Test Generator

In a Computer Science class at school, my teacher shared that creating tests with realistic, but incorrect, multiple-choice options was time intensive. To help, I coded the Test Generator, an application that requires two inputs from a teacher (test topic and number of questions) to generate a test within Google Forms in seconds. My code integrated ChatGPT with Google Forms to create a seamless experience for educators. The Test Generator is actively being used by teachers at the Charlotte Latin Innovation & Design Department.

Using Flask, I created a website for teachers to easily create tests in Google Forms by inputting the test topic and number of questions. The back-end queries the ChatGPT API and uses the Google Forms and OAuth APIs to create a new form in the teacher’s account.

I've limited the website to only Google Accounts I have approved since the API bills per request, but for a video demonstration, please see below:

Video Demonstration

Documentation

The documentation below covers the most interesting aspect of the project, which was networking with ChatGPT and Google Forms.

ChatGPT

Let's break down the main code that interacts with ChatGPT, parses the response, and sends the formatted test to google_forms.py.

First the _Test, Question, and Answer classes. The code will eventually parse ChatGPT's response and convert it to a _Test object.

class _Test(object):
    def __init__(self, title, questions):
        self.title = title # string
        self.questions = questions # list of Questions
        self.num_questions = len(questions)
        self.url = None

    def add_url(self, url):
        self.url = url

class Question(object):
    def __init__(self, question_title, potential_answers):
        self.question_title = question_title # string
        self.potential_answers = potential_answers # list of strings

class Answer(object):
    def __init__(self, answer_text, is_correct):
        self.answer_text = answer_text
        self.is_correct = is_correct

The query function sends an API request to OpenAI. It uses the model gpt-3.5-turbo.

def query(txt):
    return openai.ChatCompletion.create(
        model= "gpt-3.5-turbo", # this is "ChatGPT" $0.002 per 1k tokens
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": txt}]
    ).choices[0].message.content

The create_test function defines the prompt for ChatGPT and parses the response. The prompt asks ChatGPT to use special characters, such as ##, to indicate different parts of the test. This method has been a relatively consistent means of extracting different parts of the text from ChatGPT text-based response.

def create_test():      
    prompt = f'''
You are a teacher who creates tests. Here are some examples.

Prompt: Write a 3-question test about math
Answer:
##MEASURE OF MATH
^^What is 1+1?
||$$2
||-1
||1
||0
||us
^^Which of the following was a famous mathematician?
||Michael Jordan
||$$Albert Einstein
||Michael Jackson
^^What type of counting system do computers typically use?
||$$Binary
||Roman Numerals
||Base-10

Prompt: Write a 5-question test about geography
Answer:
##GRAPPLING WITH GEOGRAPHY
^^How many continents are there?
||$$7
||2
||6
||13
^^Which of the following is a country in Europe?
||China
||Iraq
||The United States
||$$France
||Uruguay
^^What are latitude and longitude?
||An antiquated method of measuring distance between multiple continents or planets
||$$A coordinate system by means of which the position or location of any place on Earth's surface can be determined and described
||Names of galaxies
^^North America is ____ of Europe.
||North
||South
||East
||$$West
^^What is the name of the largest country in the world?
||Canada
||Turkey
||Afghanistan
||$$Russia

Prompt: Write a {num_questions}-question test about {test_subject}
Answer:
    '''

    response = query(prompt)

    test_title = "TEST"
    question_title = "QUESTION"
    potential_answers = []
    questions = []

    for line in response.split("\n"):
        s_line = line.strip()
        prefix = s_line[:2]
        substance = s_line[2:]
        if prefix == "##":
            test_title = substance
        elif prefix == "^^":
            if len(questions) > 0:
                questions[-1] = Question(question_title, potential_answers)
            question_title = substance
            questions.append(None)
            potential_answers = []
        elif prefix == "||":
            correct = substance.strip()[:2] == "$$"
            potential_answers.append(Answer((substance.strip()[2:] if correct else substance), correct))
    if len(questions) > int(num_questions):
        questions = questions[:int(num_questions)]

Finally, the parsed data is put into a _Test object and sent to Google Forms.

    test = _Test(test_title, questions[:-1])
    url = google_forms.create_form(creds, test.title, test.questions)
    test.add_url(url)

All together, here's the code that interacts with ChatGPT.

class _Test(object):
    def __init__(self, title, questions):
        self.title = title # string
        self.questions = questions # list of Questions
        self.num_questions = len(questions)
        self.url = None

    def add_url(self, url):
        self.url = url

class Question(object):
    def __init__(self, question_title, potential_answers):
        self.question_title = question_title # string
        self.potential_answers = potential_answers # list of strings

class Answer(object):
    def __init__(self, answer_text, is_correct):
        self.answer_text = answer_text
        self.is_correct = is_correct

def query(txt):
    return openai.ChatCompletion.create(
        model= "gpt-3.5-turbo", # this is "ChatGPT" $0.002 per 1k tokens
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": txt}]
    ).choices[0].message.content

def create_test():      
    prompt = f'''
You are a teacher who creates tests. Here are some examples.

