Threads & Themes offers 21 different question types to help you assess student learning in a variety of engaging and interactive ways. Whether you are building a simple quiz or an advanced assessment, you can use these question types to create the perfect experience for your students.
1. Audio Response
Allows students to record an audio clip as their answer. Ideal for language speaking assessments and reading fluency checks.
Set up
Set up
Select Audio Response from the add-question menu.
Enter your question text or prompt.
How it works for students
How it works for students
Students will see a microphone icon. They click the icon to begin recording their voice, and can play back their recording before submitting.
Score calculation
Score calculation
This question type cannot be auto-graded and must be manually teacher-graded on your chosen point scale.
2. Categorize
Students are given a bank of items and must sort them into designated category boxes.
Set up
Set up
Select Categorize from the menu.
Add the names of your categories.
Add the items that need to be sorted.
Drag and drop the items into their correct categories to set the answer key.
Select if students should be able to associate sorted items with more than one category at a time
How it works for students
How it works for students
Students will see the items in a word bank and will click and drag each item into the appropriate category box.
Score calculation
Score calculation
This question is auto-graded. Students receive full points if every item is placed into the correct category.
How partial credit is calculated
How partial credit is calculated
If "Allow Partial Credit" is toggled on, the total point value is divided equally by the total number of items to be categorized. Students earn points for each correctly placed item. If you select to subtract points for incorrect answers, points will be deducted for any item incorrectly placed.
3. Drag and Drop
Allows you to upload a background image, or use a text-based target, and have students drag items into specific drop zones on the image or within the text.
Setup
Setup
Select Drag and Drop and upload your background image.
Select Image or Text as your target
Click on the image to draw your drop areas, or insert them in the appropriate locations within your text.
Create the draggable items (text or images).
Drag the items into the correct drop zones to set your answer key.
Define if you'd like draggable items to be re-used in more than one drop zone.
How it works for students
How it works for students
Students drag items from the item bank on the side of their screen and drop them into the specific areas on the image.
Score calculation
Score calculation
This question is auto-graded. Students earn full points if all items are dragged to their correct target areas.
How partial credit is calculated
How partial credit is calculated
If "Allow Partial Credit" is toggled on, the total point value is divided equally among the number of drop targets. If you select to subtract points for incorrect answers, points will be deducted for any item incorrectly placed.
4. Drawing
Provides students with a digital canvas to draw, sketch, or type out their thought process.
Setup
Setup
Select Drawing from the menu.
Enter your question text.
(Optional) Edit the background of the drawing canvas by adding an image or template for students to draw over.
How it works for students
How it works for students
Students use a suite of digital tools (pen, highlighter, text box, shapes, lines, and eraser) directly on the canvas to visually construct their answer.
Score calculation
Score calculation
This question type is open-ended and is manually graded by the teacher.
5. Dropdown
Creates a fill-in-the-blank style question where students select the answer from an inline dropdown menu.
Setup
Setup
Select Dropdown.
Type out your passage or sentence.
Place your cursor where you'd like to add a dropdown, and click the Add a dropdown button.
Enter the correct answer and any incorrect distractors into the dropdown list.
How it works for students
How it works for students
Students read the text, click on the dropdown menu embedded in the sentence, and select the best option.
Score calculation
Score calculation
This question is auto-graded. Students must correctly answer every dropdown to receive full points.
How partial credit is calculated
How partial credit is calculated
If "Allow Partial Credit" is toggled on, the total point value is divided equally among the total number of dropdowns in the question. If you select to subtract points for incorrect answers, points will be deducted for any item incorrectly placed.
6. File Response
Allows students to upload a document, spreadsheet, PDF, or image file as their answer.
Setup
Setup
Select File Response.
Enter your question or prompt instructions.
How it works for students
How it works for students
Students click an upload button to select a file from their local device or Google Drive.
Score Calculation
Score Calculation
This question type cannot be auto-graded and requires manual grading by the teacher.
7. Fill In The Blank
Students are prompted to enter their answer right within the context of a sentence or paragraph.
Setup
Setup
Select Fill In The Blank.
Type your passage and click the "Add Blank" button wherever you want an answer box to appear.
Input the correct answer key into the corresponding blank fields.
How it works for students
How it works for students
Students type their text directly into the empty boxes embedded in the sentence.
Score calculation
Score calculation
Auto-graded based on your key. You can toggle on Case Sensitive if capitalization matters. You can also toggle on Partial Match so a student's answer will be marked correct as long as it contains the specific word/phrase you set in the key.
