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I'm currently designing exams in a country of South America. I have to do some tests in a number of educational centers.

I have about 500 questions in word, and all the answers I have ordered so that the first answers are always correct (that was the format requested for review). But later on I will need: to change the order of the answers, then I will have to classify the 500 questions in 3 teams, then divide them into 2 groups, THEN, order the questions to do 4 different exams.

As you can see it is a long work that I have to do and I wonder if there is any software that could make the task easier.

Edit: I need to export the exams a word to be able to print or edit them later.

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Seems like you should definitely have a look at the Drupal CMS (I recommend version 7, not yet 8 since it is not mature enough). And then combine it with either of these contributed modules, which are typically used for purposes similar to what you seem to be looking for (quotes are from the linked pages):

  • Course:

    Create Drupal e-learning courses with any number of requirements for completion.

  • Quiz:

    The Quiz module lets you create graded assessments in Drupal. A Quiz is given as a series of questions. Answers are then stored in the database. Scores and results are displayed during or after the quiz. Administrators can provide automatic or manual feedback. See all the features below!

  • Exam:

    Enables you to use your Drupal site to hold exams. Integrates with the Organic Groups module so that all group members will be put into exam mode when the time for exam arrives. In exam mode the users can only access a predefined set of pages in a predefined order, and all blocks are hidden except those you want to be visible in exam mode. Exam pages are only visible when taking exams.

Printing

About your additional comment, i.e.:

I need to export the exams to word to print them, because they must be passed face-to-face

You could actually just start with an approach like so:

  • each question is 1 "node" (a Drupal-core-concept), of content 'type' say "Question".
  • each answer is a 1 "node, of content 'type' say "Answer".
  • think of 1 node as equivalent to 1 word doc).
  • use the Print module to either "print" such nodes, or export them to PDF (no support for word, sorry).

You could even create "relationships" between questions and answers. E.g. by using the Answers module (disclosure, I'm its maintainer ...). Demo of the Answers module contains an online demo of this module.

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  • Thank you very much for responding, I already knew drupal but I had no idea what I was capable of! Although I had an error when asking the question, I need to export the exams to word to print them, because they must be passed face-to-face and unfortunately, my mistake – Ariel Chepito May 19 '17 at 17:47
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Not gratis or libre, but Respondus can work with word docs in a specific format. Here in the US you can get a 30 day free trial with an email address. If you aren't running windows, I have successfully run it via Wine on a Linux machine but that was several years ago.

Alternatively you could perhaps load them into a course management system (learning management system) and generate tests there, printing previews of random sets. Most of them support this. If this is of interest, you can run Moodle (both libre and gratis) on your own machine or in a VM, or you could get a free Canvas shell at http://courses.instructure.com

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  • Thank you very much for responding. I already have words docs although I wanted to know if there was any way to make the job easier. Do you recommend any CMS where you can print all the tests? Because that is the modality that must be delivered, printed. – Ariel Chepito May 19 '17 at 17:51
  • In "instructor" view you should be able to print any test from either Canvas or Moodle - the others I've used are out of business or no longer the same thing I used despite having the same name. – ivanivan May 19 '17 at 17:57
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I would use Excel (LibreOffice Calc or OpenOffice)

Let me explain what I have on each column. I am sorry the random formula is in Spanish. I think it is "RANDOMBETWEEN(a,b)"

The first 3 questions are examples and the fourth question is the formula applied.

enter image description here

D. Question on one row. One Answer in next row, Second answer next row...

A. Categories (Whatever code you need)

B. Here is the trick. We need to randomize the questions. So I simply put a random function. To avoid repetition I use a pretty large range, like 1-1,000,000. This function is only on the questions (orange).

The answers are just a copy of the above random number, so these answers have the same "Base" number (yellow).

C. Now, on the question, I assign a 0 (Zero) (Aqua) and on the answers another random number from 1-100 (Lime)

These formulas are pretty easy to copy and extend to all the 500 questions.

Step 2. Copy them and paste them into a new spreadsheet pasting the values, not the formulas and re-arrange them as you need. The questions will be randomized but will keep the answers together, then this answers will be randomized.

You can copy and paste this into a Word document.

You can have additional columns with the original order, or another filter you need, for example, a category like Q-A-A-A-A so you can format all Q.

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Try QST at Quiz/Survey/Test Online - qstonline.ca Full featured examination platform with a GradeBook also. Open source, runs on most operating systems, highly scalable. Too many features to list.

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