In order to import questions from a text file into MicroTest Pro, each question in your text file must be formatted with the appropriate headers. These headers specify information such as the question type, the chapter number and the answer. The header always precedes the question and must begin with a backslash (\).

An example of a typical question with a header is shown below:

\MC C 2 Q 1 D 3 A c
MicroTest III has how many question types?
a. one
b. two
c. four
d. seven
e. none
f. all of the above

\ = Backslash that indicates the start of the question header

MC = The question type (in this case, MC indicates multiple choice)

C = The chapter number (in this case, chapter 2)

Q = The question number (in this case, question 1)

A = Indicates the letter of the answer to the question (if a multiple choice or true/false question. In this case "c" is the answer)

Question Type Headers

MC = Multiple Choice

TF = True/False

MA = Matching

ES = Essay Question

FF = Free Format

SA = Short Answer

FI = Fill In The Blank

Optional Headers

MicroTest also allows a number of optional header commands that can be used to specify additional information. The following commands allow you to specify additional information and can be entered in any order in the question header. Upper and lower case letters are not distinguished within a header.

D (Difficulty Level)
K (Key Word)

Difficulty Level and Key Word values may be specified as a letter from 'a' to 'z' or as a number from 1 to 52 and can be defined in MicroTest III from the Edit menu. Difficulty Levels and Key Words apply to only a single question. A question header with a Difficulty Level of 'a' and Key Word coded as 'b' would appear as follows:

\MC C 1 Q 1 D a K b

P (Prefix)
S (Suffix)

MicroTest III uses Prefix and Suffix information in your question header to locate multiple choice and matching choice lines. Both the Prefix and Suffix can contain up to 5 characters including spaces and should be enclosed by quotes. For example, if your choices are in the following format:

A. choice 1

B. choice 2

This would be indicated in the question header as follows:

\MC C 1 Q 1 S "."

If your choices are in the following format:

(a) choice 1

(b) choice 2

The Prefix and Suffix would be indicated in the following manner:

\MC C 1 Q 1 P "(" S ")"

The Prefix and Suffix commands apply to all subsequent questions until specified otherwise.

SC (Scramble)

The Scramble command specifies which choices are to be scrambled in a multiple choice question. The options are All (the initial default), None, a letter or a number. All and None apply to the current and all subsequent questions except those in which a particular number or letter is specified. The All or None state is used until another All or None option changes it. All or None can be used in a header along with another scramble option to specify a particular choice for that question, for example:

\MC SC all SC d

If there were five choices in this question, only the first four would be scrambled.

Other examples are:

\MC SC a The abbreviation for All is 'a' so all choices could be scrambled.
\MC SC 0 The zero indicates that no choices would be scrambled.
\MC SC 3 The '3' indicates that the first three choices would be scrambled.
\MC SC c The 'c' indicates that the first three choices would be scrambled.

For more information about scrambling multiple choice questions, see the Multiple Choice Scrambling Feature under Multiple Choice Template.

U (UseLineBreaks)

Line breaks will remain as they appear in the import file.

R (RemoveLineBreaks)

MicroTest III will remove non-consecutive line breaks that are not followed by one or more spaces.

The default option (initial setting) is UseLineBreaks. Line breaks can also be referred to as carriage returns, return characters, or paragraph marks. The line breaks command should be specified separately for each of the three applicable header types (question, answer, and explanation).

The RemoveLineBreaks feature is particularly useful if you are importing text from a structured format which has return characters at the end of each line. In such cases, it enables you to connect these lines into paragraphs which are automatically word wrapped as margins are adjusted.

When RemoveLineBreaks is selected, MicroTest III will remove line breaks from all lines except (1) an empty line, (2) a line that is immediately followed by an empty line or (3) a line that is immediately followed by a line that begins with one or more spaces. These exceptions enable the preservation of indented charts or tables, indented paragraphs, and paragraphs that are separated by a blank line.

Spaces preceding a removed return character are also deleted but MicroTest III ensures that a space separates the last word on one line and the first word on the appended line. If a hyphen is the last non-space character on a line, it is removed and the hyphenated word is joined as a single word.

The following commands may be entered immediately following the question:

\A (Answer Header)

Used to designate the beginning of answer text. All lines between the "\A" and the next header are taken as the answer. A UseLineBreaks or RemoveLineBreaks option can follow an answer header and applies only to answer text. It remains in effect until changed in a subsequent answer header.

\E (Explanation Header)

Used to designate the beginning of explanation text. All lines between the "\E" and the next header are taken as the explanation. A UseLineBreaks or RemoveLineBreaks option can follow an explanation header and applies only to explanation text. It remains in effect until changed in a subsequent explanation header.

\O (Omit Header)

Used to keep MicroTest III from processing a portion of the import text file. All information in the file is omitted until the next header is encountered.

\ST (Stop Header)

Causes MicroTest III to stop processing the import text file. All information following the Stop Header is ignored.

The Omit and Stop Headers must appear alone on the same line following the command.