Skill: course-build → write-mcqs @ b0fa825 (v3, 2 October 2026 — the v2 re-read's polish applied: the ⟂ list gains PP-49–52 ⟂ PP-35, PP-53; v2 the same day — the blind read, the guidance review and the figure review applied; v1 @ df153ae)
Topic 14 — question types in the PP100 bank, one exemplar each (2 October 2026, v2)
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 nine types the Grade 4 Topic 14 bank runs on and prints one exemplar per type in full as it ships in content/G4T14_pp100_bank.py. Item ids are the bank's positions (PP-1 … PP-54). Every bank item carries type_, its number below. Typed items are starred. Under the standing brief (James, 2 Oct 2026: "go straight to the lessons") 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.
One cluster. The topic is one PP100 cluster of four atoms (MAT4-020 → 021 → 022 → 023, capstone 023). Items per atom: 15 · 12 · 14 · 13 (the bank file's v1 header said 14 · 13 · 13 · 14; corrected in v2 to the counts the file holds). Tiers: 20 easy · 20 medium · 14 hard (9 typed, 1 multi-select, 4 four-option MCQs). The hard tier recalls every coined term by typing: mixture ×2, solution ×3, dissolve ×4.
The fixed sort set. Every sort item (type 1) reads a named thing against the same four words — a mixture · one material on its own · a solution · a new material made from the two — and the solution items use a mixture, but not a solution in the first slot's place. A solution is a mixture, so "a mixture" is never offered as the wrong twin of "a solution".
The bar list (things a generated bank must never use because they break a taught claim or a rule): "disappears", "melts" or "turns into water" for dissolving, except inside a claim the key corrects; "a mixture" as a distractor under a solution stem; milk, juice, soda or tea on their own as "one material" (each is a mixture in truth — a child's real-world picture could defend either answer); cocoa powder, flour, powdered milk or jello in water as a solution (they do not fully dissolve, or they turn the water cloudy — powdered milk was the v1 bank's standard solution and is struck, blind read 2 Oct 2026); a fizzy tablet or a bath bomb as a dissolver (fizzing is gas leaving, which Topic 16 teaches as a new-material clue — struck, guidance review 2 Oct 2026); a soup cube as the thing that "did not melt" (its fat does melt in hot water); tasting as evidence unless the stem says a drink was made for drinking (Grade 3: in science we don't taste things to observe them); ice cubes in water as a mixture (one material); same-material pairs as a mixture (red and blue marbles; nuts and bolts both steel); a solid and water where the solid is the lesson's sand (sand in water is the taught non-solution); the lessons' own things (raisins, peanuts, pretzels, trail mix, sand and water in a jar, water only, paper clips and marbles with a magnet, sugar water / lemonade, salt water, red food coloring, oil on water, red drink powder) and the quiz / practice scenes (rice and beans, pebbles in a bottle, cereal and milk, shells and pebbles, a bucket of sand, flour, peas and carrots, soap, oats and nuts, apple slices and grapes, a nail and corks, gravel and leaves, walnuts and cranberries, cranberries and almonds, honey in warm water or tea, vinegar, lemon juice, glitter, soup with noodles, baking soda, nuts and dried fruit, butter in a pan, instant coffee, an ice cube on a plate, sunflower seeds and corn, bath salts, pennies and rubber bands, apricots and cashews, dimes and nickels, dish soap, cocoa with marshmallows, a fish tank with pebbles, Epsom salt, grapes and cheese, acorns and pine cones, salt in pasta water, a packet of sweetener in iced tea, scrambled eggs and ham, pecans and dried apple rings, flower petals in water, cotton candy in water, salt in gargle water, Epsom salt in a foot bath, salt in dad's soup, dice and dominoes, pumpkin seeds in water, blue mouthwash in water, cucumber slices and olives, a bowl of only cherries, crushed crackers in water) never appear as a bank scene; no headache character (Enrique, Erica, Fern, Miss Diaz) appears in a bank item — claim-makers are "a boy" / "a girl".
