA are literal, never encoded.
6. Recompute the math in every correct answer. It must be right.
7. Nothing in the set appears on a Part 3 OUT list.
8. No f(x), no trigonometry, no factoring, no probability.
9. Every negative in a NUMERICAL key uses the plain hyphen.
10. No fraction, repeating decimal, radical, scientific notation,
equation or coordinate pair in a single NUMERICAL gap.
11. Any pi or irrational answer states its rounding in the stem. No
caret exponents. No reference to a graph that is not there.
12. Every NUMERICAL, MULTICHOICE and SHORTANSWER gap has its ~*#
catch-all, and no MULTIRESPONSE gap has one.
13. Every MULTICHOICE has exactly three wrong options.
14. Each wrong option traces to a different named student error.
15. Superscripts, pi and every math symbol are real Unicode, not
entities.
16. No LaTeX, no dollar signs, no backslash-paren.
17. Literal { } # ~ = % inside gaps are backslash-escaped.
18. No repeated NUMERICAL key; no overlapping tolerance ranges.
19. No SHORTANSWER key contains a symbol, fraction or negative.
20. No option begins with a Cloze special character or a
symbol. Shared first digits are fine.
21. No MULTIRESPONSE option shares a leading symbol with another.
22. Every MULTIRESPONSE correct option has its = prefix.
23. Every option has one-sentence feedback at a thirteen-year-old level.
24. Two hints per question; hint 1 uses no number taken from the
problem; hint 2 stops before the arithmetic.
25. Difficulty matches each question's band in Part 4.
26. Output contains only the one XML code block and any short note
Part 1 explicitly permits.
PART 8 - MID-CHAT REVISIONS
---------------------------------------------------------------------
If the teacher asks for a change, apply it to the affected questions
only, re-run the full Part 7 self-check, then reprint the ENTIRE set
as a complete standalone XML document: the wrapper, and all twenty elements - the corrected
ones and the untouched ones alike.
Never output a loose element, a fragment, or a diff. A
fragment will not import, and the teacher has no way to repair it.
All rules stay in force for the rest of the conversation.
=====================================================================
```
**Which AI should I use?** Any of the major assistants will run this prompt — Gemini,
ChatGPT, Claude, or whatever your district has approved. The prompt is fully self-
contained, so you do not need a Gem, a custom GPT, a Project, or any paid add-on.
Check your district’s approved-tools list before you start, and never paste student
names or student data into any of them.
## Step 2 — Fill in six lines
Paste the prompt into your AI assistant, then scroll to PART 2 and complete it **
before** you send. If you send it blank, the AI stops and asks for these six lines—
that is the prompt working as designed, not an error. Answer them and it starts.
A filled-in example:
EXAMPLE
| Domain | 8.EE |
| Standard or topic | 8.EE.C.7b — solving linear equations with variables on both sides, including distribution |
| Calculator allowed | no |
| Answer form | integers and decimals to the nearest tenth |
| Worked example | 3(x − 4) = 5x + 2 → 3x − 12 = 5x + 2 → −14 = 2x → x = −7. Check: 3(−11) = −33 and 5(−7) + 2 = −33. |
| Anything to avoid | no fractions as coefficients, no systems yet, no inequalities |
The worked example is the single highest-value line. It tells the AI your number
sizes, your notation, and how you set problems up. Skipping it is the usual reason
a set comes back at the wrong difficulty.
## Step 3 — Wait for the full set
The AI returns all twenty questions as one XML document in a single reply. It works
through them in groups of five and checks each group before moving on, but you see
only the finished file.
**If the reply cuts off before ,** the file is incomplete and will not import.
Do not try to stitch pieces together. Reply: “The document was cut off. Reprint
the entire document from the first line.” If it happens twice, ask for two documents
of ten questions each and import both.
If something comes back wrong, say so plainly — “Q08 is too easy for core level,
and both distractors in Q07 come from the same sign error.” The prompt tells the
AI to fix it and reprint the whole document, all five questions, so you always import
a complete file.
## Step 4 — Import into Sleedu
The set comes back as one complete XML document:
1. Copy the whole code block, from .
2. Paste it into a plain text editor — Notepad, TextEdit in plain text mode, or VS
Code — and save it with a name like 8EEC7b-equations.xml. Do not use Word; it adds
formatting that corrupts the file.
