Spreadsheet

The spreadsheet question type assesses whether learners can actually complete spreadsheet tasks — not whether they can answer questions about spreadsheets. Ideal for any context where spreadsheet proficiency matters: K-12 curriculum, business and finance certification, corporate training, or professional development.

Learners work in a realistic spreadsheet environment, entering formulas and completing templates just as they would on the job. Responses are automatically scored with partial credit and cell-level diagnostic feedback.

Try it

Imagine assessing a learner's ability to complete a personal budget—a common task in business and finance programs. The template includes expense categories and fixed values. The learner must enter the correct formulas to complete the budget.

Your task is to enter forumlas into the blank (red) cells of the table to compute the expected values described in column C (e.g. cell B3 should contain the forumla =B2*35% or =B2*.35).

Note: The spreadsheet question type can be set to provide immediate feedback (as in this demo), delayed feedback through a "Check Answer" button, or no feedback for summative use cases.

The Scoring Challenge We've Solved

Building a spreadsheet widget is straightforward. Scoring learner responses intelligently is not. Our automatic scoring handles the complexity that makes this item type actually useful for assessment:

• Partial credit — Each cell is scored independently, giving learners credit for what they got right
• Multiple valid approaches — Accept =B2*0.35, =B2*35%, or =35%*B2 as equivalent correct answers
• Cell-level diagnostics — Pinpoint exactly where a learner went wrong, not just "incorrect"
• Formula equivalence — Evaluate correctness based on logic, not string matching

Creating Spreadsheet Assessments

We provide authoring tools that let you create spreadsheet items from templates or from scratch. Import existing spreadsheet data, define which cells require learner input, and specify the scoring criteria—all through an intuitive interface.

Here is a screencast of creating a spreadsheet assessment with CSV data.

Using CSV Data to Create a Spreadsheet Question