The nine types
| # | Question type | Exemplar | Items | Count | Hard end |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sort a named thing on the fixed set (what does the bag / glass / puddle hold?). | PP-1 | PP-1–5, PP-15–18, PP-21, PP-30, PP-31 | 12 | none — easy and medium |
| 2 | Pick the one from four things: the mixture; the one material on its own; the solution; the mixture that is not a solution. | PP-6 | PP-6, PP-7, PP-9, PP-24, PP-32, PP-33 | 6 | none — easy and medium |
| 3 | The term: recognised among sister words (easy, MCQ) or produced by typing from its meaning (hard, typed). | PP-8 / PP-41* | PP-8; PP-41, PP-42, PP-45–47, PP-49–52 | 10 | all nine typed items |
| 4 | Still itself: the true sentence about a material after mixing (properties kept; sinking; hardness; smell; picking out). | PP-10 | PP-10–14, PP-25–27, PP-29 | 9 | none — easy and medium |
| 5 | A claim is fixed as wrong in the stem; pick the sentence that shows it. | PP-22 | PP-22, PP-23, PP-28, PP-34, PP-37, PP-44, PP-53 | 7 | PP-44 (ping-pong balls), PP-53 (hot water "melted" the cube) |
| 6 | What has happened to / where is the dissolved material; what a taste or colour shows. | PP-19 | PP-19, PP-20, PP-35, PP-36, PP-40 | 5 | none — easy and medium |
| 7 | Melt or dissolve: which word names the change. | PP-38 | PP-38, PP-39 | 2 | none — medium |
| 8 | Chain two ideas or three materials in one pick. | PP-43 | PP-43, PP-54 | 2 | both hard |
| 9 | Multi-select: the set of solutions among four mixtures. | PP-48 | PP-48 | 1 | hard |
The exemplars, in full
Type 1 — PP-1 (easy, MAT4-020). Gummy bears and jelly beans are shaken together in a bag. What does the bag hold now?
Options: a mixture · one material on its own · a solution · a new material made from the two.
Why: When two or more materials are mixed together, what you get is called a mixture. Gummy bears and jelly beans are two materials, shaken together, and you can see both. So the bag holds a mixture.
Type 2 — PP-6 (easy, MAT4-020). Which one of these holds a mixture?
Options: a pile of only pebbles · a bowl of lettuce and tomatoes · a glass of plain water · a sack of only potatoes.
Why: When two or more materials are mixed together, what you get is called a mixture. Lettuce and tomatoes are two materials in one bowl. So the bowl of lettuce and tomatoes holds the mixture.
Type 3 (recognised) — PP-8 (easy, MAT4-020). Two or more materials are stirred or shaken together. What is the word for what you get?
Options: a property · a material · a solid · a mixture.
Why: When two or more materials are mixed together, what you get is called a mixture. So the word is mixture.
Type 3 (produced) — PP-47\* (hard, MAT4-022, typed). The water of the Great Salt Lake in Utah holds salt, but no grains of salt can be seen in it. Type the word for a mixture like this water, where you cannot see the parts.
Accept: solution · a solution · the solution · solutions · solushun · solusion · soloution · solutin (and the article forms).
Why: A solution is a mixture where a solid or a liquid is mixed into a liquid so well that you cannot see the parts. The salt in the lake's water cannot be seen.
Hard because: the student must produce the coined term from a natural case with no spoon or stirring named, by recall.
Type 4 — PP-10 (easy, MAT4-021). Strawberries and blueberries are stirred together in a bowl. Which sentence is true of the blueberries?
Options: They are still blueberries. · They have turned into strawberries. · They are not blueberries anymore. · They have become part strawberry.
Why: In a mixture, each material is still itself. The blueberries keep their own properties. So the blueberries are still blueberries.
Type 5 — PP-22 (medium, MAT4-020). A girl says a tub of crayons and wooden blocks is not a mixture, because nobody stirred it. Which sentence shows she is wrong?
Options: Two materials are jumbled together in the tub. · Crayons and wooden blocks are both solid materials. · A mixture must have three or more materials. · Only liquids can be mixed.
