Skill: course-build → write-mcqs @ b0fa825
Topic 8 — question types in the PP100 bank, one exemplar each (2 October 2026; v2 the same day, after the three reviews)
James reviews a bank as its question TYPES first, one exemplar each (vault: 50 Decisions/A bank is reviewed as its question types first, one exemplar each.md). This sheet lists the ten types the Grade 4 Topic 8 bank runs on and prints one exemplar per type in full as it ships in content/G4T08_pp100_bank.py. Item ids are the bank's positions after its stable re-sort (PP-1 … PP-56). Every bank item carries type_, its number below. Typed and multi-select items are starred. Under the standing brief the bank is built in the same pass as the lessons; this sheet is the first thing James reads, and any type he strikes is removed with its items.
v2 (2 Oct 2026, the reviews applied): PP-29 (the cork bobs higher) and PP-33 (quick taps) were cut — they tested the headache's causes, not the atoms — and two drawn type-5 items took their places; the two "both change" drawing items (now PP-38, PP-39) are medium, not hard; the pattern item (PP-53) is one MCQ with one regular wave among four lines, so type 10 holds the typed word and one multi-select; nine items were re-scened so the bar list below is true; the easy tier's keys were spread (PP-1 → D, PP-2 → C, PP-15 → D, PP-19 → A); every read-the-message stem says "one message".
One cluster. The topic is one PP100 cluster of five atoms (ENE4-040 → 041 → 042 → 043 → 044, capstone 044). Items per atom: 12 · 10 · 10 · 12 · 12. Tiers: 20 easy · 25 medium · 11 hard (1 typed, 1 multi-select, 9 four-option MCQs). Per atom and tier: 040 5/4/3 · 041 4/4/2 · 042 4/4/2 · 043 4/7/1 · 044 3/6/3. The hard tier recalls "wave" by typing; "amplitude" (nine letters) and "wavelength" (ten) are recalled by MCQ among the sister terms (RECALL_BY_MCQ), per James's 30 Sep ruling on long words. Keys: A 15 · B 17 · C 12 · D 10 over 54 MCQs (no letter above 32 %).
The bar list (things the bank never uses because they break a taught claim or a rule; re-performed in v2 by grep, 0 hits for pond / duck / leaf / stick / board / Dana / Dante / Declan / Price / crest / drift): the lessons' own scenes — the park pond, the duck, the leaf, Dante's stick, the board's three drawings and the class's own code (short-short / long / short-long-short) — never appear in the bank; no headache character — claim-makers are "a girl" / "a boy"; "crest" is never said; no option calls a wave "water moving across"; no stem compares two codes (SR4, grades 6-8); a floating thing in deep water is never said to drift; a beach-break scene (where water really does move) is never used as a wave case.
The ten types
| # | Question type | Exemplar | Items | Count | Hard end |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What a floating thing does / which way the water under it moves, for a described wave. | PP-1 | PP-1, 4, 21, 24 | 4 | none — easy and medium |
| 2 | What the wave carried / where the floating thing's energy came from (giver). | PP-2 | PP-2, 5, 22 | 3 | none |
| 3 | A claim is fixed as wrong in the stem (or a true sentence is asked for); pick the sentence that shows it. The three distractors are true facts of the same shape and length. | PP-23 | PP-23, 45, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52, 54 | 8 | PP-47, 48, 50, 51, 52, 54 |
| 4 | Recall a term from its meaning: wave / amplitude / wavelength / middle line as the four options. | PP-3 | PP-3, 8, 12 | 3 | none — easy |
| 5 | Pick the wave with the biggest amplitude / longest wavelength from THREE drawings (A / B / C / all the same). | PP-6 | PP-6, 7, 10, 11, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 32 | 10 | none — easy and medium |
| 6 | Which of four lettered arrows (J K L M) shows the amplitude / the wavelength; the wrong arrows are top-to-bottom and top-to-next-low-point. | PP-9 | PP-9, 13, 27, 31 | 4 | none |
| 7 | Which of four lettered drawings matches the words ("taller", "tops closer", both; "a wave pattern"). | PP-16 | PP-16, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 53 | 8 | PP-53 (one regular wave among four lines) |
| 8 | From the words, what must change: the amplitude / the wavelength / both / neither — with the drawing of "this one" on the card. | PP-14 | PP-14, 15, 17, 35 | 4 | none |
| 9 | Read ONE message against a drawn code, or pick the lettered strip that sends one; flashes and taps; four fresh codes. | PP-18 | PP-18–20, 40–44, 55, 56 | 10 | PP-55, 56 (two readings / two patterns in order) |
| 10 | Typed "wave" from a described scene; multi-select the SET of waves with the same amplitude (four drawn). | PP-46* | PP-46, 49 | 2 | all hard |
The exemplars, in full
Type 1 — PP-1 (easy, ENE4-040). A fishing float sits on a lake, and waves pass under it. What does the float do?
Options: It moves along with the waves to the shore. · It sinks as each wave passes. · It stops moving until the waves have gone. · It bobs up and down and stays in the same spot.
Why: A wave carries energy across the water, and the water itself stays put, moving only up and down. The float sits on the water. So the float bobs up and down and stays in the same spot.
Nearest lesson-side instance: L01 q4 (the log on the lake, two options). Fresh scene kind: a fishing float.
Type 2 — PP-2 (easy, ENE4-040). A boy jumps into a lake, and a wave reaches a toy sailboat. What does the wave carry to the sailboat?
Options: water from the splash · the boy · energy · air.
