True/False Questions

True/False Questions in Moodle

The True/False question type is one of the simplest question types available in Moodle. Students are presented with a statement and must decide whether it is true or false. Despite its simplicity, this question type is effective for testing factual recall, comprehension of concepts, and identification of common misconceptions.

Creating a True/False Question

1. Navigate to the Question bank in your course.
2. Click Create a new question.
3. Select True/False from the question type selector.
4. Configure the question settings as described below.
5. Click Save changes.

General Settings

• Category: Select the question bank category where this question will be stored.
• Question name: A descriptive name for the question used internally in the Question Bank. This is not displayed to students during the quiz.
• Question text: The statement that students must evaluate as true or false. This field supports the full HTML editor, so you can include formatted text, images, audio clips, videos, and mathematical equations.
• Default mark: The maximum number of marks awarded for a correct answer. The default is 1, but you can set any positive value.
• General feedback: Feedback displayed to the student after the question is answered, regardless of whether the answer is correct or incorrect. Use this to provide explanations, additional context, or references.

Correct Answer

Select whether the correct answer to the statement is True or False. This is the core configuration of the question and determines how the question is graded.

Feedback for Each Response

Moodle allows you to configure separate feedback messages for each response:

• Feedback for the response "True": This feedback is shown to students who select "True", regardless of whether that is the correct answer.
• Feedback for the response "False": This feedback is shown to students who select "False", regardless of whether that is the correct answer.

These feedback fields support the HTML editor and can include explanations, corrections, links to resources, or any other helpful content.

Multiple Tries Settings

When the quiz uses a behaviour that allows multiple tries (such as Interactive with multiple tries or Adaptive mode):

• Penalty for each incorrect try: The fraction of marks deducted for each wrong attempt. For True/False questions, since there are only two options, a penalty of 100% (1.0) is typical, meaning the student gets no marks after a wrong first attempt.
• Hints: You can add hints that are shown when the student answers incorrectly and tries again. Each hint can optionally clear the incorrect response.

Tags

Add tags to the question for organisation and filtering purposes. Tags are useful for creating random question sets in quizzes based on topic or difficulty.

How True/False Questions Are Graded

Grading is straightforward:

• If the student selects the correct answer, they receive the full default mark.
• If the student selects the incorrect answer, they receive 0 marks.
• There is no partial credit for True/False questions.

Guessing Penalty Consideration

Since students have a 50% chance of guessing correctly on a True/False question, consider the following strategies:

• Use True/False questions as part of a larger quiz with other question types.
• Include a sufficient number of True/False questions to reduce the impact of guessing.
• Consider using the CBM (Certainty-Based Marking) quiz behaviour, where students indicate how confident they are in their answer. This rewards genuine knowledge over guessing.

Import and Export

True/False questions can be imported and exported using standard formats:

GIFT Format

// Simple True/False
::Sun is a star::The Sun is a star.{TRUE}

// With feedback
::Water boils::Water boils at 50 degrees Celsius.{FALSE#Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius at standard atmospheric pressure.}

Moodle XML Format

<question type="truefalse">
  <name><text>Earth orbits the Sun</text></name>
  <questiontext format="html">
    <text>The Earth orbits the Sun.</text>
  </questiontext>
  <answer fraction="100" format="plain_text">
    <text>true</text>
    <feedback><text>Correct!</text></feedback>
  </answer>
  <answer fraction="0" format="plain_text">
    <text>false</text>
    <feedback><text>The Earth does orbit the Sun.</text></feedback>
  </answer>
</question>

Best Practices

• Write statements that are clearly and unambiguously true or false. Avoid vague or debatable statements.
• Avoid negative statements (e.g., "X is not Y") as they can be confusing.
• Avoid double negatives entirely.
• Make true and false statements approximately the same length to avoid giving clues.
• Provide detailed feedback for both the true and false responses to maximise learning.
• Use True/False questions to test specific facts rather than complex concepts.