How is short answer marked?

By you, against the model answer and rubric you give, or by Procto AI when you ask it on an answer; the mark it saves is yours to keep or change.

Can Procto AI write short answer questions?

Yes: from a chapter, notes or a handout, in this shape, at the level of thinking you set, written from your material only if you say so.

Short answer

One to three sentences, graded against a model answer or a rubric.

Build one Text input

As the student meets it, replayed

Explain why crossing over happens only in meiosis I.

0 words

To your queue: you grade it, or ask Procto AI

The facts

Category: Text input. A typed answer.
The student gives: Free text
Marked: By you, or by Procto AI against your rubric when you ask
The prompt carries: Text, and anything you add
In the builder: Now.

Settings this template rules out

None. Every setting of a quiz applies to it.

About short answer.

Why this shape

One to three sentences in the student's own words show understanding that no option can. A model answer and a rubric make the marking consistent.

An example. In two sentences, explain why the total amount of water on Earth stays about the same.

What it is

A text question asks the student to produce the answer rather than recognise it: a word, a phrase, a sentence, a paragraph. The shorter the answer, the more it can be marked by rule against a list of accepted answers; the longer, the more it needs a reader with a rubric.

Why it is needed

Recognising an answer and producing it are different acts, and the second is the one most work asks for. A short typed answer removes the guess: there are no options to pick from, so the student either knows the term, the value or the sentence or they do not. A longer answer shows reasoning, structure and the ability to say a thing in one's own words.

When to use it

Use one-word and short-answer shapes where the answer is a fact with a clear form: a term, a name, a number, a translation. Use gaps for grammar and vocabulary in context. Use open answers where the reasoning matters, and give a model answer and a rubric so the marking is consistent.

How to write one well

Decide what counts before writing: list every accepted spelling and form for a short answer, and switch the one-letter slip on where spelling is not the point. For open answers, write the model answer first and the rubric second, with the points each element earns. Set a word limit that fits the answer you want, not the time you have.

For short answer in particular. Write the rubric with the points each element earns before the quiz runs.

Mistakes to avoid

A short-answer question with many right ways to say the answer and only one listed. A gap that can take several sensible words. An open question with no rubric, so every reader marks differently. A word limit so tight that the answer cannot be given, or so loose that the question invites padding.

How EdProcto marks it

EdProcto marks short text by rule against the accepted list, with case, spacing and punctuation ignored and a one-letter slip allowed when you say so. Gaps are marked gap by gap. Open answers wait in your grading queue: you grade each against your model answer and rubric, or ask Procto AI on that answer and keep or change its mark; nothing is released until you release it.

Guides on short answer.

All the guides

How to write short answer questions and a rubric to grade themHow to word a short answer question, write the model answer first, build an analytic rubric, mark it consistently, and what rubrics do for reliability.

Questions.

How does a student answer a short answer question?: Free text. One to three sentences, graded against a model answer or a rubric.
How is short answer marked?: By you, against the model answer and rubric you give, or by Procto AI when you ask it on an answer; the mark it saves is yours to keep or change.
Can Procto AI write short answer questions?: Yes: from a chapter, notes or a handout, in this shape, at the level of thinking you set, written from your material only if you say so.