Use sections in a digital test

lightbulb_outline Sections were previously called flow groups.

Sections allows you structure exercises and to personalise digital tests by randomly selecting exercises for each participant. This ensures each student receives a unique version of the test, and it also helps prevent reuse of exercises students have had before. Each section shows its points value to help you understand and manage how points are distributed across the test.

A section is a collection of exercises from which a specific number will be randomly selected for each participant. For example, if a section contains 4 exercises and you set it to "2 out of 4 exercises", each student will receive a random 2 from those 4. Ans also keeps track of which exercises a participant has already seen in past tests, so it avoids repeating the same exercises if alternatives are available. Each exercise shows its point value inside the section, as well as the points that may come from that section. This helps you understand and manage how points are distributed across the test. 

To use sections in your digital test, follow the steps below. 

When an exercise is part of a section, this will be shown in the exercise in the Exercises tab of your digital test.

Options for sections

• Shuffle sections
  Shuffling sections allows instructors to shuffle the order of sections within the assignment. This option can be enabled in 'Edit layout' dialog in the Test configuration. Under 'Shuffle sections', selecting the option All sections shuffles all sections in the assignment. The order of sections will be randomised for each participant. This adds another layer of variation. If the option No shuffling is selected, sections are shown in the same fixed order for all participants. Click Update to apply the changes.
  
   
• Pin sections
  Sections can be pinned in order to limit the shuffling of sections to a set number. This option can be enabled in 'Edit layout' dialog in the Test configuration. Under 'Shuffle sections', selecting the option Specific sections allows you to select the sections that should be shuffled. The order of sections that are not included will have a fixed position per participant. This is indicated with the push_pin -icon next to the section name in the Layout panel. 
  
   
• Shuffle order of exercises
  The order of exercises in a section can be shuffled by clicking on the more_vert -icon next to the section title. When enabled, the order of the exercises within that group randomised for each participant. This is indicated with the purple shuffle icon on the left of the section title. When disabled, exercises within the section are shown in the same fixed order for all participants.
  

Match tag to a student's course value

Sections in digital tests can select question bank exercises based on student tags. This makes it possible to deliver different exercises to different students within the same test.

This can be used for: 

• Assigning exercises by skill level, such as Maths: Level 1 or Reading: Level 3.
• Giving English exercises to some students and Dutch questions to others.
• Providing topic-specific practice without creating separate tests.

How it works 

1. Add question bank exercises with tags to a section.
2. Set the section to pick a certain number of exercises for a tag key.
3. In the course’s student overview, assign student tags for each tag key (for example, Language: English or Skill: Level 2). Tags can be updated at any time, and future tests using that tag key will reflect the changes.

Example 

A section contains exercises tagged with different reading levels. A student with the tag Reading: Level 1 receives a Level 1 exercise. A student with the tag Language: Dutch receives exercises tagged with Dutch. If no tag is set, the section selects the last alphabetically sorted value for that tag key.