How partial credit is calculated
How partial credit is calculated
If "Allow Partial Credit" is toggled on, the total points are divided equally across all blanks in the question. If you select to subtract points for incorrect answers, points will be deducted for any blank incorrectly filled or missed.
8. Free Response
An essay-style question type for longer text responses.
Setup
Setup
Select Free Response.
Enter your prompt or essay question.
How it works for students
How it works for students
Students are provided a large, rich-text response box where they can type multiple paragraphs, format their text, and even insert images or links.
Score Calculation
Score Calculation
Because answers are open-ended, this question is manually graded by the teacher. If a rubric is added, teachers can utilize Luna (the AI Assistant) to grade the response based on the rubric.
9. Graphing
Enables your students to graph functions, plot data, evaluate equations, explore transformations, and much more using an interactive coordinate plane.
10. Hot Spot
Allows you to upload an image and have students click on specific areas of the image to identify the correct answer.
Setup
Setup
Select Hot Spot and upload your base image.
Click and drag to draw clickable areas (hot spots) over the image.
Enable multiple selection if needed.
Click the correct area(s) to turn them green and set them as the answer key.
How it works for students
How it works for students
Students view the image and click the specific area(s) they believe answer the question.
Score calculation
Score calculation
This question is auto-graded. Students must click all required correct hot spots to earn full points.
How partial credit is calculated
How partial credit is calculated
If "Allow Partial Credit" is toggled on, the total points are divided equally for each correct hot spot. If you select to subtract points for incorrect answers, points will be deducted for any incorrectly marked spot or a missed correct one.
11. Hot Text
Allows you to highlight words, sentences, or paragraphs within a larger text passage and ask students to select the correct ones.
Setup
Setup
Select Hot Text and enter your passage.
Highlight the words/sentences you want to turn into clickable selections.
Click the correct selections to mark them as the answer key.
How it works for students
How it works for students
Students read the passage and click the specific phrases or sentences that answer the prompt.
How scores are calculated
How scores are calculated
Auto-graded. Students earn full credit only if they click the exact correct selections.
How partial credit is calculated
How partial credit is calculated
With "Allow Partial Credit" toggled on, points are divided equally by the number of correct text selections. If you select to subtract points for incorrect answers, points will be deducted for any incorrectly marked text or a missed correct one.
12. Match Table Grid
A grid-based question where students must map items in rows to characteristics in columns.
Setup
Setup
Select Match Table Grid.
Enter your row headers (items) and column headers (categories/traits).
Enable multiple selection if you'd like your students to be able to mark more than one response per trait.
Check the correct boxes in the grid to establish your answer key.
How it works for students
How it works for students
Students read the rows and columns and click the checkboxes in the grid where the rows and columns intersect correctly.
How scores are calculated
How scores are calculated
Auto-graded. Students must select all correct intersections to get full points.
How partial credit is calculated
How partial credit is calculated
With "Allow Partial Credit" toggled on, points are divided equally for each correctly answered cell in the grid. If you select to subtract points for incorrect answers, points will be deducted for any incorrectly marked cell or a missed correct one.
13. Matching
Allows students to match terms, symbols, pictures, and more from two distinct lists.
Setup
Setup
Select Matching.
Enter your Prompts on one side and the corresponding correct Answers on the other side. Threads & Themes will automatically scramble the answers for the student.
How it works for students
How it works for students
Students click and drag the answers from the right side and drop them next to the corresponding prompts on the left side.
Score calculation
Score calculation
Auto-graded. Students must match all pairs correctly to earn full points.
How partial credit is calculated
How partial credit is calculated
With "Allow Partial Credit" toggled on, the total point value is divided equally by the total number of matched pairs. If you select to subtract points for incorrect answers, points will be deducted for any incorrectly matched pairs.
14. Multiple Choice
A standard question type where students select one correct option from a list.
Setup
Setup
Select Multiple Choice.
Enter your question text and add answer choices.
Click the circle next to the correct answer choice to establish the key.
How it works for students
How it works for students
Students read the question and select the single best option from the list of choices.
Score calculation
Score calculation
Auto-graded. Students get full points if the correct choice is selected.
How partial credit is calculated
How partial credit is calculated
By turning on "Allow partial credit", you can manually assign partial point values to specific incorrect distractors (for example, awarding half points for an answer that is "mostly right").
15. Multiple Selection
Similar to multiple choice, but students can select more than one correct answer from the list of options.
Setup
Setup
Select Multiple Selection.
Enter your question text and add all possible choices.
