Skill: course-build → write-mcqs → write-explanation, design-check-sequence @ cb79e2e

Topic 31 — The solar system — the PP100's ten question types, with their exemplars

What this page is. James approves a bank's question TYPES before the bank is generated (vault: A bank is reviewed as its question types first, one exemplar each, 28 Sep 2026). This sheet writes the exemplars in full, exactly as they sit in content/G3T31.py (PP100, flagged TYPE_SHEET_ONLY). Ten types for five atoms, one exemplar each, at most two alone-types per atom. No other bank item exists yet. Once the types stand, about fifty items are generated from them, varying the scene, the planet, the model's parts and the names, easy-heavy.

Revised 29 Sep 2026 after the non-author review (REVIEW_G3T31_2026-09-29.md): PP-7 (type 5) moved from Mars — L03 q9's scene — to Jupiter (F2); PP-5 (type 8) gained a fourth real thing in Yola's model (a beach ball for Jupiter) in place of "the table" (S8), then a marble for Mars in place of the dead option "the tennis ball" (cold read A); type 6's item rows are now EQUAL GREY DISCS, so counting from the Sun is the only route (S3 — teaching rows keep the planets' colours); the chip on every row reads SIZES AND GAPS NOT TO SCALE (F10); SOLAR_ACC and JUPITER_ACC are generated by acc_phrase() (S15); two bank DRAW CONSTRAINTS (⟂) added below.

James's rulings applied. Hard items are typed, never MCQs (28 Sep night): both hard types are text entry — nothing in this topic is counted or read off a scale, so numeric entry would be forced. Easy and medium are four-option MCQs, except type 7, a reorder item (your Topic 2 ruling: "you can actually use a reorder question"). Every drawn item is an orbit diagram or a planet row from the topic's own register, says NOT TO SCALE where true, and carries no verdict chip; no stem leans on a video; no option bundles a verdict with a reason; every stem is a positive question; every exemplar is a fresh instance — no lesson, quiz or practice scene reappears (the design-move inventory at the foot is the check); a headache character never appears in an item; a claim-maker is used once in the topic. Nothing James has rejected appears here.

How to read a type line. Each says what the stem asks, what the four options are (the kind of thing), and gives its exemplar scene. Every MCQ has a why (no per-option feedback in the bank; the engine prints Correct / Not quite). Tags follow depth of reasoning: easy = one fact recalled or one case sorted; medium = two facts read together off one drawing, a reason picked for an observation, or five planets ordered; hard = two steps and the answer produced (a model's parts mapped to the real things; an orbit's place turned into a planet's name).

The ten types

Hard because (type 9): two steps — read which thing travels around which, then map it to the real thing that moves that way (the big ball around the lamp is Earth, so the small ball around it is the Moon) — and the name is produced, not recognised. Hard because (type 10): two steps — turn "the fifth orbit out" into the fifth planet in the order, then produce its name. Medium because (type 2): two facts read together off one drawing (Earth is on a path around the Sun AND has the Moon's loop around it). Medium because (type 5): the reason for an observation, drawn from Topic 13's fact about sources. Medium because (type 7): five names placed at once.

Bank notes for the generator. Type 1 and type 3: vary the scene, never only the name; the distractors stay the topic's own bodies (the Moon, a planet, the Sun) — never a body the topic has not named. Type 2: four letters outside A–D (J–R); the loop marks Earth; a bank variant asks "which letter marks the Moon" (the one on the small loop) or "the Sun" (the centre); never "which letter marks Mars" — the outer planet is unmarked by any taught feature beyond its path. Type 4: one planet among three non-planets the topic has named (the Sun, the Moon, a star); never Pluto. Type 6: eight instances (one per ring position); vary the ringed disc, never repeat a quiz position (the quiz used the fourth and the sixth); item rows are equal grey discs — never the coloured teaching row, which gives Saturn away by its ring and Earth by its blue. Type 7: three to five planets per item, never all eight (the platform's reorder cap); never the same set as a quiz item (Venus Mars Saturn Neptune; Mercury Earth Jupiter Uranus) or the practice set (Earth Jupiter Saturn Neptune). Type 8: every option is a real thing in the described model and never the thing carried around (cold read A: "the tennis ball" was a dead option) — the extra objects stand for other planets; vary the objects (a flashlight, a lamp, a torch light; a tennis ball, an orange, an apple; a bead, a pea, a marble) and the ask (which is carried around which; what stands for what). Type 5: vary the planet (Venus, Jupiter, Saturn), never Mars — L03's scene. Type 9: the described model gives the paths, never the names of the real things beyond the lamp's; the typed answer is one of Earth / the Moon. Type 10: "the fifth / sixth / seventh orbit out"; never the first or the eighth (those are the quiz's closest / farthest).

Coverage (every atom alone, and the pairs)

At most two alone-types per atom (James: "unlikely that you're going to need more than two question types per atom"). Order in the file: easy PP-1…PP-5 → medium PP-6…PP-8 → hard PP-9, PP-10. Keys of the seven MCQs, in file order: PP-1 A · PP-2 B · PP-3 C · PP-4 B · PP-5 C · PP-6 B · PP-7 D (one A, three B, two C, one D — no letter over 35 % of the ten). Typed items: 2 of 10 on the sheet; in a bank of about fifty, types 9 and 10 supply 12–15 typed items on fresh models and fresh orbit positions.

