Example Items

AI Testbanks parses every sentence, figure, and table within a text to create the maximum amount of quality questions.  Subject matter experts then use efficient web tools to review, refine, and save the best items. 

All of AI Testbanks items are designed to test meaningful concepts with rigor and variety. 

All items are automatically tagged to learning objectives or standards, Bloom's taxonomy levels, and rationale/excerpts.  Scroll down to review a few of our question types.
Figure Identification - Drag and Drop
In this question type, figures within a text that contain key learning concepts are extracted.  Each key term is removed from the figure and used as a distractor.  Students drag and drop the key learning concepts into the appropriate place on the figure.
Bloom's Taxonomy Level: 4

Learning Objectives:
  • Identify the causes of the Mexican-American War
  • Describe the outcomes of the war in 1848, especially the Mexican Cession
  • Describe the effect of the California Gold Rush on westward expansion
Bloom's Taxonomy Level: 4

Learning Objectives:
  • Describe the structure and functions of the neuron
  • Draw a diagram of the pathways of communication within and between neurons
Bloom's Taxonomy Level: 4

Learning Objectives:
  • Describe the structure and features of the nuclear membrane
  • List the contents of the nucleus

Figure Identification - Multiple Choice

In this question type, figures within a text that contain key learning concepts are automatically extracted.  Terms are replaced by numbered boxes and the learner must choose which of the numbered boxes represents one of the terms.  The amount of problems generated is equal to the number of terms in the image.  For instance, if there are five different blank boxes, there will be five different problems created, each testing a different term.
Bloom's Taxonomy Level: 4

Learning Objectives:
  • State the main digestive roles of the liver, pancreas, and gallbladder
  • Identify three main features of liver histology that are critical to its function
Bloom's Taxonomy Level: 4

Learning Objectives:
  • Describe the structure and features of the nuclear membrane
  • List the contents of the nucleus
Bloom's Taxonomy Level: 4

Learning Objectives:
  • Describe the structures and function of the "old brain" and its influence on behavior
  • Explain the structure of the cerebral cortex (its hemispheres and lobes) and the function of each area of the cortex
Real-World-Cases - Multiple Choice
In this question type, examples or real-world-cases are identified within the text that relate to important learning concepts.  Students identify the best example for the key concept.
Bloom's Taxonomy Level: 2

Learning Objectives:
  • Describe the European societies that engaged in conversion, conquest, and commerce
  • Discuss the motives for and mechanisms of early European exploration

Rationale/Excerpt:
The Islamic conquest of Europe continued until 732. Then, at the Battle of Tours (in modern France), Charles Martel, nicknamed the Hammer, led a Christian force in defeating the army of Abdul Rahman al-Ghafiqi. Muslims, however, retained control of much of Spain, where Córdoba, known for leather and wool production, became a major center of learning and trade. By the eleventh century, a major Christian holy war called the Reconquista, or reconquest, had begun to slowly push Muslims from Spain. With the start of the Crusades, the wars between Christians and Muslims for domination of the Holy Land (the Biblical region of Palestine), Christians in Spain and around Europe began to see the Reconquista as part of a larger religious struggle with Islam.​
Bloom's Taxonomy Level: 2

Learning Objectives:
  • Explain how learning can be shaped through the use of reinforcement schedules and secondary reinforcers

Rationale/Excerpt:
Partial reinforcement schedules are determined by whether the reinforcement is presented on the basis of the time that elapses between reinforcement (interval) or on the basis of the number of responses that the organism engages in (ratio), and by whether the reinforcement occurs on a regular (fixed) or unpredictable (variable) schedule. In a fixed-interval schedule, reinforcement occurs for the first response made after a specific amount of time has passed. For instance, on a one-minute fixed-interval schedule the animal receives a reinforcement every minute, assuming it engages in the behaviour at least once during the minute. 
Bloom's Taxonomy Level: 2

Learning Objectives:
  • Contrast negative and positive feedback, giving one physiologic example of each mechanism​

Rationale/Excerpt:
The first contractions of labor (the stimulus) push the baby toward the cervix (the lowest part of the uterus). The cervix contains stretch-sensitive nerve cells that monitor the degree of stretching (the sensors). These nerve cells send messages to the brain, which in turn causes the pituitary gland at the base of the brain to release the hormone oxytocin into the bloodstream. Oxytocin causes stronger contractions of the smooth muscles in of the uterus (the effectors), pushing the baby further down the birth canal. This causes even greater stretching of the cervix. The cycle of stretching, oxytocin release, and increasingly more forceful contractions stops only when the baby is born. At this point, the stretching of the cervix halts, stopping the release of oxytocin.
Real-World-Cases - Drag and Drop
In this question type, examples or real-world-cases are identified within the text that relate to important learning concepts.  The student then matches the key learning concept to the example.
Bloom's Taxonomy Level: 4