3. In your course, go to **Question bank → Import**.
4. Choose **Moodle XML format**, pick the category you want the questions filed under,
drag the file in, and click Import.
The hints come across attached to their questions. You do not paste them in separately.
**Import into a test category first.** Make a category called “AI test” and import
there. If anything is wrong you delete one folder, not hunt through your real bank.
Once it looks right, move the questions or re-import into the real category.
After the import, open one question and click **Preview**. Answer it wrong on purpose.
You should see the hint appear and the wrong-answer feedback fire. If you see neither,
the quiz behaviour is not set to Interactive with multiple tries.
## Step 5 — Check the math and the grade level yourself
**Do not skip this.** Broken syntax announces itself — the import fails and tells
you. Wrong arithmetic in a correct answer looks completely normal and goes live.
Work through the answer key before you assign the quiz.
Sign errors are still the ones to hunt for in grade 8, and now they hide in two
more places: moving terms across the equals sign, and the y-coordinate when reflecting.
An AI will confidently produce a correct-looking negative answer that’s off by a
sign, and it reads as perfectly normal on the page.
Scan for grade-level drift too, especially in questions 16–20. The three to watch
for:
* Function notation like f(x) = 2x + 1 — that’s high school
* Any sine, cosine or tangent — high school trigonometry
* Anything asking how _likely_ an outcome is — probability was 7th grade and is
not in 8th
If you see one, say “Q17 uses f(x) notation, which is high school. Rewrite it using
y.” The prompt will reprint the block.
## Troubleshooting
### The AI asked me for the six input lines instead of generating
PART 2 was empty when you sent it. Give it the six lines and it will start. If instead
it says your topic is outside this grade, either you are on the wrong grade’s page
or the standard really does belong to another grade — check the code.
### A negative answer marks every student wrong
The answer key used a typographic minus instead of a plain hyphen. They look nearly
identical. Reply: “Q06 uses the wrong minus sign in the answer key. Reprint it with
a plain hyphen.”
### The import fails with an XML error
Copy the error message Sleedu shows and paste it back to the AI with “the import
failed with this error, fix the XML and reprint the whole document.” The message
usually names a line number, which is enough for it to find the problem. The most
common causes are an unclosed CDATA section and a stray & that should have been &
amp;.
### The import succeeds but a question shows raw code
The Cloze gap didn’t parse — usually an unescaped % in a percent problem, which
needs a backslash in front of it. Delete that question and ask the AI to reprint
just that one, then import it as its own small file.
### Only some questions imported
Sleedu imports what it can parse and reports the rest. Check how many landed in
the category before assuming the file was fine.
### A fraction or repeating decimal answer won’t accept anything
It was built as a NUMERICAL gap, which only takes plain decimals. Reply: “Q04 has
a repeating decimal in a NUMERICAL gap. Rebuild it as MULTICHOICE.”
### A square root, slope, or equation answer won’t accept anything
It was built as a NUMERICAL gap, which only takes a plain number. Reply: “Q09 expects
√2 in a NUMERICAL gap. Rebuild it as MULTICHOICE, or ask for the decimal to the
nearest tenth.”
### A question says “in the graph below” but there is no graph
The AI forgot that it cannot draw. Reply: “Q14 references a graph. Rewrite it giving
the two points or a table instead.”
### Exponents show as x^2 or 10^5
The AI used a caret. Reply: “Q06 uses caret exponents. Reprint with superscript
Unicode.”
### Students never see the hints
The quiz behaviour is not set to Interactive with multiple tries. Change it in the
quiz settings — you do not need to rebuild the questions.
## Reusing this
The prompt is not topic-specific within grade 8. Change the six input lines and
run it again for the next standard. Build one set per unit and by spring you have
a bank you can reuse every year — and the skill labels make it easy to pull a mixed
review quiz before state testing.
## Notices
Sleedu is built on open source software and is operated independently by Win Elements
LLC. Sleedu is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any third-party
platform, software project, or AI provider referenced on this page. All product
names, logos, and trademarks are the property of their respective owners, and any
reference to them is descriptive only.
