---
title: Custom multiple choice, short answer, and free-form questions
description: In addition to interactive challenges, you can select, create, or build a library of graded questions and free-form inputs that can be used in Assessments. Questions are automatically graded and inclu
---

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# Custom multiple choice, short answer, and free-form questions

In addition to interactive challenges, you can select, create, or build a library of graded **questions** and **free-form** inputs that can be used in Assessments.

**Questions** are automatically graded and include either *multiple choice* or *short answer*. **Free-form** are ungraded and can be answered via text, video, whiteboard, or file upload.

- [Custom question sets](https://help.coderbyte.com/knowledge/how-to-format-custom-questions#custom-question-sets)
- [Section settings](https://help.coderbyte.com/knowledge/how-to-format-custom-questions#section-settings)
- [Question customization](https://help.coderbyte.com/knowledge/how-to-format-custom-questions#question-customization)
- [Custom tags](https://help.coderbyte.com/knowledge/how-to-format-custom-questions#custom-tags)

### Custom question sets

If you want to reuse multiple choice or open-ended question sets across multiple Assessments, click (1) **Custom library** and then either (2) **Questions** or **Free-form.**

![](https://help.coderbyte.com/hs-fs/hubfs/CleanShot%202025-10-02%20at%2015-07-40@2x-png.png?width=670&height=251&name=CleanShot%202025-10-02%20at%2015-07-40@2x-png.png)

From there, you can click the **New question set** button or edit one of your existing sets. When editing or creating a new set, a modal will appear where you can provide your custom set name, customize your questions or free-form inputs, and click save.

![](https://help.coderbyte.com/hs-fs/hubfs/CleanShot%202025-10-02%20at%2015-32-05@2x-png.png?width=670&height=529&name=CleanShot%202025-10-02%20at%2015-32-05@2x-png.png)

#### Importing questions from a JSON file

If you want to bulk import custom questions your team created elsewhere, you can use our JSON file upload feature. Click **Import** and then select the corresponding file. Below are formatting requirements:

- [View example question file](https://gist.github.com/danielborowski/60c72adc2a0acb05bfdebc24b6003aa8)
- [View example free-form file](https://gist.github.com/danielborowski/6a7deed21e7f5fd1b6dbce9b3725e73a)

![CleanShot 2026-09-17 at 13.45.21@2x](https://help.coderbyte.com/hs-fs/hubfs/CleanShot%202026-09-17%20at%2013.45.21@2x.png?width=670&height=235&name=CleanShot%202026-09-17%20at%2013.45.21@2x.png)

### Section settings

Within an Assessment, you can set the order in which the candidate will see the question types by clicking **Edit** and then navigating to **Settings.** This is important if your Assessment is timed and you want to ensure that candidates attempt the most important sections first. However, candidates can skip sections if they choose.

![](https://help.coderbyte.com/hs-fs/hubfs/CleanShot%202025-02-25%20at%2014-03-55-png.png?width=670&height=393&name=CleanShot%202025-02-25%20at%2014-03-55-png.png)

You can also [randomize which questions are shown](https://help.coderbyte.com/knowledge/randomize-multiple-choice-questions?hsLang=en) to candidates and require candidates to [answer questions one-at-a-time](https://help.coderbyte.com/knowledge/progressive-loading?hsLang=en).

### Question customization

The editor used for questions and free-form inputs allows you to customize text style in a few ways:

- Add headers
- Bold, italicize, underline text
- Add images
- Highlight snippets of code

![](https://help.coderbyte.com/hs-fs/hubfs/CleanShot%202025-02-25%20at%2014-10-39-png.png?width=520&height=366&name=CleanShot%202025-02-25%20at%2014-10-39-png.png)

#### Selecting free-form input type

Free-form inputs can be answered with text, [video](https://help.coderbyte.com/knowledge/enable-video-response-to-open-ended-question?hsLang=en), [file upload](https://help.coderbyte.com/knowledge/enable-file-upload-responses-to-open-ended?hsLang=en), or [whiteboard](https://help.coderbyte.com/knowledge/enable-whiteboard-responses-to-open-ended-questions?hsLang=en). You can select the default option for each before saving your set.

![Screenshot 2025-02-25 at 2.11.32 PM](https://help.coderbyte.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Screenshot%202025-02-25%20at%202.11.32%20PM.png?width=523&height=204&name=Screenshot%202025-02-25%20at%202.11.32%20PM.png)

#### AI analysis of free-form answers

If you'd like to have free-form responses automatically analyzed and/or scored, you can [enable AI analysis](https://help.coderbyte.com/knowledge/ai-analysis-of-free-form-answers?hsLang=en) and provide a custom prompt. Simply edit any assessment, navigate to the **Free-form** section, and toggle **Enable AI analysis**. 

Once enabled, you can define how the AI should evaluate answers by entering a prompt in the AI analysis field.

![CleanShot 2026-03-13 at 11.51.21@2x](https://help.coderbyte.com/hs-fs/hubfs/CleanShot%202026-03-13%20at%2011.51.21@2x.png?width=670&height=383&name=CleanShot%202026-03-13%20at%2011.51.21@2x.png)

#### Selecting question type

By editing an Assessment and navigating to **Questions** or your custom **Question** library, you can add either a *multiple choice* or *short-answer* question.

![CleanShot 2025-06-08 at 06.32.57](https://help.coderbyte.com/hs-fs/hubfs/CleanShot%202025-06-08%20at%2006.32.57.png?width=538&height=342&name=CleanShot%202025-06-08%20at%2006.32.57.png)

Short answers require the candidate to input an exact match to any of the answer options provided.

![CleanShot 2025-06-08 at 06.43.43](https://help.coderbyte.com/hs-fs/hubfs/CleanShot%202025-06-08%20at%2006.43.43.png?width=670&height=137&name=CleanShot%202025-06-08%20at%2006.43.43.png)

#### Customizing multiple choice answers

Click the **pencil icon** at the bottom right of any question, which will open up an editor for each answer, allowing you to style the text, add images, add snippets of code, and more.

![](https://help.coderbyte.com/hs-fs/hubfs/CleanShot%202025-10-02%20at%2015-23-21@2x-png.png?width=670&height=526&name=CleanShot%202025-10-02%20at%2015-23-21@2x-png.png)

You can mark *multiple answers as correct* and require the candidate to select all correct answers. If you do so, candidates will only get credit for questions where they select and only select the correct answers.

You can also choose to *randomize or* *lock the order of answer choices* by clicking the lock icon.

![](https://help.coderbyte.com/hs-fs/hubfs/CleanShot%202025-10-02%20at%2015-26-43@2x-png.png?width=670&height=726&name=CleanShot%202025-10-02%20at%2015-26-43@2x-png.png)

#### Reordering within a section

You can reorder the **questions** or **free-form** inputs by clicking the up and down arrows to move questions around.

![Screen Shot 2020-09-01 at 8.42.54 PM](https://help.coderbyte.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Screen%20Shot%202020-09-01%20at%208.42.54%20PM.png?width=558&name=Screen%20Shot%202020-09-01%20at%208.42.54%20PM.png)

### Custom tags

You can add custom tags to both multiple choice and free-form questions. When building a question set, simply open the Tags dropdown menu and select **Add custom tag** to create and apply your own labels.

![](https://help.coderbyte.com/hs-fs/hubfs/CleanShot%202025-09-30%20at%2012-51-23-png.png?width=670&height=529&name=CleanShot%202025-09-30%20at%2012-51-23-png.png)

This makes it easier to organize, categorize, and analyze responses in a way that fits your specific needs.

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