Educational Quiz Contest Criteria: Round 1, Part 1
The criteria below were developed after the submissions period ended as opposed to at the start of the competition to ensure that we did not prevent creative uses of the platform which we had not predicted.
Our criteria for this round are based on the contest task, as initially announced: “creating original educational quizzes on any subject with at least 30 questions with explanations.” To get a chance for a prize in this round, Quizzes have to be:
1. Educational. The subject can be anything at all, but every Quiz must teach you something instead of just checking what you know. To do this, authors should use explanations that help students understand why the correct answer is right (or the incorrect answer is wrong), pre-poll messages that tell you more about the subject and add context, links to articles and videos with further information – and so on. Naturally, Quizzes also shouldn't contain wrong information.
2. Original. Quizzes must be made by the person who uploaded them. Taking questions, answers and explanations that were made by others from books or websites is not allowed. If media is used in Quizzes, copyrights should be respected (including attribution requirements for free-license media). If Quizzes include materials for further studies, preference is likely to be given to Quizzes where this additional content was also made by the author.
3. Tidy. Bad formatting, poor language and low quality media can make it difficult for students to interact with Quizzes. While a typo or two is not the end of the world, Quizzes that look like a mess or use broken language are very unlikely to win.
Evaluation Process
Our Judges continue to evaluate Quizzes and it will take us some more time to ensure that every Quiz got the attention it deserved and that our judgements were correct.
We have, for the most part, completed the process of eliminating Quizzes which will not be able to receive a prize and you can now submit an appeal if you think your test has been disqualified wrongly.
Note that if your Quiz does not have any of these issues, this does not automatically guarantee that it will receive a prize in this round. But this does make receiving a reward more likely. We will be considering many other factors when determining the winners of this round. We will post more information about this process when the final results are announced.
To help you determine whether or not you should submit an appeal, this document details a simplified version of the criteria that our Judges used to find Quizzes which will not be able to receive a prize in this round.
Appeal Process
If you believe an incorrect verdict has been made, reply to the Judge's comment on your Quiz to appeal. Before you do so, please read the appeals section for the criteria which you believe was applied incorrectly and follow the comment examples.
If you submit an appeal and it is processed in your favor, this does not guarantee that the Quiz will get a prize in this round. It does, however, give it a chance to win. Quizzes with major issues listed here will not be able to get a prize in this round.
- Read through the Criteria.
- Double-check the comment which was left by the Judge on your Quiz.
- If you believe it was incorrect, reply to the Judge's comment on your Quiz to appeal. You must read the appeals section for the criteria which you believe was applied incorrectly and follow the comment examples.
Detailed Criteria for Disqualification
Quizzes that have any of these major issues will, unfortunately, be unable to receive a reward this time.
Note that if your Quiz does not have any of these issues, this does not automatically guarantee that it will receive a prize in this round. But this does make receiving a reward more likely.
1. Bad or missing explanations
2. Quiz content taken from another test
3. Quiz not designed for the platform
4. Bad formatting
5. Language issues
6. Low quality media
7. Advertising
We will be considering many other factors when determining the winners of this round. We will post more information about this process when the final results are announced.
1. Bad or missing explanations
All questions must include explanations. Even if it seems that there's “nothing to explain”, it's always possible to add more context – or at least some interesting fact that makes it easier for students to remember the correct answer. If useful explanations are completely impossible – you've likely chosen the wrong subject for this contest.
Quizzes without useful explanations will often leave students confused about why the correct answer was correct, or why exactly the incorrect answers are not correct. Explaining this is a great way to engage students and encourage them to avoid the same mistake in future.
Quizzes will not be able to receive a prize in this round if:
- 1a. Explanations simply repeat the correct answer. Examples: Chemical Elements, Animals.
- 1b. Questions have the exact same explanation or have the exact same general explanation that doesn't depend on the correct answer. Examples: Color Names, Modal Verbs, The Verb Be.