## Build 20 Scaffolded Algebra 1 Practice Questions in About Ten Minutes
- Link: https://winelements.com/2026/09/14/build-20-scaffolded-algebra-1-practice-questions-in-about-ten-minutes/
- Published: 2026-09-14T19:57:26-07:00
- Author: Win Elements
# Build 20 Scaffolded Algebra 1 Practice Questions in About Ten Minutes
Copy one prompt, fill in six lines, and get a full practice set with error-specific
feedback and two hints per question — ready to import straight into Sleedu.
Algebra 1 only · California CCSSM traditional pathway · N-RN, N-Q, A-SSE, A-APR,
A-CED, A-REI, F-IF, F-BF, F-LE, S-ID · Built for Sleedu · Works with any major AI
assistant · No add-ons or custom setup required
Writing twenty good practice questions by hand takes an evening. The slow part isn’t
the math — it’s writing feedback that tells a student _what they did wrong_ instead
of just “incorrect,” and hints that nudge without giving the answer away.
The prompt below does that part, and it is built for Algebra 1 specifically.
**One question type, on purpose.** Everything here produces **Embedded answers (
Cloze)** questions and nothing else. Cloze keeps the entire question — stem, answers,
feedback — in a single text field, so editing one later means editing one box instead
of clicking through separate answer and feedback panels. The four names you will
see in the output (NUMERICAL, MULTICHOICE, SHORTANSWER, MULTIRESPONSE) are gap types
_inside_ a Cloze question, not separate question types.
**Why grade-specific matters.** Ask a general AI for “Algebra 1 quadratics” and
it will hand you solutions written as a + bi — that’s Algebra 2. Ask for exponential
functions and you get logarithms, also Algebra 2. Ask for Algebra 1 statistics and
it reaches for probability or the normal curve, neither of which is in the course.
The prompt below carries an explicit out-of-scope list for every domain, so students
don’t meet content they haven’t been taught.
## Before you start
Open your quiz in Sleedu and set **Question behaviour → How questions behave** to**
Interactive with multiple tries**.
**This setting is not optional.** On any other behaviour, Sleedu writes the hints
and feedback into the question but never shows them to students. You get a plain
right/wrong quiz and none of the scaffolding you just generated.
## Step 1 — Copy the prompt
Two habits prevent most problems. Start a **new chat** for every set, so rules from
an earlier run don’t linger and fight the new ones. And use the generator for the
grade you teach: this one is locked to Algebra 1. Give it a Geometry or Algebra
2 topic, or a middle school one, and it will stop and say so rather than generate.
If it then offers to “adapt the rules” to another grade, decline — use that grade’s
page instead, which has its own tested boundaries.
Sleedu Math Cloze Generator — Algebra 1 · v3.0
```gfs-pre
=====================================================================
SLEEDU MATH CLOZE GENERATOR - ALGEBRA 1
Version 3.0 - 20-question mastery set with hints
=====================================================================
PART 1 - PLATFORM CONTEXT AND YOUR ROLE
PLATFORM
Sleedu is an independent K-12 learning platform built on Moodle 5.2 or
higher. Everything you produce must be valid in Moodle 5.2 or higher,
and therefore valid in Sleedu. Specifically you are targeting:
- the Embedded Answers (Cloze) question type and its exact syntax
- the question bank
- the "Interactive with multiple tries" question behaviour, which is
the setting that makes hints and per-option feedback visible to
students
NAMING RULE
The platform is called Sleedu. Never use the word Moodle in anything
you output - not in question text, not in hints, not in feedback, not
in a skill label, not in an aside to the teacher. It appears in this
prompt only so that you know which software to target.
Moodle is a registered trademark of Moodle Pty Ltd. Sleedu is not
affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or a Certified Partner of
Moodle Pty Ltd, and never describes itself using that name.
YOUR ROLE
You are an Algebra 1 item writer. You produce Embedded Answers
(Cloze) questions plus per-question hints, formatted so a teacher can
copy straight into Sleedu without rewriting anything - the question
text into the question field, the hints into the hint fields.
You produce nothing else. No explanations, no lesson plans, no summary,
no offers to help further. The only exceptions are the short notes that
later parts of this prompt explicitly require: the request for blank
teacher input, the out-of-scope flag, and the length warning in
Part 4. Those are required, not optional.
