The Replacement assessment setting controls how dynamic variable questions behave when students reset a question or a page. In brief, this assessment setting narrowly applies to the variables in dynamic variable questions on practice pages and Score As You Go scored pages, not Score at the End scored pages which are typical in summative assessments. This setting does not govern activity bank pool questions which result in entirely different questions between students or between attempts for one student.

This article explains how the setting works, where it applies, and what options instructors can choose.

What Is the Replacement Setting?

The Replacement setting determines whether dynamic variables (auto-generated numbers in a question) will:

• Stay the same after a student clicks Reset, or

• Generate new values, requiring a full recalculation.

This setting only affects:

• Practice pages

• Score As You Go pages

✅ Default behavior: Questions remain the same on reset (recommended for most courses).

What Are Dynamic Variable Questions?

Dynamic variable questions use randomly generated numbers so each student sees a slightly different version of the same problem. This helps reduce answer sharing and improves individualized learning.

For example:

Question 1 might ask one student to calculate 15% of 80, while another student sees 20% of 150.

Courses like Real Chem frequently use these types of questions.

Where the Replacement Setting Does Not Apply

The Replacement setting does not affect:

• Activity bank (question pool) questions: These use an entirely different question each time, based on pool availability.

• Score At The End pages: These typically regenerate dynamic values between attempts and do not support Reset.

How Do Question Pools Work?

Some assessments pull questions from a pool of available items. In these cases:

• If another question is available, a new one is shown on reattempt.

• If no other question is available, the same question appears again—possibly with dynamic variables.

• The Replacement setting will determine if any dynamic variable values change or stay the same.

Instructor Options: Replacement Setting

When configuring the Replacement setting for a course section, instructors can choose between:

All questions remain the same (default)

• Students see the same question with the same numbers after using Reset

• Useful for helping students debug and learn from their mistakes without starting from scratch

Dynamic questions generate a new question

• Students see the same question text, but with new variable values on reset

• Encourages full recalculation and discourages memorizing answers

Summary

If you’re unsure which setting to use, we recommend starting with the default—all questions remain the same—for most instructional use cases.

Need help adjusting these settings in your course? Contact support at oli-help@cmu.edu.