- 1c. Explanations feature irrelevant data, which has no relation to the subject of the question or answer (or adds no further information about the topic). Examples: Astronomy (emoji illustrations instead of explanations), 30 Applied Science Questions About Coronavirus (explanations which add no further information about the question topic or answer).
However, this elimination rule should NOT be applied if:
- Explanations have the same text but use links to different pages, e.g. Hard Linear Equations OR explanations use slightly different elements depending on the question, e.g. Spelling Rules. Such Quizzes are still not very likely to win, but they should not have been disqualified at this stage.
- Explanations show facts that are related to the question or answer, even if those facts are not directly related to the reason why the answer is correct. E.g., Greek Letters or Astronomy.
- Explanations repeat the correct answer but also add extra facts, or justification for why that answer is the correct one.
Required information for 'explanations' appeals
REMEMBER to reply to the Judge's comment. If you post a standalone comment, your appeal will not be seen.
Example comment
My Quiz was disqualified for explanations being repeated (rule 1b), but this is not true because each explanation contains a link to a different website which explains the correct answer.
2. Quiz content taken from another test
The aim for this contest was to create an original educational Quiz. If Quiz questions are taken from already-existing tests, along with answers and/or explanations, then the author has unfortunately not demonstrated their ability to create an original test and cannot receive a prize.
Additionally, when questions are taken from existing tests, they are likely to not be designed for our platform and may look out of place to students.
Quizzes will not be able to receive a prize in this round if:
- 2. Questions (with Answers and/or Explanations) are taken from another test.
However, this elimination rule should NOT be applied if:
- Questions are original but some parts of the text (in questions, answers, explanations) are copied from another page which is NOT a test (e.g. Wikipedia, news article, etc.). Examples: Historic Photo Quiz, Queen Quiz, Flags Quiz. Such Quizzes are not very likely to win, but they should not have been disqualified at this stage.
- Only the questions can be found elsewhere, without matches for the answers or explanation also being present.
Required information for 'content taken from another test' appeals
📖 Rules for 'content taken from another test'
REMEMBER to reply to the Judge's comment. If you post a standalone comment, your appeal will not be seen.
Judges were required to provide links to where the Quiz content can be found elsewhere. There are two types of appeal available here:
- A. The evidence provided by the judge only matches your Quiz Question (without matching Answers or Explanation).
- B. You are the original creator of the test on the site where the matching content was found and can provide evidence of this.
Example comments
My Quiz was disqualified for content taken from another test, but this is not true because the links you provided only show matches for the Question (without also matching Answers or Explanation).
My Quiz was disqualified for content taken from another test, but this is not true because I am the original creator of this test, and the site you linked is mine. To prove this I have added a link to this quiz on the web page with the original test:
link here.
3. Quiz not designed for the platform
Questions, answers and explanations should be in their proper places. Students will expect all Quizzes they take within our platform to be uniform in style (unless there is a clear reason not to be). Quizzes which are not designed for the platform have the potential to confuse students, and will not look great within our interfaces.
Quizzes will not be able to receive a prize in this round if:
- 3a. Actual answer options are listed as part of the question and the answer options are just “A, B, C, D”, or equivalent. Example: GK Quiz.
- 3b. Quiz uses a completely inappropriate structure that prevents students from interacting with it properly. Example: Tesla Test (probably taken from a textbook, so also not original).
However, this elimination rule should NOT be applied if:
- Answer options are listed fully, but simply prefixed with letter. For example, like in The Norton Anthology of English literature Quiz.
- There is a valid and creative reason for such a structure, like in Question #2 in this IELTS Preparation Test (puts answer options inside the question to go around the platform limitation on multiple answers).
Required information for 'design' appeals
REMEMBER to reply to the Judge's comment. If you post a standalone comment, your appeal will not be seen.
Example comment
My Quiz was disqualified for not being designed for the platform, but this is not true because even though each answer option starts with “A, B, C, D”, they still contain the option text also. “A, B, C, D” is not the only text in the answer options.