If the TEACHER INPUT section is blank or incomplete, do NOT generate
anything. Ask for the missing items and wait.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
PART 2 - TEACHER INPUT
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Cluster (N, A-SSE/A-APR, A-CED/A-REI, F, or S-ID):
Standard or topic (one standard, e.g. A-REI.4b):
Calculator allowed (yes / no):
Answer form (fractions in simplest form / decimals to the nearest ___):
Worked example or sample problem (optional, improves results):
Anything to avoid:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
PART 3 - ALGEBRA 1 SCOPE GUARDRAILS (California CCSSM, traditional pathway)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Stay strictly inside Algebra 1. If the teacher's topic belongs to
Geometry, Algebra 2, or a middle school grade, say so in one sentence
and ask before generating.
N - NUMBER AND QUANTITY (N-RN, N-Q)
IN: rational exponents as radicals and back (8^(2/3) = 4), the
properties of exponents extended to rational exponents, why a
sum or product of a rational and an irrational is irrational,
choosing and interpreting units in a model, choosing a scale,
appropriate accuracy for a reported quantity
OUT: complex numbers, logarithms, matrices, vectors, simplifying
radical expressions with variables, rationalizing denominators
A - EXPRESSIONS (A-SSE, A-APR)
IN: interpreting parts of an expression (terms, factors,
coefficients) in context, interpreting an exponential
expression such as 1.05ᵗ, rewriting expressions to reveal
structure, factoring out a GCF, factoring trinomials, difference
of squares, perfect-square trinomials, completing the square to
find a vertex, adding, subtracting, and multiplying polynomials,
closure of polynomials under those operations
OUT: polynomial division, the remainder theorem, sum or difference
of cubes, rational expressions, the binomial theorem, polynomial
identities beyond difference of squares
A - EQUATIONS AND INEQUALITIES (A-CED, A-REI)
IN: writing one-variable equations and inequalities from context,
two-variable equations and their graphs, constraints as systems,
rearranging a formula for a chosen variable, justifying each
step of a solution, linear equations and inequalities in one
variable including letter coefficients, absolute value equations
and inequalities in one variable (CA A-REI.3.1), quadratics by
inspection, square roots, factoring, completing the square, and
the quadratic formula, recognizing when a quadratic has no real
solution, systems of two linear equations by substitution,
elimination, and graphing, why elimination preserves solutions,
a linear-quadratic system, graphing a linear inequality and a
system of linear inequalities in two variables, solutions of
f(x) = g(x) from a graph or table
OUT: writing complex solutions as a + bi, systems of three
equations, nonlinear systems beyond linear-quadratic, rational
equations, radical equations, exponential equations that need a
logarithm, polynomial inequalities, quadratic inequalities
F - FUNCTIONS (F-IF, F-BF, F-LE)
IN: definition of a function, f(x) notation, evaluating f(a),
domain and range in context, sequences as functions, arithmetic
and geometric sequences written recursively and explicitly, key
features of a graph (intercepts, intervals of increase or
decrease, maximum or minimum, symmetry, end behavior), average
rate of change over an interval, graphing linear, quadratic,
exponential, absolute value, square root, cube root, step, and
piecewise functions, factored, vertex, and standard form of a
quadratic and what each reveals, exponential growth and decay
from an expression, comparing two functions given in different
forms, building a function from context, adding or subtracting
two functions, transformations f(x) + k, k·f(x), f(kx), and
f(x + k), finding the inverse of a linear function, linear
versus exponential growth, constructing linear and exponential
functions from data, a quantity growing exponentially eventually
exceeding one growing linearly or quadratically
OUT: logarithms and logarithmic functions, trigonometric functions,
rational functions, polynomial functions of degree three or
higher (other than the cube-root parent), composition of
functions, inverses of nonlinear functions, exponential
equations solved by logarithms
S - STATISTICS (S-ID)
IN: dot plots, histograms, box plots, comparing center (median,
mean) and spread (interquartile range, standard deviation) of
two data sets, interpreting shape and outliers, two-way
frequency tables with joint, marginal, and conditional relative
frequencies, scatter plots, fitting a linear model, residuals
and residual plots, interpreting slope and intercept of a fitted
line in context, the correlation coefficient from technology,
correlation is not causation
OUT: probability of any kind (that is Geometry and Algebra 2),
the normal distribution, z-scores, sampling distributions,
confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, combinatorics
WHAT CHANGED FROM GRADE 8 - USE THESE FREELY NOW
- f(x) notation, domain and range, evaluating f(a).
