FAQ

If you can't find an answer to your question here, you can contact us or send e-mail to support@testdesigner.com.

Registration & Profile

Membership & Pricing

Test Designer Pro

Using Test Designer

Math Equations

Questions

Question Voting

Groups

Badges

Tests


Registration & Profile

Q: Why should I register?
A: Test Designer enables you to create and save your own questions and tests. In order for Test Designer to establish and maintain an account for you, so that you may access your questions and tests whenever you want, you must register and become a member. Non-members can only browse questions.
Q: What fields are required and why?
A: Three fields are required: Member Name, E-Mail Address and Password. Only the Member Name is public. Your E-Mail Address and Password will remain private.
Q: What's a "Member Name" and how will it be used?
A: Your Member Name is a name that you provide that identifies you as the owner of the account, when paired with your password. Your Member Name does not have to be your real name. The Member Name is the only identifier that is public and that will be displayed when you log in to Test Designer.

Membership & Pricing

Q: Is Test Designer free?
A: Basic membership to Test Designer is free. Test Designer Pro is available for an annual subscription rate of $9.95. Members can try Test Designer Pro by signing up for a free 30-day trial.
Q: What is included in Basic Membership?
A: Basic membership allows you to create an unlimited number of questions to use in your tests and worksheets. It also allows you to create up to five tests with up to 10 questions per test using your questions or those from Test Designer's extensive library.
Q: How do I cancel my membership?
A: You may cancel your membership at any time by completing the cancel membership form.

Test Designer Pro

Q: What is Test Designer Pro?
A: In addition to Basic Membership benefits, Test Designer Pro provides additional premium benefits. With Test Designer Pro you to create an unlimited number of tests with up to 100 questions each. Pro subscribers can include more than 400 images from various categories or add existing questions with images to their tests and worksheets. Pro subscribers can also download and save tests and worksheets in PDF format.
Q: How much does Test Designer Pro cost?
A: Test Designer Pro is available for an annual subscription rate of $9.95.
Q: What are my payment options?
A: You can pay for Test Designer Pro with an existing PayPal account or directly with a debit or credit card.
Q: After entering my billing information I receive the following error message:
You cannot use an e-mail address or card number that belongs to an existing PayPal account. If you have a PayPal account, please log in. If you don't, please change the e-mail address or card number and try again.
A: You have activated Credit Card Protection on your PayPal account and must sign in to PayPal to use that credit card. For more information please contact PayPal customer support at (888) 221-1161. You can also try their online help system.
Q: How do I add images to questions?
A: There are two ways to add images to questions:
  1. While editing a question, click on an image thumbnail in the Images module on the left.
  2. Type the name of an image between [img] and [/img].
For more information, see our guide on How to Add Images to Questions.
Q: What does it mean to make a question private?
A: Member-generated content can be found by Browsing or Searching for questions on our site. If you don't want anyone to find or use your question, make it private.
Q: What if I need an image you don't have?
A: Test Designer's image library is continually growing. If there is an image you need and we don't have yet, please send us an e-mail and let us know.
Q: Can I use my own images in questions?
A: You can. See our guide on How to Add Images to Questions.
Q: What happens to my questions and groups when my free trial expires?
A: Before your trial expires, Test Designer will remind you to subscribe. An annual subscription is only $9.95. Questions with images may be viewed by non-subscribers but may not be printed.
Q: How do I cancel my subscription to Test Designer Pro?
A: You can cancel your subscription using PayPal by following these steps:
  1. Log in to PayPal
  2. Click on the History tab
  3. Find the subscription to Test Designer Pro (Tribrio, Inc.) and click on Details
  4. Click the button labeled Cancel Subscription
  5. Confirm cancellation by clicking on the button labeled Cancel Subscription again

Using Test Designer

Q: What are the browser requirements for using Test Designer?
A: See our guide on How to Choose a Browser.
Q: What are cookies and why do I need them?
A: Cookies are small pieces of information that a web site stores temporarily on your computer. A cookie's main objective is to identify users and to personalize their visit to Test Designer. In order to use Test Designer, cookies will need to be enabled within your web browser. See our guide on How To Enable Cookies.
Q: What do I do if I forgot my password?
A: If you forgot your password, click on Reset your password. Test Designer will e-mail you a new password in a couple of minutes. You can change your password after logging in.
Q: What do I do if I forgot my Member Name?
A: If you forgot your Member Name, you may login using your e-mail address and password. After logging in your member name will appear in the upper-right hand corner of your web browser.
Q: What do I do if I forgot my Member Name and password?
A: If you have forgotten both your Member Name and password, please send an e-mail to support@testdesigner.com from the e-mail address you used to register with Test Designer with the subject Forgot Member Name. We will respond within 24 hours with your Member Name. After you receive your Member Name, you can Reset your password.
Q: What is a verification code?
A: Verification codes are used throughout Test Designer to improve account security and reduce the inappropriate use of automated programs.

Math Equations

Q: How do I format math questions so that they display and print properly?
A: See our guide on How To Write Math Equations.