Design-move inventory (every move on the page, then the bank's)

No bank exemplar shares a scene with a lesson, quiz or practice item, and no two exemplars share a move.

Draw constraints (⟂) for the bank builder (the review's check 44): PP-5 ⟂ PP-2 (PP-5's stem says the bead is the Moon and is carried around the tennis ball that is Earth — PP-2's answer); PP-10 ⟂ PP-1 ("Every planet travels around the Sun" hands PP-1 its key to a student who knows Earth is a planet). Never draw both of a pair into one test.

The exemplars, in full

Type 1 — PP-1 · SPA3-010 · easy

Stem: A poster in Vesper's classroom shows Earth's orbit. What does Earth travel around?

• the Sun ← key
• the Moon
• Mars
• Jupiter

Why: Earth travels around the Sun along its orbit. / The Sun sits in the middle of that orbit. / The Moon travels around Earth, and Mars and Jupiter travel around the Sun too.

Type 3 — PP-2 · SPA3-011 · easy

Stem: Leopold watches the Moon from his tent every night for a month. What does the Moon travel around?

• the Sun, on its own
• Earth ← key
• Mars
• nothing, it stays still

Why: The Moon travels around Earth, about one lap a month. / It goes along with Earth around the Sun. / It does not travel around the Sun on its own, and it never stays still.

Type 4 — PP-3 · SPA3-012 · easy

Stem: A book about the night sky shows these four things. Which one is a planet?

• the Sun
• the Moon
• Saturn ← key
• a far-away star

Why: A planet is a large ball that travels around the Sun. / Saturn is one. / The Sun and the far-away star are stars, and the Moon travels around Earth.

Type 6 — PP-4 · SPA3-013 · easy · drawing order_pp_ring2 (eight equal grey discs, the second ringed)

Stem: The eight planets are drawn in order from the Sun. Which planet is ringed?

• Mercury
• Venus ← key
• Earth
• Mars

Why: Count outward from the Sun: Mercury, Venus. / The ring is on the second disc. / So the ringed planet is Venus.

Type 8 — PP-5 · SPA3-014 · easy

Stem: In Yola's model, a flashlight stands for the Sun, a tennis ball for Earth, a bead for the Moon, a marble for Mars and a beach ball for Jupiter. Which thing does she carry around the tennis ball?

• the flashlight
• the marble
• the bead ← key
• the beach ball

Why: The Moon travels around Earth. / The bead stands for the Moon and the tennis ball for Earth. / Mars and Jupiter travel around the Sun, not around Earth. / So Yola carries the bead around the tennis ball.

Type 2 — PP-6 · SPA3-010 + SPA3-011 · medium · drawing orbits_pp_letters

Stem: Look at the drawing, seen from far above. Which letter marks Earth?

• J
• K ← key
• L
• M

Why: Earth travels around the Sun, so it sits on a path around the glowing ball J. / The Moon travels around Earth, so Earth has a small loop around it. / K is on a path around J and has the small loop with L on it. / So K marks Earth.

Type 5 — PP-7 · SPA3-012 + ENE3-010 / SPA3-001 · medium

Stem: At night, Jupiter looks like a bright point of light. Where does that light come from?

• Jupiter makes its own light, like a star.
• The Moon shines light onto Jupiter.
• Earth shines light onto Jupiter.
• Sunlight lands on Jupiter and lights it up. ← key

Why: A planet makes no light of its own. / Sunlight lands on Jupiter, and Jupiter is lit up, just like the Moon. / So the light you see from Jupiter is the Sun's light.

Type 7 — PP-8 · SPA3-013 · medium · reorder

Stem: Tap these five planets in order, starting with the one nearest the Sun.

Correct order: Venus · Earth · Jupiter · Uranus · Neptune (the engine shuffles them)

Why: Moving outward from the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. / Pick out the five: Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune.

Type 9 — PP-9 · SPA3-014 + SPA3-011 · hard · text entry

Stem: In Quentin's model, a lamp stands for the Sun. He carries a small ball around a big ball while he walks the big ball around the lamp. Type the name of the real thing the small ball stands for.

Accept: MOON_ACC — Moon · moon · the Moon · the moon · a moon · its moon · moon. (the grader folds case)

Why: The big ball travels around the lamp, as Earth travels around the Sun, so the big ball stands for Earth. / The small ball travels around the big ball. / The Moon travels around Earth. / So the small ball stands for the Moon.

Hard because: two steps — which thing travels around which, then the real thing that moves that way — and the name is produced.

Type 10 — PP-10 · SPA3-013 + SPA3-010 · hard · text entry

Stem: Every planet travels around the Sun along its own orbit. Type the name of the planet whose orbit is the fifth one out from the Sun.

Accept: JUPITER_ACC — generated by acc_phrase("Jupiter", "jupiter", "planet Jupiter"): each form bare, with "the", with "our", with and without a full stop

Why: Each planet's orbit sits in the order of the planets. / Moving outward from the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter. / The fifth is Jupiter. / So Jupiter's orbit is the fifth one out.

Hard because: two steps — the fifth orbit is the fifth planet in the order, then its name is produced.