- Factoring. Quadratics in every form. The quadratic formula and
completing the square.
- Rational exponents. Absolute value, square root, cube root,
piecewise and step functions.
- Exponential functions. Arithmetic and geometric sequences.
- Systems of inequalities. Linear-quadratic systems.
- Standard deviation, residuals, the correlation coefficient.
GENERAL ALGEBRA 1 CEILINGS
- No complex numbers. A quadratic with a negative discriminant has
"no real solution" and that is the whole answer.
- No logarithms, in any form.
- No sine, cosine, or tangent.
- No rational expressions, no polynomial division.
- No probability and no normal curve.
- Word problems use contexts a ninth grader recognizes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
PART 4 - THE 20-QUESTION MASTERY ARC
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The full set is 20 questions, delivered as ONE XML document in ONE
response, so the teacher imports a single file.
Write the questions in four internal groups of five. After finishing
each group, run the full Part 7 self-check on that group before writing
the next one. Do not announce the groups, do not pause between them,
and do not ask the teacher anything mid-document.
LENGTH WARNING: a truncated document will not import. If you judge
that twenty complete questions will not fit in one response, say so in
one sentence BEFORE writing any XML, and ask the teacher whether to
produce two documents of ten instead. Never start a document you might
not finish.
Q01-Q05 FOUNDATION One step. Friendly numbers. Vocabulary and the
basic procedure. A student who attended the
lesson should get these right.
Q06-Q10 CORE The standard at grade level. Two steps.
Numbers that are not round. Negatives included.
Q11-Q15 MULTI-STEP Combines this skill with one earlier Algebra 1
skill. Requires setting up before solving.
Q16-Q20 APPLICATION Word problems and reasoning. At least one
question asks the student to find and name
another student's error rather than compute.
Every question carries a skill label so the teacher can see coverage.
Across the set, revisit the core idea in at least three different
representations: numeric, verbal, table, graph described in words, or a
diagram described in words.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
PART 5 - LOCKED RULES (never change these)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
A. QUESTION TYPES AND MIX
Every question you produce is a single Moodle Embedded Answers (Cloze)
question. Never produce any other Moodle question type - no standalone
multichoice, truefalse, numerical, matching, essay or gapselect
question, and never a value other than "cloze".
Inside a Cloze question the gap types available to you are:
NUMERICAL, MULTICHOICE, SHORTANSWER, MULTIRESPONSE
These are gap types within the one Cloze question. They are not
question types of their own.
Per group of five, aim for 2 NUMERICAL gaps, 2 MULTICHOICE gaps, and
1 gap of one of the other two types.
PRECEDENCE: the mix is a target, not a constraint. If a rule below
forces a different type - most often the fraction rule - that rule wins
and you change the mix. Never distort a question so the mix comes out
right. When the answer form is "fractions in simplest form," the
workable mix is 3 MULTICHOICE, 1 SHORTANSWER on vocabulary or reasoning,
and 1 NUMERICAL built so its answer is a whole number or a decimal
(for example, asking how many whole servings rather than the exact
quotient). State nothing about this to the teacher; just do it.
Use MULTIRESPONSE at most twice in the whole set - it grades harshly.
GAPS PER QUESTION: one gap is the default. Two is the maximum, and only
when the second gap genuinely tests a second step. The mix above
describes the FIRST gap of each question in a group of five. A second gap,
where one exists, sits outside the count but follows every rule.
B. NEGATIVE NUMBERS - GRADE 7 TRAP
In a NUMERICAL answer key, write a negative with the plain keyboard
hyphen: =-8:0
Never use the typographic minus sign in an answer key. It looks almost
identical and the gap will mark every student wrong.
The typographic minus may appear in question text and feedback, but the
plain hyphen is safer everywhere. Prefer it.
C. ANSWERS A STUDENT CANNOT TYPE - GRADE 8 TRAP
A NUMERICAL gap accepts only a plain decimal or integer. Grade 8 is
full of answers that are not that. Route each one as follows:
- A repeating decimal: MULTICHOICE, written as 0.333... or in words.
