How to Build Great Quizzes in PATHS—Faster—with a Little Help from ChatGPT

Chris Kelsey
July 9, 2025
3 mins

Introduction

Creating quizzes in PATHS is a great way to reinforce learning, check for understanding, or assess progress toward certification. Whether you want to place a quick knowledge check after a single Step, a summary quiz at the end of a Trail, or a final assessment for course completion, PATHS gives you the flexibility to do it all.

One tool that can make quiz creation faster and easier is ChatGPT. With the right prompt, it can help you generate level-appropriate, well-structured questions in just minutes.

The workflow below walks you through how to use ChatGPT to draft your quiz content, provide explanations for answers, and format everything for easy input into the PATHS platform. Feel free to adapt these steps to suit your content and instructional goals.

1. Gather Your Source Material

Before you open ChatGPT, collect everything you have included as Steps in your Path:

  1. Videos (or links to YouTube/Vimeo)
  2. PDFs
  3. Images
  4. Audio files or podcasts
  5. Links to web pages
  6. Other

Having the full set of assets handy lets ChatGPT write questions that truly reflect your content.

2. Craft a Clear Prompt for ChatGPT

Open a fresh ChatGPT chat and paste (or upload) your assets. Then give ChatGPT a prompt that covers:

1. Audience Level – Ask ChatGPT to “write questions at an eighth-grade reading level.”

Question count – “Create 7 questions.”

Question types – e.g., “Use only multiple-choice and true/false.” (Those two formats import most cleanly into PATHS, but you may choose to have the quiz adapted to any of the question formats in the Quiz Step type)

Pro-tips:

  1. Ask ChatGPT to label the correct answer for each item. It saves guessing later.
  2. Unless you're designing a quiz for a specific audience with a known and consistent reading level (such as college students or professionals), many experts recommend aiming for an eighth-grade level to ensure accessibility and comprehension across a wide range of learners.

See below for an example ChatGPT prompt.

3. Request an Answer-Key Lesson Plan

Immediately after the quiz is generated, send a follow-up prompt such as:

“Explain why each correct answer is right and why the other options are wrong.”

This short “lesson plan” is gold: you can copy snippets into PATHS’ feedback fields so learners see instant, informative explanations—no matter how they answer.

4. Stage the Content in a Working Doc

Copy both the quiz and the answer-key explanations into Google Docs or Word. A staging document makes it easy to:

Fix typos or tighten wording

Re-order questions

Track edits with colleagues

5. Build the Quiz in PATHS

  1. Open your target Path and add a new “Quiz” Step.
  2. Set your preferences (time limit, pass mark, show answers immediately vs. end of quiz, etc.).
  3. Copy-paste each question from your working doc.
  4. Paste the explanation into the Feedback field for that question.
  5. Save the quiz and test it with the preview option.

6. Final Checks

  1. Make sure media links referenced in questions still work.
  2. Confirm that scoring behaves as expected (especially pass/fail logic).
  3. Preview on desktop and mobile for formatting quirks.

Example Prompt

Here's an example of a well-structured prompt you could use in Step 2 above when asking ChatGPT to generate a quiz for your Path:

Sample Prompt:

I am building a quiz for users going through an educational Path on my platform. The content includes a 5-minute YouTube video on nutrition basics, a one-page PDF titled "Healthy Eating Tips," and a simple infographic showing food groups.

Please create 6 quiz questions that are written at an eighth-grade reading level. Use only multiple-choice and true/false formats.

Label the correct answer clearly for each question. The goal is to check basic understanding of the material, not trick the learner.

After the quiz, please write a short explanation for each question that includes:

– Why the correct answer is right

– Why the other choices are incorrect

If you're ready with links or files, you could include them like this:

Here are the sources:

– YouTube video: https://youtube.com/examplelink

– PDF text: [paste PDF content here or summarize key points]

– Infographic: [upload image or describe the key elements]

This structure ensures ChatGPT understands the audience, format, and purpose of the quiz—setting you up for a high-quality first draft.

That’s It!

With ChatGPT doing the heavy lifting on question writing—and PATHS handling delivery—you’ll publish polished, level-appropriate quizzes in minutes instead of hours. Happy quizzing!

Chris Kelsey
July 9, 2025