This lesson provides step-by-step guidance on creating a Multiple Choice Item using Illuminate's NEW Item Bank. This item type allows for a single response to a posed question. These questions are automatically scored.
Where to Start

- Click Assessments.
- Select Browse Item Bank NEW.
Create a New Item


- Click Create Item at the top right hand side of the screen.
- Use the dropdown menu to select Multiple Choice as the item type.
Multiple Choice Items
- Enter the Item Stem. The stem is the beginning part of an item that presents a problem to be solved, a direct question, or an incomplete statement to be completed, as well as any other relevant information.
- To insert a line break in the Stem, use shift-return (or shift-enter, depending on the keyboard).
- Click the radio button to indicate which answer choice is correct. It will highlight in pink.
- To have fewer available answer choices, click the Trash Can icon to remove an answer choice. Click Add Choice to add additional anser choices.
Drafted items are automatically saved.
A limit of 9 choices may be added to Multiple Choice items.
Item Details

- To link a Passage to the item, select the Book icon.
- To link Standard(s) to the item, select the Three Pages icon.
- To add Tags to the item, click the Tag icon.
- Additional Settings are available to edit per item such as Choice Labels, Locking the Choice Order, and Enabling/Disabling Teacher Instructions, Item Stem, and Rationale.
Users must link at least 1 standard when creating an item. If attempting to publish an item without standards, an error message will appear asking for standards to be aligned before publishing again.
Item Preview
- Click Item Preview to see a preview.
- You can select to preview the item from a Student or Instructor role.
- Test the item by selecting a response.
- Click Check Answer to verify the answer key. Correctly-selected answer choices will be indicated with a green checkmark. Both incorrectly-selected answer choices, and answer choices that should have been selected but were not, will be indicated with an orange X.
Publish Item

- When you've completed creating/editing your item, click Done.
- To make your item available to use in an assessment click Publish.
- To save an item that you aren’t ready to publish, click Save Draft.
- To delete your item click Discard.
Once items are Published, you can Lock, Edit, or Delete the item.
Next Steps
Now that you have created a Multiple Choice item, learn about Creating a NEW Item Bank Assessment.