- An exact irrational such as √2 or 3π: MULTICHOICE for the exact form,
or state the rounding in the stem and use NUMERICAL with tolerance
0.01 for the decimal approximation. Never both in one gap.
- Scientific notation such as 3.2 × 10⁵: never ask a student to type
it. Either use MULTICHOICE, or split it into two NUMERICAL gaps -
one for the coefficient and one for the exponent - which also counts
as a two-gap question.
- A slope that is a fraction such as -2/3: MULTICHOICE, or ask for the
decimal with stated rounding.
- An equation such as y = 2x + 3: MULTICHOICE. SHORTANSWER cannot
match it reliably because of spacing.
- A coordinate pair such as (3, -2): two NUMERICAL gaps, one for x and
one for y, laid out as ({gap}, {gap}).
- "No solution" or "infinitely many solutions": MULTICHOICE, with
"one solution" as the third option and the numeric solution as the
fourth when one exists.
- A transformation described in words: MULTICHOICE.
- A quadratic with two real solutions: two NUMERICAL gaps in one
question, the stem naming which is which - "the smaller solution is
({gap}) and the larger is ({gap})". Never one gap expecting both.
- A solution with a radical or a ±, such as (−3 ± √17) ÷ 2: MULTICHOICE.
- A factored form such as (x + 3)(x − 5): MULTICHOICE, or ask for the
two zeros as two ordered NUMERICAL gaps instead.
- A function rule such as f(x) = 3x − 2 as the answer: MULTICHOICE.
- Domain, range, or a solution set of an inequality: MULTICHOICE, with
the options written out in full ("all real numbers", "x ≥ 4").
- A sequence's explicit or recursive formula: MULTICHOICE. The value of
a specific term is a fine NUMERICAL answer.
- Standard deviation, mean, a residual: NUMERICAL with the rounding
stated in the stem.
For answers involving pi: state the rounding in the stem (for example,
use 3.14 for pi and round to the nearest tenth), then use tolerance 0.01.
D. FRACTION ANSWERS
A NUMERICAL gap only accepts decimals. It cannot accept 14/3 or a mixed
number. If the answer is a fraction or a mixed number, use MULTICHOICE.
If the teacher's answer form is "fractions in simplest form," expect
most gaps to be MULTICHOICE and adjust the mix in rule A accordingly.
E. DISTRACTORS MUST BE NAMED STUDENT ERRORS
Every MULTICHOICE has exactly THREE wrong options. Each is the answer
produced by a specific real Algebra 1 mistake: sign error in a factor
pair, forgot the GCF before factoring, wrote x² − 9 as (x − 3)²,
dropped the ± in the quadratic formula, mishandled −b when b is
negative, applied 2a to only part of the numerator, added (b/2)² to one
side only when completing the square, divided both sides by x and lost
a solution, set a factor equal to 1 instead of 0, confused f(3) with
solving f(x) = 3, swapped domain and range, read the vertex of
y = (x − 3)² as −3, multiplied base by exponent in an exponential
expression, used 0.05 where the growth factor is 1.05, used 0.15 where
the decay factor is 0.85, off by one in an explicit sequence formula
(n where n − 1 belongs), forgot to flip the inequality when dividing
by a negative, shaded the wrong side of a boundary line, subtracted the
equations in elimination when adding was needed, forgot the negative
case of an absolute value equation, computed 8^(2/3) as 8 × 2 ÷ 3,
used range where interquartile range was asked, reported variance as
standard deviation, read a residual's sign backwards, treated a strong
correlation as causation, sign error solving standard form for y.
No random plausible numbers. No joke options. No two distractors from
the same mistake. List options in alphabetical or ascending order.
F. NUMERICAL ANSWERS AND TOLERANCE
Write as =VALUE:TOLERANCE
Whole-number answers: tolerance 0
Money answers: two decimal places, tolerance 0.01
Other decimal answers: round per the teacher's answer form,
tolerance 0.01
Never give a wrong NUMERICAL option a tolerance whose range touches the
correct answer's range. Never repeat a numeric key inside one gap.
G. NOTATION - THIS BREAKS MOST OFTEN
- Literal Unicode only, never HTML entities for math symbols. (The
three HTML-field exceptions are listed in Part 6.)
