You can use the Associate interaction to create drag and drop items.

See Author Test Items for general instruction on item creation.

  1. From the Editor tab, select Add Interaction > Associate.
  2. Enter a Prompt.
  3. Under Choices, enter answer choices. Formatting tools are available in a popup menu.
  4. In Max Match, indicate how many times each choice may be used.
  5. Under Settings, Max Column is the maximum number of columns that should be used for the answer choices  (in the Options section in the image below, this is 3).
  6. Choices Label: In the image below, 'Options' is the Choices Label
  7. Left/Right Column Label: In the image below, 'Shape' and 'Number of Sides' are column labels.
  8. Grip Style: Optionally, add one of several 'grippers' to each choice to more clearly indicate this object may be dragged.

  9. Label Alignment: Choose the alignment for the column labels, if added.
  10. Min and Max Associations: Indicate the minimum and maximum number of pairings the tester can make.
  11. Shuffle: Select to scramble the choices. For the item analysis reports, the order of choices in the item setup are reflected for all students.
  12. Under Correct Response, drag and drop answer choices to set the correct associations.
  13. Enter Score Settings as described below.
  14. Be sure to Save.

Scoring Settings

Indicate a Max Points value. When using Partial Scoring, enter a point value in the Points column for each answer choice. Optionally, indicate the Minimum Points that a student should get regardless of their answer.

Use the Association Order setting to control how students must answer to receive points.

  • Exact Order (default): Answers must match the Correct Response.
  • Any Order: Answers can be placed in any order as long as the correct associations are made.
  • Enforce Pair Order: Answers can be placed in any order (up and down), but associations must match the Correct Response (left and right).


Sample Associate Item


Tiny Link: https://support.assessment.pearson.com/x/rYD8Bg