Author an exam¶

Open or create an exam¶

Open the course-name menu and select Exams. Choose Add New Exam, enter its label, and open the row. The exam label identifies the exam inside Gradebird; the optional printed title is configured separately in the builder.

The Build workspace shows the exam header, Viewing selector, Publish draft control, workflow navigation, import panel when available, synchronized PDF preview, title-page/setup fields, assets, and the ordered question list.

The Draft is editable. Published versions selected under Viewing are read-only. Return to Draft before editing.

Title page and setup¶

Expand Title page and setup and save these exam-level fields:

Printed title appears in the exam PDF and footer. It may differ from the exam label shown in Gradebird.
Include administration instructions toggles Gradebird's built-in directions.
Show point total prints the total calculated from gradeable questions.
Force first question onto a new page separates setup/front matter from the questions.
Front matter is student-visible LaTeX inserted immediately before the questions.
LaTeX preamble is inserted before \begin{document} for permitted packages and simple setup.

Gradebird controls page geometry, headers, footers, numbering, QR placement, and response mapping. Local layouts such as minipage, \parbox, tables, or multicol can use \linewidth. If the preamble contains an unsupported command, the preview reports a compile error.

Assets¶

Use Assets to upload PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, TIFF, or PDF files. Reference the displayed managed filename directly in LaTeX, for example \includegraphics{diagram.png}; folders and relative paths are not allowed. Rename an asset when its reference should be clearer. Custom .sty uploads are not supported.

Later draft asset changes do not alter an already published version.

A free-response workbox can also print a managed asset inside the answer area. Its Box image(s) form controls image, placement, aspect ratio, maximum width/height, margin, and opacity.

Add questions¶

Choose Add new question, select a type, enter points and prompt, and save. Drag standalone questions or entire multipart groups to reorder them. Subquestions can be dragged only inside their own group.

Free response¶

A positive-point free-response question requires at least one mapped solution box before publication.

The primary box accepts a fixed TeX dimension such as 6cm or 2in, fill for the remaining page, or inline for a short horizontal answer beside the prompt.
Additional boxes continue the same question and accept a fixed height or fill.
inline is primary-only and is intended for short prompts and answers.
A nonfinal additional box must use fill when required by page-flow constraints.

True/False¶

True/False is explicitly auto-graded. Gradebird supplies the ordered printed choices and one system-sized response region. The builder does not store a correct answer; set the key later in Grade → Auto-graded.

Multiple choice¶

Single-answer multiple choice is explicitly auto-graded. Enter one choice per line, with at least two choices. Set the correct answer later in Grade → Auto-graded. The question and its response region must fit on one page.

Multipart questions¶

Choose make multipart when one shared context should introduce separately graded parts of the same type. The original question becomes Part a and keeps its prompt, points, and response region; the new numbered parent becomes zero-point shared context with no workbox. Each child has its own points, workbox, rubric/key, grading result, and report row.

A multipart group must be homogeneous: all children are free response, all True/False, or all multiple choice. Use Add subquestion, Add statement, or the displayed type-specific control to add parts.

Making a free-response group singlepart combines child prompts under explicit lettered LaTeX items, sums points, and retains their response boxes. Making a True/False or multiple-choice group singlepart instead detaches the children as standalone questions and copies shared context into each.

Compile and inspect¶

Choose Compile to render the draft. The preview panel reports queued/running state, warnings, or blocking errors and displays the PDF when successful. Click a mapped PDF region to focus the corresponding field; builder diagnostics can also open, scroll to, highlight, and focus a likely setup field, prompt, choice list, or workbox.

Compiler warnings can be publishable after explicit acknowledgement. Blocking errors, missing required workboxes, and auto-graded questions that do not fit on one page must be corrected before publication.

The optional AI solution checks dashboard and per-question AI Solution controls are advisory instructor tools. They can flag material correctness, ambiguity, specification, or solvability issues but never block publication. See Configure AI features.

To import an existing document instead of building manually, see Import an exam.

All exams¶

This page lists the exams the instructor can access across courses. Open an exam to enter its current workflow or create a new exam in the selected course. The list is an entry point and does not itself publish, print, scan, grade, or release anything.

Create exam¶

This page creates an exam workspace in the selected course using an instructor-facing label. A successful submission opens the draft builder; validation errors leave the course and existing exams unchanged.

Build exam¶

The draft builder edits exam details, assets, questions, choices, response workspaces, preview state, and publication readiness. Compile to inspect the generated PDF, correct blocking diagnostics, and use Publish draft only when the intended content is ready to become an immutable version.

Draft exam preview¶

This detached preview page shows the latest compiled draft output and its current compile status. It is useful for inspection in a separate tab; editing remains in the builder, and viewing the preview does not publish the draft.

Delete exam¶

This confirmation page explains whether an exam can be deleted and the records affected. Deletion is consequential and permanent when allowed; cancel or navigate away to leave the exam unchanged.