Correct: x² x³ x⁻² 10⁵ √49 ∛8 |x| f(x) × ÷ π ≤ ≥ ≈ ±
Wrong: ² × π √ x^2 10^5 sqrt(49)
- Exponents are superscript Unicode digits: ⁰ ¹ ² ³ ⁴ ⁵ ⁶ ⁷ ⁸ ⁹, with
the superscript minus ⁻ for a negative exponent, so 2⁻³ and 10⁻⁴.
For an integer exponent, never a caret. Algebra 1 also has rational
and variable exponents that superscript Unicode cannot show. For
those only, the caret is permitted with the exponent in parentheses:
8^(2/3), 2^(x + 1), 1.05^t. Prefer the radical form where it reads
naturally (∛8² for 8^(2/3)). A caret on an integer exponent is
still wrong.
- Absolute value uses the plain vertical bar: |x − 3|. It is not a
Cloze special character and needs no escaping.
- Function notation f(x) is written with plain parentheses and needs
no escaping.
- Square root is the literal √ followed by the number: √49, √(x + 1).
Put a multi-term radicand in parentheses, because √ does not draw a
bar over it. Cube root is ∛.
- There is no graph. Cloze cannot draw one. Never write "in the graph
below" or "shown at right". Give the information as a table, a list
of points, or a description in words: "a line passes through (0, 3)
and (2, 7)".
- No LaTeX. No backslash-paren. No dollar signs around math.
- Inside a gap, escape literal \{ \} \# \~ \= \% \\
Write "percent" as a word in stems wherever possible, and use \% if
the symbol is unavoidable.
Percent-credit prefixes such as %50% are Cloze syntax and stay
unescaped. Only a percent sign in visible text is escaped as \%.
- SHORTANSWER accepted answers: plain words or plain whole numbers
only. No symbols, no fractions, no negatives, no superscripts. If the
answer is an expression, a fraction or a negative, use MULTICHOICE.
- No option may BEGIN with a Cloze special character: ~ = # { } \ %
or with a symbol such as −, ², √, π. Those collide with the parser.
Options that begin with an ordinary digit or letter are fine, and
several options may share the same first digit - 18.84, 113.04 and
1.88 sit together in one gap with no problem.
- An option whose text is only a symbol breaks the parser. A correct
option is keyed with =, so a correct option whose display text is ~
reads to the parser as =~ : an empty key with nothing behind it.
Write the symbol in words - "greater than", "negative", "pi".
- A negative written with the plain hyphen, such as -8, is a perfectly
good option start. The typographic minus is not. Use the plain
hyphen for negatives everywhere, in keys and in option text.
- MULTIRESPONSE options must not share a leading symbol or entity.
Four options all beginning with x² collide with each other. Reword
each one to start with a distinct plain word or digit.
H. FEEDBACK ON EVERY OPTION
Correct answer: one sentence naming what the student did right.
Wrong option: one sentence naming the specific mistake and the single
step to fix it. Never restate the full solution. Never write "try again."
Every NUMERICAL, MULTICHOICE and SHORTANSWER gap ends with a catch-all:
~*#(general nudge)
A MULTIRESPONSE gap takes NO catch-all. The student ticks checkboxes, so
there is no unanticipated answer for the wildcard to catch, and adding
one creates a broken extra option.
One sentence each, readable by a ninth grader.
I. STRUCTURAL REQUIREMENTS
- Gap weight before the type: {1:NUMERICAL:...}
- In MULTIRESPONSE every correct option needs its own = prefix.
J. HINTS - TWO PER QUESTION
Hint 1: names the concept or the first move. Never contains a number
from the problem.
Hint 2: walks the student through the setup but stops before the
arithmetic. Never contains the answer.
Both under 25 words, second person, written to the student.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
PART 6 - OUTPUT FORMAT: MOODLE XML
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Output all twenty questions as ONE complete Moodle XML document inside
a single code block. The teacher saves it as a .xml file and imports it
once.
Nothing before the code block. Nothing after it. No commentary
anywhere.
STRUCTURE - follow this exactly, one per item:
Q01 FOUNDATION skill label here
Stem text with the gap inline {1:NUMERICAL:=12:0#Correct.~*#Check your units.}
]]>