Why: A wave carries energy across the water. The water itself stays put, and the boy stays where he jumped in. So the wave carries energy to the sailboat.
Nearest lesson-side instance: L01 q6 (the ball at the pool's edge, water / energy). Here a fresh scene (a lake, a jumper, a sailboat) and four options.
Type 3 — PP-23 (medium, ENE4-040). A boy says a wave is water moving across a lake. Which sentence shows he is wrong?
Options: A wave is taller after a bigger splash than after a small one. · A floating twig bobs and stays where it is as the wave passes. · A wave reaches the far side of the lake a little later. · A wave gets smaller as it spreads out across the lake.
Why: If the water moved across the lake, a floating twig would move with it. The twig bobs and stays where it is, so the water stays put. So the wave is a bump that travels, and the water does not travel with it.
Nearest lesson-side instance: L01 q7 (Dante's claim, yes / no). Here the verdict is fixed, the options are the evidence, and the three distractors are true facts of the same shape and length (v2: no "the water is cold" line, no longest key).
Type 4 — PP-3 (easy, ENE4-040). A bump that travels across the water is called a…
Options: wave. · amplitude. · wavelength. · middle line.
Why: A bump that travels across the water is called a wave. The amplitude is how tall the wave is, and the wavelength is the distance from one top to the next.
Nearest lesson-side instance: L01 q7 (wave / splash, two options). Here the sister terms are the four options.
Type 5 — PP-6 (easy, ENE4-041). [figure pp_amp1: three waves A, B, C, same spacing, B tallest] Which wave has the biggest amplitude?
Options: wave A · wave B · wave C · They all have the same amplitude.
Why: The amplitude of a wave is how tall it is, from the middle line up to its top. Wave B's top is the highest above the middle line. So wave B has the biggest amplitude.
Nearest lesson-side instance: L02 q1–q6 (two waves, three options). Here three waves give the honest fourth option. The blind text of every such card is data only (each wave's height and spacing as numbers).
Type 6 — PP-9 (easy, ENE4-041). [figure pp_arrows1: four arrows J K L M] Four arrows are drawn on this wave. Which arrow shows the amplitude?
Options: J · K · L · M.
Why: The amplitude of a wave is how tall it is, from the middle line up to its top. Arrow L starts on the middle line and ends at a top. So arrow L shows the amplitude.
Nearest lesson-side instance: L02 q7 (three arrows J K L). Here a fourth wrong arrow (top to the next low point) is added.
Type 7 — PP-16 (easy, ENE4-043). [figure pp_draw1: "this one" and drawings J K L M] The words are 'taller than this one.' Which drawing shows it?
Options: J · K · L · M.
Why: Taller means a bigger amplitude, and nothing else changes. Drawing J is taller with its tops the same distance apart. So drawing J shows it.
Nearest lesson-side instance: L04 q3–q7 (three drawings). Here four drawings, one per wrong move (closer only; both; shorter). PP-53 is the pattern face of the type: one regular wave among three irregular lines.
Type 8 — PP-14 (easy, ENE4-043). [figure board_wave: the wave labelled "this one"] The words are 'taller than this one.' What changes in the new drawing?
Options: the amplitude · the wavelength · both the amplitude and the wavelength · neither of them.
Why: Taller means a top higher above the middle line, and that is the amplitude. The words say nothing about the space between the tops. So only the amplitude changes.
Nearest lesson-side instance: L04 q1 (the scaffold: wavelength / amplitude, two options) and the attached question. Here the four-way split, with the drawing of "this one" present (blind read: never "this one" with no drawing).
Type 9 — PP-18 (easy, ENE4-044). [figure pp_msg1: the hike leader's code and her flashes long, short] A hike leader agreed this code with her group, and she flashes one message: long, short. What does the message say?
Options: WAIT · COME · STOP · HELP.
Why: A pattern of flashes carries a message when everyone agrees what each pattern means. In the hike leader's code, long, short means HELP. So the message says HELP.
Nearest lesson-side instance: L05 q3–q6 (the camp's code; the two friends' code). Fresh code: the hike leader's (four rows). "One message" is said because the codes are not prefix-free.
Type 10 — PP-46\* (hard, ENE4-040, typed). Ripples spread out across a lake from a splash, and a bump travels all the way to the far shore. Type the science word for a bump that travels across the water.
Accept: wave · a wave · the wave · waves · wav · a wav · water wave · a water wave · the water wave · ripple · a ripple · the ripple · ripples · riple · a riple.
Why: A bump that travels across the water is called a wave. Ripple is the everyday word for a small one. The science word is wave.
Hard because: the student produces the coined word from a described scene with no option to recognise. "Ripple" is accepted (the course's own everyday word; blind read) and the why-line says which word is the science word. The multi-select of this type (PP-49, the two waves of four with the same amplitude) is hard because the answer is a set read across four drawings, with no "none of them" option.
Draw constraints (⟂ — never on one test together)
- PP-55 ⟂ PP-56: both read the hike leader's code card (
pp_scout_code/pp_scout_code_taps); one per drawn test. - PP-3 ⟂ PP-46: the term item prints the typed item's answer.
- PP-14 ⟂ PP-16, PP-15 ⟂ PP-33 and PP-35 ⟂ PP-38: the "what changes" item states the move the drawing item then asks for on the same words.
- PP-21 ⟂ PP-24: both say which way the water under a floating thing moves (the buoy; the boy on a float).
- PP-45 ⟂ PP-54: both turn on the agreement condition (the true sentence; the third friend).