Questions

Q: Can I create short-answer questions?
A: You can't create short-answer questions directly, however you can format your open-ended questions as short-answer. To format your open-ended questions as short-answer on your printed test, click on the OPTIONS tab when viewing your test and click on the checkbox labeled Format open-ended questions as short-answer.
Q: Who develops the questions on Test Designer?
A: Members of Test Designer create the questions.
Q: How do I know answers to questions are correct?
A: Members must use their own judgment on the accuracy of a question and its answer. Test Designer makes no guarantees as to the correctness of a question and its answer.
Q: How do I create a question?
A: After signing in, click on the Create tab, then on Question. Select a question type (Fill-In-The-Blank, Multiple-Choice, Open-Ended or True or False) and click create question. Complete the form by entering your question, the category, the grade level and the answer(s). Click save to immediately save your question or preview to preview the question's formatting. Once your question has been saved, you may add the question to a new or existing group or a new or existing test.
Q: How do I find and edit a question I created a while ago?
A: After signing in, click on the My Content tab, then on My Questions. Questions are displayed according to the category you assigned. Click on the category to see all of the questions you created in that category.
Q: Can I bold or underline a word or phrase within a question?
A: Not at this time. Consider typing the word of phase in upper case.
Q: What if my question does not fit into one of your categories?
A: If your question does not fit into any of the Test Designer categories, please contact us with your question and category suggestion. In the meantime, add your question to the Other category.
Q: Why did my question's category change?
A: Test Designer staff reviews questions to ensure they are assigned to a relevant category. We may change the category if we believe the question was saved incorrectly.
Q: What is a keyword?
A: Keywords are used in conjunction with search to help you find questions which have something in common.

Question Voting

Q: What are thumbs up and thumbs down icons for?
A: You can click on the thumbs up and thumbs down icons to vote for a question:
You should vote thumbs up if you think this question has correct spelling/grammar/phrasing/formatting, a correct answer, and is in an appropriate category.
You should vote thumbs down if you think this question has poor spelling/grammar/phrasing/formatting, or has an incorrect answer, or is in the wrong category.
Once you've voted, the icon will turn green, thumbs up, or red, thumbs up, depending on how you voted.
Q: Why should I vote for questions?
A: There are two reasons why you should vote for questions:
  1. Your vote is used to help us determine a question's quality. Questions with the highest votes will appear at the top when browsing.
  2. When you vote down a question, the question is automatically removed from our site and sent to our content moderators for review. If the question is deemed inappropriate, it will be permanently removed from our site. If the question is poorly formatted, contains incorrect spelling or grammar, or is in the wrong category, we may correct the mistake and place the question back on our site.

Groups

Q: What is a group?
A: A Group is a set of two or more questions with common instructions and/or reference text. A group can not contain duplicate questions.
Q: How do I create a group?
A: After signing in, click on the Create tab, then on Group. Name your group and click create group. Add questions to your group by either creating new questions, selecting questions you have already created and saved in My Content or by browsing and selecting Test Designer's extensive database of questions. To add a question to a group, just click on the question.
Q: How do I add or edit common instructions and/or reference text?
A: Add any instructions or reference information that you would like to apply to all the questions in your group by clicking on the EDIT tab at the top of your group.
A: To print a group you must first add the group to a test.

Badges

Q: What are badges?
A: Members can earn badges by creating questions and groups, as well as editing existing questions. Each badge is worth a different amount of reputation points. When you earn enough reputation points you will be able to use additional features of our site such as vote questions down.

5 reputation points = blue star
15 reputation points = green star
25 reputation points = orange star

Q: What is reputation?
A: A member's reputation allows him or her to use additional features on the Test Designer site. It also helps other members make question choices based on the author's reputation. Each badge is worth a certain amount of reputation points. The number of reputation points each member has earned is represented by a blue, green or yellow star next to their member name.

Tests

Q: What is a test?
A: A Test is an set of questions and/or groups which can be customized for printing. A test can not contain duplicate questions or groups.
Q: How do I create a test?
A: After signing in, click on the Create tab, then on Test. Name your test and click create test. Add questions to your test by either creating new questions, selecting questions you have already created and saved in My Content, or by browsing and selecting Test Designer's extensive database of questions. To add a question or group to a test, just click on the question or group.
A: Click on the PRINT tab when viewing your test. Click on the printer icon in the Print Instructions module on the left. You may also want to see our guide on How To Change Browser Print Settings to customize headers and footers.
Q: How do I prevent a question from being split across multiple pages?
A: Click on the ARRANGE tab and insert a page break before the question being split.
Q: How do I e-mail a test to a teacher or student?
A: While viewing a test, click on the SHARE tab. Enter the person's e-mail address and click share test. The recipient will receive an e-mail with a link to the test you shared. He or she does not have to be a member of Test Designer to view the test. The test answer key will not be sent.
Q: How do I control the amount of space between questions on my printed test?
A: When creating an open-ended question, you can specify the number of lines below your question. For all other question types, the space between each question is determined for you.
Q: Can I control the number of columns on my printed test?
A: You can arrange questions in two columns by clicking on the OPTIONS tab, then selecting the check box labeled "Arrange questions in two columns." Note that when using Internet Explorer versions 6 and 7, question numbering and page breaks will not appear on your printed tests. We recommend using the Firefox browser when using this feature.