Test Questions in Microsoft Word Format Only? Try AI Help to Format for Import

To import your multiple choice questions into Schoolhouse Test, you must first format the text as delimited text (see the details in this article). This can be a bit of work if you have lots of questions saved in Microsoft Word (MS Word) documents. You may want to consider using an AI tool to help you.

The delimited text option Aiken is an easy to setup and edit text format that can be imported by many test creation programs, including Schoolhouse Test. Here are two Aiken format examples (alternate formats):

The difference between these two samples is in how the correct choice is indicated. In Schoolhouse Test  the Aiken import function will accept either the answer line with letter or the asterisk entered by the correct choice(s).

Though you can also import the question data into Schoolhouse Test without the answers indicated, and then edit the test data in Design View to indicate the answers.

This is how I used AI to help me format my MS Word multiple choice test for importing to Schoolhouse Test:  

1. This is what I started with in MS Word. I typed an asterisk by the correct choices as it was a quick way to indicate the answers for so few questions. Though the text has a consistent setup, it does not match the Aiken format (see pictures above). In particular, the choice letters must have a period in place of the parenthesis.

With just four questions, I could probably replace the parenthesis with periods, but if you have more than10 questions, that is just too much work. I decided to let an AI program help me.

2. I tried a couple of AI programs, and I found that Google Gemini gave me good results without having a lot of experience. I opened the Gemini webpage in Google Chrome. It's obvious where to type my question, but not where to put my multiple choice questions that need editing. Then I hovered over the plus sign (+) and found that an file could be uploaded. I uploaded my MS Word document.

3. With my MS Word file uploaded, I typed in my question.

4. I got these results, and was able to copy the text using the Copy icon.

5. I pasted the text into the Windows program NotePad and saved the data as a text-only file - .txt.

6. With the Aiken formatted questions saved as a text file, I was ready to import the questions into Schoolhouse Test. In the picture below you can see the Import window plus the imported question data; I imported the data and then re-opened the Import window so you can see the options I selected. With my data imported to Schoolhouse Test I saved the test file and then carried on with additional editing to create my test ready for printing.

If you have multiple choice test questions saved in MS Word documents, try an AI program to help you get those questions into Aiken format so you can import the data into Schoolhouse Test.