Text/Numerical Response/Match Questions

The text match question requires a student to supply an answer to a question or complete a blank within a brief piece of text, using words, symbols or numbers.

Example of a text match question

A possible advantage of this question type is that the student must supply the correct answer rather than identify or choose it. The likelihood that the candidate will guess the correct answer is lower than that of a multiple choice question. However, the short answer response questions can be difficult to phrase in such a way that only a single correct answer is possible.

Additionally, if you are marking the assessments with computers, spelling errors may disadvantage students who know the right answer. However, with some software, the test designer can identify numerous permutations of the correct answer for which the student will be awarded full marks. For example if "United States" were the correct response to a text match question, the author of the test could designate full marks to be awarded for all of the following: "United States", "US", "USA" and "United States of America".