Why: When two or more materials are mixed together, what you get is called a mixture. Crayons and wooden blocks are two materials, jumbled together in one tub, stirred or not. So the tub holds a mixture.
(The stem fixes the verdict; every option is one reason sentence, none carries a verdict. v2: every type-5 item carries one TRUE-sounding distractor — a true sentence that does not show the claim wrong — and the key is never the lone long option.)
Type 6 — PP-19 (easy, MAT4-023). An orange hard candy is stirred in a cup of warm water until none of the candy can be seen. What has happened to the candy?
Options: It has turned into water. · It is gone. · It melted. · It is still there, in the water.
Why: The candy broke into pieces too small to see and spread through the water, so it dissolved. A dissolved material is not gone. So the candy is still there, in the water.
Type 7 — PP-38 (medium, MAT4-023). A butterscotch candy is stirred in a cup of warm water until none of it can be seen, and a girl says the candy melted. Which word names what the candy did?
Options: melted · dissolved · froze · evaporated.
Why: Melting is a solid warming up enough and turning into a liquid. The candy broke into pieces too small to see and spread through the water. So the candy dissolved.
Type 8 — PP-43 (hard, MAT4-021). Steel spoons, plastic forks and wooden chopsticks are jumbled together in a drawer, and a magnet is held over the drawer. Which things does the magnet pull out?
Options: only the steel spoons · the spoons and the chopsticks · all three kinds · nothing, because the three are mixed.
Why: In a mixture, each material is still itself. The spoons are still steel, and a magnet pulls steel; the forks are still plastic and the chopsticks still wood, which a magnet does not pull. So the magnet pulls out only the steel spoons.
Hard because: the student must chain the fact (each material is still itself) to a property test (the magnet) across three materials to predict which thing comes out.
Type 9 — PP-48 (hard, MAT4-022, multi-select). Select every mixture that is a solution.
Options: sea water with no grains of salt in sight · a snow globe with white flakes swirling in water · a glass of water with green sports-drink powder stirred in until it is all pale green · a bowl of yogurt with sprinkles in it.
Why: A solution is a mixture where you cannot see the parts. Sea water and the pale green drink hide their parts; the flakes and the sprinkles can be seen. So the set is sea water and the sports-drink water.
Hard because: the answer is a SET; the student must sort four fresh cases at once and pick exactly the two that hide their parts.
Design-move inventory (the bank's lines; the lesson side is in BUILD_RECORD_G4T14.md)
Columns: id · move · scene kind · nearest earlier item. "New" = no earlier item shares the move AND the scene kind.
| id | move | scene kind | nearest earlier |
|---|---|---|---|
| PP-1 | sort: two solids shaken, both in sight | a bag of two candies | L01-V (rice and beans) — same move, four-option fixed set, new scene kind (candy) |
| PP-2 | sort: two solids stirred | a fruit bowl | L01-q2 — same move, new scene |
| PP-3 | sort: one material | a bag of popcorn kernels | L01-q4 (rice only) — same move, new scene |
| PP-4 | sort: two solids jumbled (no stirring verb) | a tin of buttons and beads | L01 — new scene kind (a craft tin) |
| PP-5 | sort: one material (a liquid) | a glass of plain water | L01-q10 option — same case as a stem; the one-material liquid |
| PP-6 | pick the mixture of four | salad / pebbles / water / potatoes | L01-q9 — same move, new scenes |
| PP-7 | pick the one material of four | four things | L01-q10 — same move, new scenes |
| PP-8 | the term recognised | no scene | L01-q13 — same move, four options |