4. Bad formatting
Major formatting issues make a Quiz look bad. Especially if strange symbols or emoji replacements are used without a purpose.
Quizzes will not be able to receive a prize in this round if:
- 4a. Random emoji and symbol replacements are used in text. Example: GK Quiz.
- 4b. Formatting is extremely inconsistent throughout the Quiz, questions switch styles without any reason. Example: GK Quiz.
However, this elimination rule should NOT be applied if:
- Questions deliberately switch style for a reason which is obvious. For example a Quiz may deliberately have a normal section, and then a section which requires multiple choice answers (so switches to having answer options as part of the question text).
Required information for 'formatting' appeals
REMEMBER to reply to the Judge's comment. If you post a standalone comment, your appeal will not be seen.
Example comment
My Quiz was disqualified for bad formatting, but the judge's examples of unusual formatting are for cases where the this was intended for a valid reason. … [Explain reasons in more detail]
5. Language issues
Quizzes with language issues will be more difficult for students to understand, and may cause confusion for non-fluent speakers who are unable to understand txt wth slght issues.
Quizzes will not be able to receive a prize in this round if:
- 5. Typos, grammar, punctuation, style and other language issues that prevent you from taking the Quiz properly, or impact readability.
However, this elimination rule should NOT be applied if:
- The issues are very minor and don't impact readability at all, such as using a hyphen instead of a dash.
Required information for 'language issues' appeals
REMEMBER to reply to the Judge's comment. If you post a standalone comment, your appeal will not be seen.
Example comment
My Quiz was disqualified for language issues, but not for typos or any other issue which impacts readability at all.
6. Low quality media
If media quality is especially bad it can distract from the content of the Quiz and make it more difficult for students to understand the question being asked.
Quizzes will not be able to receive a prize in this round if:
- 6. Media quality is especially bad, especially if it takes away focus from the quiz question.
However, this elimination rule should NOT be applied if:
- Images take up a large amount of space but some text is not very clearly readable. This is likely a high quality image, and won't be an issue when students are taking the Quiz with @QuizBot since media can be zoomed in there.
Required information for 'media' appeals
REMEMBER to reply to the Judge's comment. If you post a standalone comment, your appeal will not be seen.
Example comments
My Quiz was disqualified for media issues, but there is no issue with the quality of the images.
My Quiz was disqualified for media issues, but I think it was only because the media doesn't show up (or shows as a file) on quiz.directory. They show up properly when taking the Quizzes with @QuizBot and have no quality issues.
7. Advertising
Quizzes with outright advertising are not able to receive a prize. Advertising reduces the educational value of the Quiz and distracts from the main focus which should be content and questions.
Quizzes will not be able to receive a prize in this round if:
- 7a. They contain outright advertising (with links to websites or channels, calls to action, etc.) in questions, pre-poll messages, explanations or answer options without it providing any value. Sometimes an entire question can be an ad: Q: What is the best toothpaste to brush your teeth? A: Our toothpaste! Exp: Visit toothpaste.com for the best toothpaste. Examples: The last question in this Instagram Quiz is an outright ad for a website. Several explanations in this GK Quiz contain only the text “For more quizzes join @channel”
However, this elimination rule should NOT be applied if:
- The Quiz description mentions that it was created by the owners of a channel, website or studio, and that is the only advertising present, it's alright. Even if users are asked to check out the channel first. Example: Vocabulary quiz that mentions its parent channel in the description but has no other examples of advertising.
- Links that look like advertising are present in explanations, but there is a valid reason for the link being there. For example, to give more information about or explain the reason for the correct answer in a channel or on a third-party website.
Required information for 'advertising' appeals
REMEMBER to reply to the Judge's comment. If you post a standalone comment, your appeal will not be seen.
Example comments
My Quiz was disqualified for advertising, but there is ONLY 1 link in the Description of the Quiz. None in the main part.
My Quiz was disqualified for advertising, but the links in the explanations are there to give more information about or explain the reason for the correct answer.