A comprehensive guide to utilizing the Blitztrials Smart Parser. Write your exams naturally in plain text and let our engine convert them into interactive, clinical-grade assessments.
Before diving into the formatting tutorial, it's important to understand the full power of the Blitztrials engine. This isn't just a standard quiz builder. By using simple text commands, you can engineer highly complex, dynamic, and secure clinical evaluations without writing a single line of real code.
Go beyond simple "Correct=1, Incorrect=0". Build psychological tests (like PHQ-9 or GAD-7) by assigning specific, weighted point values to every individual answer option.
Collect subjective data effortlessly by generating Visual Analog Scales (sliders) where the selected value becomes the score, or spawn native calendar pickers for procedural dates.
Don't settle for all-or-nothing rules. You can apply negative marking penalties, pin randomized questions, or allow blank answers for specific questions only (e.g., making demographics optional but keeping diagnostics mandatory).
Running a randomized trial? Inject secure Ticket placeholders into your text. The engine will automatically swap them out with unique patient lab values or case files specifically assigned to that participant's ID.
Before writing your questions, utilize the settings toggles in the UI to customize the testing environment rules.
By default, the platform strictly requires an answer for every single question before allowing a user to submit. Checking this toggle unlocks flexibility:
1a, 2, 4) to make demographic or survey questions optional, while keeping the core diagnostic questions strictly mandatory.Turning this on shuffles the order of questions for each participant to prevent cheating.
Apply a point penalty for incorrect answers to discourage guessing.
1a, 1b, 3).This setting dictates how the assessment is visually broken up for the user.
Don't want to manually type out every colon, pipe, and arrow? Built directly into the platform is our specialized AI engine, powered by Google Gemini, designed to do the heavy lifting for you.
You can easily track your remaining tokens via the Credits Left badge in the purple AI panel. Top-ups can be purchased instantly via the store dashboard if you run out.
If you need to brainstorm new material, type a descriptive prompt into the AI text area (e.g., "Generate a 10-question evaluation on basic life support guidelines") and click Generate Content. The AI will write the questions and format them perfectly into the correct syntax inside your editor box automatically.
If you already have your questions written out in a separate Word Doc, Notepad file, or PDF, do not waste time rewriting them!
The engine will automatically sweep through your raw text, clean up any formatting glitches, add the mandatory colons (e.g., changing Q1. to Q1:), align the options, and output verified, parser-ready syntax instantly.
The parser looks for very specific triggers to know when a question starts and ends. You MUST use a colon directly after the question label (e.g., Q1: or Q1a:). Avoid spaces or periods (like `Q1.` or `Q1 `) or the system will treat it as normal paragraph text.
Basic formatting covers standard multiple choice, checkboxes, text fields, and structural layouts. Every question must end with an Answer: declaration.
Use standard lettering for your options. The Answer: line dictates the single correct choice. This awards 1 point for a correct answer.
If a question has more than one correct answer, separate the correct letters with commas. The system will automatically render this as checkboxes instead of radio buttons.
Sometimes you need to ask a question where there is no "correct" answer (like gender, job title, or opinions). Use survey for single-choice or multi-survey for checkboxes. These award 0 points.
To collect qualitative data or specific dates, bypass the A/B/C options entirely. These award 0 points.
If you have a block of text (like a patient history) that applies to several questions, type it above the questions. Use letter suffixes (e.g., Q6a:, Q6b:) so the parser knows they belong together. If you turn on pagination later, Q6a and Q6b will stay on the same page as the scenario.
Advanced formatting unlocks custom scoring algorithms, visual analog scales (sliders), and dynamic variables for complex clinical trials.
Standard MCQs award 1 point. If you are building a psychological assessment (like PHQ-9 or GAD-7), you need to assign specific point values to every single option. Use the equals sign = and separate options with a pipe |.
Generate clinical sliders by defining the parameters separated by pipes: Type | Min Value | Max Value | Left Label | Right Label.
If your assessment tracks multiple clinical metrics at once (e.g., Anxiety vs. Depression), you must tell the parser which "bucket" the points belong in. Use the => symbol at the very end of your Answer line to define a Sub-Total ID.
Why do this? When you build your Deployment Link later, you can write rules like: If ANXIETY-SCORE > 10 => GO_TO_BANK_2.
If you are utilizing the Secure Subject Tickets module, you can inject unique data directly into the question text. This is highly useful for generating randomized patient lab values or case files for students, preventing them from sharing answers.
Use the syntax {{Secret 1}}, {{Secret 2}}, etc. The platform will automatically swap out those placeholders with the secure data assigned to the participant's specific Ticket ID.