Prompt: Write a 3-question test about math
Answer:
##MEASURE OF MATH
^^What is 1+1?
||$$2
||-1
||1
||0
||us
^^Which of the following was a famous mathematician?
||Michael Jordan
||$$Albert Einstein
||Michael Jackson
^^What type of counting system do computers typically use?
||$$Binary
||Roman Numerals
||Base-10

Prompt: Write a 5-question test about geography
Answer:
##GRAPPLING WITH GEOGRAPHY
^^How many continents are there?
||$$7
||2
||6
||13
^^Which of the following is a country in Europe?
||China
||Iraq
||The United States
||$$France
||Uruguay
^^What are latitude and longitude?
||An antiquated method of measuring distance between multiple continents or planets
||$$A coordinate system by means of which the position or location of any place on Earth's surface can be determined and described
||Names of galaxies
^^North America is ____ of Europe.
||North
||South
||East
||$$West
^^What is the name of the largest country in the world?
||Canada
||Turkey
||Afghanistan
||$$Russia

Prompt: Write a {num_questions}-question test about {test_subject}
Answer:
    '''

    response = query(prompt)

    test_title = "TEST"
    question_title = "QUESTION"
    potential_answers = []
    questions = []

    for line in response.split("\n"):
        s_line = line.strip()
        prefix = s_line[:2]
        substance = s_line[2:]
        if prefix == "##":
            test_title = substance
        elif prefix == "^^":
            if len(questions) > 0:
                questions[-1] = Question(question_title, potential_answers)
            question_title = substance
            questions.append(None)
            potential_answers = []
        elif prefix == "||":
            correct = substance.strip()[:2] == "$$"
            potential_answers.append(Answer((substance.strip()[2:] if correct else substance), correct))

    if len(questions) > int(num_questions):
        questions = questions[:int(num_questions)]

    test = _Test(test_title, questions[:-1])
    url = google_forms.create_form(creds, test.title, test.questions)
    test.add_url(url)

Google Forms

Code in google_forms.py is responsible for creating the test in the user's Google Forms account. The code defines the API scopes, formats the data from the _Test object to the dictionary/JSON format specified in the Google Forms API Documentation. It then uses the API to make the form into a quiz and selects the correct answers for each multiple choice question. Finally, the function returns the URL to the Google Form quiz.

SCOPES = ["https://www.googleapis.com/auth/forms.body"]
DISCOVERY_DOC = "https://forms.googleapis.com/$discovery/rest?version=v1"

# create the Google Form
def create_form(creds, form_title, _questions):
    if creds is None:
        raise ValueError("Invalid credentials")

    form_service = discovery.build('forms', 'v1', credentials=creds, discoveryServiceUrl=DISCOVERY_DOC, static_discovery=False)

    # Request body for creating a form
    NEW_FORM = {
        "info": {
            "title": form_title,
            "documentTitle": form_title
        }
    }

    questions = []

    for question in _questions:
        questions.append({})
        questions[-1]['title'] = question.question_title
        questions[-1]['questionItem'] = {
                        "question": {
                            "required": True,
                            "grading": {
                                "pointValue": 1,
                                "correctAnswers": {
                                    "answers": [{"value": ans.answer_text} for ans in question.potential_answers if ans.is_correct]
                                },
                                "whenRight": {"text": "You got it!"},
                                "whenWrong": {"text": "Sorry, that's wrong"}
                            },
                            "choiceQuestion": {
                                "type": "RADIO",
                                "options": [
                                    {"value": ans.answer_text}
                                    for ans
                                    in question.potential_answers
                                ],
                                "shuffle": True
                            }
                        }
                    }

    # Request body to add a multiple-choice question
    question_requests = [ {
        "requests": [{
            "createItem": {
                "item": question,
                "location": {
                    "index": n
                }
            }
        }]
    }
    for n, question,
    in enumerate(questions)
    ]

    # Creates the initial form
    result = form_service.forms().create(body=NEW_FORM).execute()

    update = {
        "requests": [
            {
                "updateSettings": {
                    "settings": {
                        "quizSettings": {
                            "isQuiz": True
                        }
                    },
                    "updateMask": "quizSettings.isQuiz"
                }
            }
        ]
    }

    # Converts the form into a quiz
    question_setting = form_service.forms().batchUpdate(formId=result["formId"],
                                                        body=update).execute()

    # Adds the question to the form
    for qr in question_requests:
        question_setting = form_service.forms().batchUpdate(formId=result["formId"], body=qr).execute()

    # Store result from the API
    get_result = form_service.forms().get(formId=result["formId"]).execute()

    url = f"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/{result['formId']}/edit"

    return url