In the Order List Question type, learners organize a list of responses into a specified order. This Question can be used to reorder words, paragraphs of text, or sentences within a paragraph.
Figure 1: Order List Question example.
Create a Question
Watch the "How to create an Order List Question" tutorial video.
Enter a Question stem in the Compose question area. In the List section below enter words, sentences or paragraphs you want the learners to arrange into the correct order as shown in Figure 2. Click on +Add below the section to add more boxes and click on the delete icon beside a box to remove it. It is possible to re-order your response list while authoring your content. Simply drag the list item using the drag handle to the left and place it in the appropriate position.
Figure 2: Order List Question basic parameters.
Follow these steps in order to configure Question validation:
- Insert a value in the Point(s) box to set up a mark for the Question. The default value is 1.
- The Correct tab holds the list of elements to be ordered. To validate the Question simply arrange the elements in the expected order. See the example in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Order list validation.
Layout
You can choose the Question Layout. Options are Button, List or Inline.
You can then also toggle Drag Handles. They appear on the left of the list elements and can be disabled.
Shuffle options
Shuffle Options will display the list items in a different order each time the Question is rendered.
More options
Under the More Options section, you can change formatting settings, and scoring types, apply different styles to your Question and show the check answer button.
The following scoring types are available in Order List Question types:
- Exact Match - Learners must answer all parts of the Question correct to receive a mark.
- Partial Match Per Response - Each response entity will be marked individually and marks will be awarded if responses are in the correct position. Each response entity will be awarded an individual score.
- Partial Match - Each response entity will be marked individually and marks will be awarded if responses are in the correct position. The overall Question score will be divided between the response items.
- Partial Pairwise Per Response - Entities are compared in pairs to determine the score.
Other Scoring options:
- Unscored/Practice usage type - Enabling this option will remove all scoring from the Question.
- Penalty point(s) - The value entered here indicates marks that will be deducted from the learner for an incorrect response.
- Check answer button - If this is enabled, a "Check answer button" will appear to the learner alongside the Question; clicking this button will indicate to the learner if their answer is correct or incorrect, but it will not tell them the correct response. This can be useful for informal assessment.
- Check answer attempts - The value entered here will indicate how many times the learner can use the "Check answer button". A value of 0 indicates an infinite number of times.
- Minimum points if attempted1 - Points awarded to the learner for attempting the Question, regardless of a correct or incorrect response.
Note
It is important not to set up the possible responses in the same sort order as the correct response(s).
Doing so might result in the learner not attempting the Question which will result in an incorrect score being applied because the system considers the Question unattempted.
'Extra' options
The extras section in the authoring interface allows you to add more information about the Question, information that we refer to as metadata.
There are a number of fields available: acknowledgements, contains math, distractor rationale, distractors, instructor stimulus, rubric reference, sample answer, and stimulus (review only).
To learn more about the options shown in the Extras section, see Understanding the Extras Section of the Question Editor.
1. Note: “Minimum points if attempted” replaces the earlier label “Minimum score if attempted”. Version added: v2026.1.LTS