| PP-9 | pick the mixture of four | cotton balls / chalk / crayons and blocks / blueberries | PP-6 sibling; draw one per test |
| PP-10 | still itself: a fruit after stirring | a fruit bowl | L02-q2 (dice and dominoes; v2 beans) — same move, four options |
| PP-11 | still itself: a snack after shaking | popcorn and candy | PP-10 sibling |
| PP-12 | still itself: a metal stays its metal | washers and beads in a jar | L02-q4 (nail among corks) — the property named, no magnet |
| PP-13 | still itself: a salad vegetable | a tossed salad | PP-10 sibling |
| PP-14 | the true sentence about every material in a mixture | no scene | L02-q10 — four options |
| PP-15 | sort: a powder that hides (colour evidence) | green sports-drink powder in water | L03-q2 (honey) — same move, fixed set, new solute and a colour clue (v2: was powdered milk) |
| PP-16 | sort: visible flakes in water | a snow globe | L03-q7 (glitter) — same move, new scene kind (a toy) |
| PP-17 | sort: a natural solution | sea water | new scene kind (the ocean) |
| PP-18 | sort: visible soil in water | a muddy puddle | L03-q4 (pumpkin seeds; v2 gravel) — same move, new scene kind (outdoors) |
| PP-19 | what happened to the dissolved thing | an orange hard candy in warm water | L04-q3 (salt in soup) — same move, new solute kind (a candy) (v2: was a fizzy tablet) |
| PP-20 | what happened to the dissolved thing | a soup cube in hot water | PP-19 sibling; draw one per test |
| PP-21 | sort: a natural solid-and-liquid mixture | a pond with leaves | L01 E (sand and water) — same move, no jar, no shaking: new scene kind |
| PP-22 | fixed-wrong claim: nobody stirred it | crayons and blocks | L01-q12 (stir only) — the reason form |
| PP-23 | fixed-wrong claim: many of one thing is a mixture | a bowl of blueberries | new |
| PP-24 | pick the mixture of four (a natural case as key) | water / ice / pebbles / pond | PP-6 sibling; draw one per test |
| PP-25 | still itself: hardness kept | pasta and marshmallows | L02-q6 (pebbles stay hard) — the yes form on a new property pair |
| PP-26 | still itself: smell kept | mint and lettuce | new (smell) |
| PP-27 | still itself: sinking kept | coins and bottle caps in water | new (floating / sinking as the property) |
| PP-28 | fixed-wrong claim: taste shared | popcorn and candy | L02-q7 (corks become magnetic) — the reason form, a new property |
| PP-29 | pick the parts out again | buttons and beads | L02-q8 (walnuts) — four options |
| PP-30 | sort: a liquid in a liquid that hides | maple syrup in warm milk | L03-q3 (vinegar) — same move, fixed set, new pair |
| PP-31 | sort: visible solids in a thick liquid | sprinkles in yogurt | L03-q5 (cereal in milk) — same move, new scene |
| PP-32 | pick the solution of four | globe / puddle / corn syrup in warm water / yogurt | L03-q8 — same move, new scenes (v2: the key was sea water) |
| PP-33 | pick the non-solution mixture of four | the same four kinds | new (the reverse pick) |
| PP-34 | fixed-wrong claim: mixed in, so a solution | a muddy puddle | L03-q9 (cereal and milk claim) — the reason form |
| PP-35 | where is the dissolved material | corn syrup in warm water | new (location, not existence) (v2: was powdered milk) |
| PP-36 | what a taste shows | a mouthful of sea water while swimming | L04-q4 (why is the tea sweet) — the what form of the evidence (v2: nobody drinks sea water on purpose) |
| PP-37 | fixed-wrong claim: the candy is gone | an orange hard candy, made as a drink | L04-q5 (bare no) — the reason form (v2: was a fizzy tablet; the stem now names orange and the drink; v3: the claim says "is gone", not "has disappeared" — a child reads "disappeared" as "out of sight", which is true) |
| PP-38 | melt or dissolve, the word | a butterscotch candy in warm water | L04-q11 (salt) — same move, four sister words (v2: was a soup cube, whose fat does melt) |
