Now that you've started to build an advanced assessment, you may want to add a graphing question.

➡️ Need help getting started with Advanced Assessments? Click here

In the Graphing and Graphing in the First Quadrant questions, students can plot points, lines, and shapes on a coordinate grid.

❗ Note - the Graphing and Graphing in the First Quadrant question types are identical in their creation. The only difference is the following:

Graphing - contains the entire coordinate plane (all four quadrants)
Graphing in the First Quadrant - only contains the first quadrant.

With this question type, students are able to graph the following:

Points
Lines
Rays
Segments
Vectors
Circles
Parabolas
Sine
Polygons

Example:

Article Table of Contents

Build the Question

If you are creating a new item, select the + Create button on the assessment builder, title the item, and then select the Add New plus sign to add a question.

If you are adding to an existing item, simply select the Add New plus sign (as shown above) to add a question to the item.

Next, select the Graphing category from the options on the left. Then select Graphing OR Graphing in the First Quadrant.

❗ Note - the Graphing and Graphing in the First Quadrant question types are identical in their creation. The only difference is the following:

Graphing - contains the entire coordinate plane (all four quadrants)
Graphing in the First Quadrant - only contains the first quadrant.

Step 1: Compose the Question

Type the question prompt into this field.

You have many formatting options from the Rich Text toolbar, including changing the font size, adding tables, using math symbols, adding multimedia, and more! Click here for more information on the different functions of the Rich Text toolbar.

Step 2: Determine Graph Parameters

This allows you to set the minimum and maximum values of the x and y-axis.

➡️ Default

➡️ Customize

You can determine your own min and max values for the x and y-axis.
As you change these values, the graph will automatically adjust to show the updated values. You can continuously view the graph to make sure you set the exact parameters you need.

💡 Tip from the Otus Team: We recommend adding at least 0.4 to the minimums and maximums. This will make the label visible and also allow for additional space on the graph. See the examples below.

Step 3: Add Student Tools

In this section, you will choose the tools the students will have access to when they answer the question. The tools available are:
- Move, Label, Point, Line, Ray, Segment, Vector, Circle, Parabola, Sine, and Polygon

➡️ Default

The default setting has two buttons; Point and Move.

➡️ Customize

You can customize which tools the students have access to, the order of those tools, and the tool that is automatically selected when the student begins the question (called the "default tool").
To add tools, select the blue + Add button.

Example: the example below has the following tools enabled:
- Button 1 (first button): Point
- Button 2 (second button): Line
- Button 3 (third button): Label
- Default tool (selected when student begins the question): Point

➡️ Add Background Image (Optional)

A background image is used in scenarios when you want an image already on the graph when presented to the students.
- In the example below, the triangle is on the graph when the students get to that question. They are being asked to reflect it across the y-axis.

To add the background image, expand the More Options menu. Scroll until you reach the Background Image section

You can either upload your own using the + Add button with the first option, or you can create one right on the graph, as shown above.

Set Correct Answers and Scoring

In this section, you will set the correct answers and point values for the question.
- If you want additional answers to be considered for partial credit, we recommend adding alternate answers by selecting the blue + button.
- In the example below, the full-credit correct answer is on the left, set for 1 point. An alternate answer is on the right, set for 0.5 points.

❗ Important Note: The scoring for graphing questions is all-or-nothing; the student must correctly include all elements of the correct answer in order to earn the points.

In the example above, if the student does not graph the point (8,3), they will not earn the point, even if the line itself is graphed correctly.

Student Preview

It's highly recommended to Preview the question as you are building it in the item. This displays the question as the students will see it and also verifies that the answers and scoring work as expected.

Step 1: Select the Preview button to go into Preview mode.
Step 2: Answer the question with the correct answers, including alternates.
- Selecting Show Answers will present the correct answers.
Step 3: Verify that the auto-score correctly calculates the point value.

Here is a short clip of this question type from the student's perspective.

If you'd like to see specific parts of the tutorial, use the timing outline below:

Overview: Begins the video
Point - 0:21
Line - 0:43
Segment, Ray, Vector, Circle, Parabola, & Sine - 1:05
Shortcut Hint - 1:44
Polygon, Label, and Move - 2:26
Graphing in the 1st Quadrant - 3:14

➡️ Want to preview the entire assessment? Click here for details.

More Options

There are additional scoring, layout, grid, and control options. First, expand the More Options menu.

❗ Note - there are many different ways to customize the x and y-axis, including the distance between units and where students can graph points. We recommend playing around with these settings to see exactly how they affect your graph. Each time you make a change, the graph will update, so you can continuously check to see how the change applies.

➡️ Scoring

There are additional options for scoring.

Unscored/Practice usage: removes all scoring from the item.
Check answer button & Check answer attempts: find more information here!
Penalty points: use this option if you want students to lose points for giving incorrect answers.
Minimum score if attempted: student will receive points as long as the question has been attempted (if the question is left blank or is unanswered, the student will not earn those points).

➡️ Grid

This is where you will determine the distance between the units and ticks on the x and y-axis. The options for the x and y-axis are identical.

➡️ Defaults

The default settings are shown below.

➡️ Customize

For the purposes of this example, we will show the first quadrant as customizations are made

X/Y Distance: the intervals at which the grid lines (units) will be placed.

Tick Distance: the intervals at which ticks will be added in between the units.

Show Axis Label: Determines whether the x and y-axis are labeled or not. You can customize the labels.

Hide Ticks: enabling this option removes the tick marks representing each interval.

Drawl Labels: Disabling this option removes the labels (numbers) from the grid.

Min arrow/Max arrow: Disabling these options will remove the arrows at the ends of the x and y-axis.

Comma in label: this option does not apply to Otus.

➡️ Layout

These are the layout options that apply to Otus:

Width and Height
- This will adjust the size of the graph when presented to the students. The default is 600 x 600. See an example below of what it looks like when the width and height are changed.

Snap To
- This option defines how points can be plotted on the graph.
  - Grid (default): points can only be graphed at intersections.
  - Ticks: points can be graphed at intersections and at tick marks.
  - Any numerical value: points can be graphed at intersections, at tick marks, and at an interval of that number within the cells. The example below shows 0.25.
  - Blank: points can be plotted anywhere on the graph (not recommended, as it makes auto-scoring very difficult).

➡️ Annotation

Annotations allow you to add a title to the graph, as well as any labels you'd like.

➡️ Controls

The controls are the options student have to undo, redo, reset, or delete what they've placed on the graph.

➡️ Default

The default allows undo, redo, and reset (in that order)

➡️ Customize

You can add the delete option by selecting the + add button.
You can remove any option by selecting the trash can icon.
You can reorder by selecting different options in each box.

❓ What is the difference between reset and delete? Selecting reset will clear the entire graph of all student work. Selecting delete will allow the student to choose which parts of their work they would like to remove.