Creating a Multiple Choice Question

Overview

You can create Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) that help in screening the candidates quickly and effortlessly. The Multiple Choice Questions can have one correct answer or multiple correct answers.

You can assign a total score to the MCQ question at the time of its creation. If there is more than one correct answer for a question, then each correct answer is assigned an equal fraction of the total score. This article will walk you through the steps to create a Multiple Choice Question. 

Note: If a candidate selects more answer options than the number of correct answer options, then no point is assigned to the candidate for that question.

Example

A multiple-choice question is assigned 5 points. There are two correct options. Therefore, each option is for 2.5 points. If a candidate selects only one correct option, then the candidate gets only 2.5 points. However, if a candidate selects more than two options, then the candidate receives zero points.

Refer to the MCQ settings topic for more information. You can customize the score for each question while creating a question. You can also change the score for the complete test with multiple-choice questions from the MCQ settings located in advanced settings. The MCQ settings also allow you to assign a negative score for the incorrect answers.

Steps to Create Multiple Choice Questions

• Click on the Library tab on the home page and then click on the Create Question button.

The HackerRank Library page

• In the Select Question Type dialog box, click on the Multiple Choice question type. The Create Multiple Choice Question page is displayed.

Selecting the 'Multiple choice' Question type

Note: To carry out a bulk upload of all multiple-choice questions, perform step 3. Jump to step 4 if you want to create a single question.

• On the top right corner of the Problem Statement page, click on the Bulk Upload MCQs button.

Options to upload multiple-choice Questions from a file

A. In the displayed dialog box, click on the Upload CSV File button to upload a file containing a maximum of 25 rows. 

B. Each row contains one multiple choice question. You can upload multiple CSV files. 

Guidelines for bulk upload

Refer to How to Define CSV File and Perform Bulk Upload For Multiple Choice Questions topic for more information.

Problem Statement

• On the Problem Statement page, specify the following:

A. Problem Name

• The problem name should be short and topical. It should not give any hints to solve the problem.

B. Score

• You can specify the total score you want to allot to a particular question here. If the question has more than one correct answer, each correct answer will get an equal fraction of the total score. This is a mandatory field.

C. Recommended Time

You can specify the amount of time you expect a candidate to spend on the particular question. This is a mandatory field

D. Tags

• (Optional) Select the Tags from the drop-down list or add your own custom tag.
• Tags are words or phrases that help with the searchability and organization of your questions. You can add the existing tags or create new tags. Set the difficulty level for your question by associating the tags as Easy, Medium, or Hard. Alternatively, associate custom tags to identify your question by its complexity or its levels.
• When you view your questions in the Library, the associated tags will be indicated for every question. You can use these tags to generate candidate reports and performance graphs.
•  Refer, Associating the Tags for Questions for more information.

E. Problem Description

The problem statement must be clear and detailed. You can also use tables, graphs, or attachments to enhance clarity.

Defining the Question and the problem statement

F. Interviewer Guidelines
Interviewer Guidelines are for later reference. You can include a rubric about scoring the questions or write solutions to the problems in this section. These can be used by your team while evaluating the test. This step is optional. 

 Note: Interviewer Guidelines are only visible to your team and you.

G. Choices

• In the Choices section, perform the following steps:

i. Select the Allow candidate to select more than one answer checkbox to enable multiple correct answers to the specified problem. This step is optional. 

ii. Specify each answer choice in the fields marked as A, B, C, etc.

iii. If you want to format the answers in a certain way, click format as rich text and type the answers. The rich text editor allows you to include links and upload images. However, if you switch back to edit as normal text, the formatting is not retained.

iv. Click the required radio button to mark the corresponding field as the correct answer.

Note: If there are multiple correct answers, select multiple radio buttons. To perform this operation, you must have selected the option in step i. 

v. Click on the Add one more choice button to create one more option. You can add as many fields as required. This step is optional.

Adding more answer choices

Tip: To delete an answer choice, hover your mouse on the corresponding field, and click on the X on the top right corner.

Deleting an answer choice

• Click on the Save Question button to save and exit. Alternatively, click on the Save & Add another button to save this question and proceed to create another one.
• You can support your problem statement, interviewer guidelines, or answer choices by attaching a relevant reference file in these sections. Refer to How to Attach a File to a Problem Statement topic for more information.
• The questions you create are stored in the HackerRank Library under the “My company questions” section. The question type, assigned score, recommended time, and the associated tags are indicated below every question title as shown below.

The 'Multiple Choice' Question displayed in the Library

While in the Library, you can proceed to create more questions or add questions to your tests.