MCQ - Arivu

1. What is an MCQ?

The MCQ (Multiple Choice Question) is Keystone’s atomic assessment unit. One question, up to four options, exactly one correct answer, one rich-text solution.

Everything testable in the product is built on top of MCQs — daily practice, past-year drills, custom tests, streak/stars, accuracy analytics, docket-embedded check-ins.

Three flavors by source:

PYQ — Past Year Question (tagged with year)
DQ — Daily Question (curated daily set)
EQ — Extra Question (bank/filler)

Two content formats:

Simple MCQ — plain text
Advanced MCQ — rich PlateJS JSON (images, math, formatting)

2. Core MCQ Structure

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                          MCQ                                │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ short_uid          unique ID (course-scoped)                │
│ question           the question content                     │
│ option_1..4        up to four answer options                │
│ correct_option     which option is correct                  │
│ solution_client    rendered explanation (encrypted as sole) │
│ question_type      PYQ | DQ | EQ                            │
│ taxonomy_ids       L1 → L2 → L3 placement                   │
│ l4_docket_id       optional primary docket binding          │
│ tag_ids            up to 5 tags                             │
│ status             Draft | Published | Archive              │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

3. Connection With Other Entities

   ┌────────────┐         ┌──────────┐         ┌────────────┐
   │  Taxonomy  │ ──────▶ │  Docket  │ ──────▶ │    MCQ     │
   │ L1→L2→L3   │ groups  │  (study  │ tests   │            │
   │            │         │  unit)   │         │            │
   └────────────┘         └──────────┘         └─────┬──────┘
                                                     │
                                              attaches to
                                                     │
                                                     ▼
                                              ┌────────────┐
                                              │   Block    │
                                              │ (content   │
                                              │  inside a  │
                                              │  docket)   │
                                              └────────────┘

In plain English: a Taxonomy organizes the syllabus. Dockets are the study units inside a taxonomy node. An MCQ lives inside a taxonomy path and tests against a docket. Blocks are the content units inside a docket — any block can be attached to an MCQ as primary or secondary reference.

4. Parameters of an MCQ

_id — unique ID
short_uid — auto-generated unique ID like MCQ1A2B3C4D; course-scoped; used for cross-references from dockets, blocks, bookmarks, custom tests, and deep-linking
internal_display_uid — editable display label authors use in workflows; defaults to short_uid
course_id — the course this MCQ belongs to (NEET, UPSC, etc.); used for scoping and access control
question — question content (plaintext or PlateJS payload); required
question_preview — auto-derived plaintext preview for list views
question_format — SIMPLE_MCQ or ADVANCED_MCQ
option_1 / option_2 / option_3 / option_4 — answer options (up to 4)
correct_option — which option key is the correct answer (option_1 … option_4)
selected_option_1_count … selected_option_4_count — denormalised counters of how many users picked each option (option-quality signal)
solution_admin — rich-text solution in author RTE format
solution_client — solution in client renderer block format
sole — encrypted ciphertext of solution_client for secure mobile delivery
question_type — PYQ | DQ | EQ
year — past-year reference (required when question_type = PYQ)
year_set — year-variant number, when the same year has multiple sets
root_taxonomy_id — L1 taxonomy reference (subject root)
taxonomy_ids — full L1 → L2 → L3 path the MCQ belongs to
l4_docket_id — optional primary docket binding (the docket this MCQ “comes from”)
tag_ids — categorisation tags, max 5
sort_order — manual position within the taxonomy
status — DRAFT | PUBLISHED | ARCHIVE
mcq_docket_link — denormalised list of all docket/block links for fast read
pri_block_ids — block short UIDs where this MCQ is the primary link (from the MCQ’s own L4 docket)
sec_block_ids — block short UIDs where this MCQ is a secondary link (from other dockets)
block_order — ordering of attached blocks for display
like_count / dislike_count / bookmark_count — denormalised engagement counters
is_deleted — soft-delete flag
created_at / updated_at
created_by / updated_by

5. Functionality

MCQ Practice — student picks an option (or skips) and gets instant feedback with the solution other than exam mode. First attempt locks in for first-attempt accuracy; re-attempts roll a last-three-attempts window.
Mark as guessed — student can self-flag their latest answer as a guess; captured on the user’s MCQ attribute record and surfaces in personal review / accuracy analytics.
Bookmark / Unbookmark — save an MCQ for later review; updates the MCQ’s bookmark counter and the user’s attribute record.
Adding to collection — group bookmarked MCQs into user-owned buckets (e.g. “Revise before exam”);
Like / Dislike — quality feedback on the question itself; aggregated into like_count / dislike_count on the MCQ.

6. Lifecycle

        ┌──────────┐  publish   ┌────────────┐  archive   ┌──────────┐
 create │  DRAFT   │ ─────────▶ │ PUBLISHED  │ ─────────▶ │ ARCHIVE  │
 ─────▶ │          │ ◀───────── │            │ ◀───────── │          │
        └──────────┘  unpublish └────────────┘  restore   └──────────┘
              │                                                │
              └──────────────── soft delete ───────────────────┘
                                  (is_deleted=true; reversible)

State	Who sees it	Notes
Draft	Admin only	Default on create. Not served to students.
Published	Students (mobile, web, dockets, custom test)	Live content.
Archive	Admin only	Withdrawn from student surfaces; kept for history.
Soft-deleted	No-one	Orthogonal to status. Recoverable by admin.

Side effects on every status change (background jobs):

Refresh taxonomy MCQ counts
Refresh year-bucket MCQ counts
Rebuild MCQ↔docket link denormalization