| PP-39 | melt or dissolve, the word | an ice pop in the sun | L04-q10 (butter) — same move, four sister words |
| PP-40 | the true sentence about the dissolved thing (colour evidence) | blue plant food in a watering can | L04-q9 (instant coffee) — same move, new solute and scene kind (the garden) (v2: was powdered milk) |
| PP-41* | type "mixture" | candy bag | L01-q14 (cucumber slices and olives; v2 oats and nuts) — new scene |
| PP-42* | type "mixture" | pasta and peas in a pot | PR-13 (acorns and pine cones) — new scene |
| PP-43 | three materials under a magnet | a kitchen drawer | L02 E (clips and marbles) — the chain to three materials, new scene kind |
| PP-44 | fixed-wrong claim: floating shared | ping-pong and golf balls | L02-q7 — the reason form on a new property |
| PP-45* | type "solution" | green sports-drink powder | L03-q12 (baking soda) — new scene (v2: was powdered milk) |
| PP-46* | type "solution" (liquid in liquid) | maple syrup in milk | PR-14 — new scene kind |
| PP-47* | type "solution" (natural) | the Great Salt Lake | new (v2: was sea water) |
| PP-48 | multi-select: the set of solutions | four mixtures | new |
| PP-49* | type "dissolve" | a soup cube | L04-q13 (baking soda) — new scene |
| PP-50* | type "dissolve" against "melted" (a hard candy in warm water) | an orange hard candy | new (v2: was a fizzing tablet) |
| PP-51* | type "dissolve" against "melted" in warm water | green sports-drink powder in warm water | new (v2: was powdered milk) |
| PP-52* | type "dissolve" (natural, nobody stirred) | the ocean | new |
| PP-53 | fixed-wrong claim: hot water melted it | a peppermint candy | L04-q6 (Fern: the salt melted, bare no) — the reason form with a true fact (hot water) pulling the wrong way (v2: was a soup cube) |
| PP-54 | follow the material two moves (what it did, where it is now) | a soup cube that tastes salty | PR-17 (FRQ) — the MCQ form of the chain (v3 stem: "Which sentence says what the cube did and where it is now?") |
Draw-one-per-test pairs for the test builder (the ⟂ list): PP-6 ⟂ PP-9 ⟂ PP-24 (pick the mixture, three ways); PP-19 ⟂ PP-20 ⟂ PP-40 (what happened to the dissolved thing); PP-18 ⟂ PP-33 ⟂ PP-34 (the muddy puddle answers three items); PP-17 ⟂ PP-33 ⟂ PP-36 ⟂ PP-47 ⟂ PP-48 ⟂ PP-52 (salty natural water: the sort, the option, the taste, the typed term, the set, the ocean's typed verb); PP-15 ⟂ PP-33 ⟂ PP-45 ⟂ PP-48 ⟂ PP-51 (the sports-drink powder: the sort prints "a solution", the option, the typed term, the set, the typed verb); PP-32 ⟂ PP-35 (corn syrup: the pick, then where it is); PP-16 ⟂ PP-48 (the snow globe is a set member); PP-31 ⟂ PP-48 (yogurt and sprinkles is a set member); PP-20 ⟂ PP-49 ⟂ PP-54 (the soup cube: its outcome, the typed word, the chain); PP-19 ⟂ PP-33 ⟂ PP-37 ⟂ PP-50 (the orange hard candy: its outcome, the option, the claim, the typed verb); PP-38 ⟂ PP-53 (a hard candy said to have melted, twice); PP-01 ⟂ PP-41, PP-30 ⟂ PP-46, PP-36 ⟂ PP-52, PP-38 ⟂ PP-49, PP-40 ⟂ PP-51 (a typed item beside the MCQ that prints its word — the blind readers' pairs); PP-49 ⟂ PP-50 ⟂ PP-51 ⟂ PP-52 ⟂ PP-35 and PP-49 ⟂ PP-50 ⟂ PP-51 ⟂ PP-52 ⟂ PP-53 (the four typed dissolve stems print the dissolving sentence — "breaks into pieces too small to see and spreads all through" — which is PP-35's key and PP-53's key; v3, the re-read's flag); PP-8 ⟂ PP-41 ⟂ PP-42 (the term recognised then typed); PP-14 ⟂ PP-23, PP-28 (the rule sentence is the fixed-wrong claims' correction); PP-25 ⟂ PP-26 (sibling property items); PP-4 ⟂ PP-29 (buttons and beads sorted, then picked apart); PP-30 ⟂ PP-46 (maple syrup sorted as "a solution", then typed); PP-12 ⟂ PP-43 (steel keeps its magnetism, then the chain).