Click the checkboxes next to all of the correct answers to establish your key.
How it works for students
How it works for students
Students read the question and check the boxes for all choices they believe are correct.
Score calculation
Score calculation
Auto-graded. Students receive full points only if they select all correct answers and no incorrect answers.
How partial credit is calculated
How partial credit is calculated
If "Allow Partial Credit" is toggled on, the total point value is divided equally by the number of correct choices. If you select to subtract points for incorrect answers, points will be deducted for any selected answer that is incorrect.
16. Number Line
Allows students to plot points, inequalities, and ranges on a customizable interactive number line.
17. Numeric
Requires a math-based numerical response, allowing for exact values, ranges, or tolerances (margin of error).
18. Resequence
Students drag and drop a list of items into a specific sequential order (e.g., chronological events, steps in a process).
Setup
Setup
Select Resequence.
Enter your items in the correct order. Threads & Themes will automatically shuffle them for your students.
How it works for students
How it works for students
Students click and drag the items up or down into the proper sequence.
Score calculation
Score calculation
Auto-graded. Students earn full points if they arrange every item in the exact correct order.
How partial credit is calculated
How partial credit is calculated
If "Allow Partial Credit" is toggled on, points are awarded based on the number of items placed in the correct relative sequence or exact position.
19. Short Answer
Students type a brief, open-ended text response, typically a single word or short phrase.
Setup
Setup
Select Short Answer.
Type your question or prompt.
Enter the correct answer(s) below to build your answer key. Add acceptable variations if needed.
How it works for students
How it works for students
Students are given a single text box to type out their brief answer.
Score calculation
Score calculation
Auto-graded based on your key. You can toggle on Case Sensitive if capitalization matters. You can also toggle on Partial Match so a student's answer will be marked correct as long as it contains the specific word/phrase you defined in the key (ignoring extra words they might have typed around it).
How partial credit is calculated
How partial credit is calculated
Because this is typically a single-input question, answers are generally marked fully correct or incorrect. However, teachers can manually adjust the score to award partial points during grading.
20. True/False
A classic question type where students evaluate a statement as either true or false.
Setup
Setup
Select True/False.
Enter your statement.
Select either the True or False bubble to set the correct answer.
How it works for students
How it works for students
Students read the statement and click the True or False option.
Score calculation
Score calculation
Auto-graded. Students receive full points for choosing the correct option.
How partial credit is calculated
How partial credit is calculated
Because this is a binary choice, partial credit does not apply.
21. Video Response
Allows students to record a short video using their webcam and microphone as their answer.
Setup
Setup
Select Video Response.
Enter your prompt or instructions for the video.
How this works for students
How this works for students
Students click a record button to capture video directly from their device's camera, and can review the video before submitting.
Score calculation
Score calculation
This question type cannot be auto-graded and requires manual grading by the teacher.
Question Settings
When creating your questions in Threads & Themes, you have access to a variety of toggles and settings to customize how questions are presented and graded. Here is an overview of what each setting does when toggled on:
Show Your Work: Adds a digital drawing canvas to the question. This allows students to upload an image, draw, or write out their thought process alongside their final answer.
Required: Prevents students from submitting the assignment until they have provided an answer for this specific question.
(If Show Your Work is added to a required question, leaving the box empty will not prevent students from submitting their work, however they will be notified that they are submitting a response that has a part missing)
Allow Partial Credit: Automatically distributes the total point value for multi-part questions (like Match Table Grid, Multiple Selection, or Categorize) so students earn points for the portions they get right, even if the entire question isn't 100% correct. Teachers can select to take only correct answers into account, or to subtract points (penalize) for incorrect answers.
Randomize Order: Shuffles the answer choices (e.g., in Multiple Choice or Multiple Selection) so that they appear in a different order for every student, helping to prevent cheating.
Partial Match: (Available for text-input questions like Short Answer and Fill in the Blank). When toggled on, the system marks the student's answer as correct as long as their text contains your exact answer key phrase, even if they add extra words around it.
Case Sensitive: (Available for text-input questions). Forces the auto-grader to check for exact capitalization. If a student does not match the exact uppercase and lowercase letters from your answer key, it will be marked incorrect.
Use Rubric: Replaces the standard numeric point scale with a custom grading rubric, allowing you to evaluate manual-grading question types across multiple specific criteria.
Extra Credit: Removes the question's point value from the assignment's total possible points, but still adds any points the student earns to their final score. This allows students to earn bonus points and potentially achieve a score over 100%.