Learning Objectives:
  • Locate on a map the major American civilizations before the arrival of the Spanish
  • Discuss the cultural achievements of these civilizations
  • Discuss the differences and similarities between lifestyles, religious practices, and customs among native peoples
Bloom's Taxonomy Level: 4

Learning Objectives:
  • Compare and contrast the techniques that scientists use to view and understand brain structures and functions.
Key Term - Multiple Choice
In this question type, passages are identified within the text that contain key terms or phrases.  The key term or phrase is removed from the sentence as the correct answer.  Algorithms then identify distractors that are like in context, similar in length, plausible and mutually exclusive.  Students choose the correct key concept from the options provided. 
Bloom's Taxonomy Level: 2

Learning Objectives:
  • Describe the process of transcription

Rationale/Excerpt:
Gene expression begins with the process called transcription, which is the synthesis of a strand of mRNA that is complementary to the gene of interest. This process is called transcription because the mRNA is like a transcript, or copy, of the gene’s DNA code. Transcription begins in a fashion somewhat like DNA replication, in that a region of DNA unwinds and the two strands separate, however, only that small portion of the DNA will be split apart. The triplets within the gene on this section of the DNA molecule are used as the template to transcribe the complementary strand of RNA (Figure 3.26). A codon is a three-base sequence of mRNA, so-called because they directly encode amino acids. Like DNA replication, there are three stages to transcription: initiation, elongation, and termination.
Bloom's Taxonomy Level: 2

Learning Objectives:
  • Describe the European societies that engaged in conversion, conquest, and commerce
  • Discuss the motives for and mechanisms of early European exploration

Rationale/Excerpt:
Religious zeal motivated the knights who participated in the four Crusades. Adventure, the chance to win land and a title, and the Church’s promise of wholesale forgiveness of sins also motivated many. The Crusaders, mostly French knights, retook Jerusalem in June 1099 amid horrific slaughter. A French writer who accompanied them recorded this eyewitness account: “On the top of Solomon’s Temple, to which they had climbed in fleeing, many were shot to death with arrows and cast down headlong from the roof. Within this Temple, about ten thousand were beheaded. If you had been there, your feet would have been stained up to the ankles with the blood of the slain. What more shall I tell? Not one of them was allowed to live. They did not spare the women and children.” A Muslim eyewitness also described how the conquerors stripped the temple of its wealth and looted private homes.​
Bloom's Taxonomy Level: 2

Learning Objectives:
  • Describe the structures and function of the “old brain” and its influence on behaviour.
  • Explain the structure of the cerebral cortex (its hemispheres and lobes) and the function of each area of the cortex.
  • Define the concepts of brain plasticity, neurogenesis, and brain lateralization.

Rationale/Excerpt:
The cerebellum (literally, “little brain”) consists of two wrinkled ovals behind the brain stem. It functions to coordinate voluntary movement. People who have damage to the cerebellum have difficulty walking, keeping their balance, and holding their hands steady. Consuming alcohol influences the cerebellum, which is why people who are drunk have more difficulty walking in a straight line. Also, the cerebellum contributes to emotional responses, helps us discriminate between different sounds and textures, and is important in learning (Bower & Parsons, 2003).

True / False 

In this question tyupe, statements related to learning concepts are extracted from the text.  The statements are randomly presented verbatim (true) or changed in ways that make the statement absolutely false.  
Bloom's Taxonomy Level: 2

Learning Objectives:
  • Describe the stages of mitosis and cytokinesis, in order

Rationale/Excerpt:
Metaphase is the second stage of mitosis. During this stage, the sister chromatids, with their attached microtubules, line up along a linear plane in the middle of the cell. A metaphase plate forms between the centrosomes that are now located at either end of the cell. The metaphase plate is the name for the plane through the center of the spindle on which the sister chromatids are positioned. The microtubules are now poised to pull apart the sister chromatids and bring one from each pair to each side of the cell.​
Bloom's Taxonomy Level: 2

Learning Objectives:
  • Describe the structures and function of the “old brain” and its influence on behaviour.
  • Explain the structure of the cerebral cortex (its hemispheres and lobes) and the function of each area of the cortex.
  • Define the concepts of brain plasticity, neurogenesis, and brain lateralization.

Rationale/Excerpt:
Plasticity is also observed when there is damage to the brain or to parts of the body that are represented in the motor and sensory cortexes. When a tumor in the left hemisphere of the brain impairs language, the right hemisphere will begin to compensate to help the person recover the ability to speak (Thiel et al., 2006). And if a person loses a finger, the area of the sensory cortex that previously received information from the missing finger will begin to receive input from adjacent fingers, causing the remaining digits to become more sensitive to touch (Fox, 1984).