# Open-ended

**Open-ended questions** capture **audio** or **video** of a test taker providing spontaneous answers to open-ended prompts such as "Who is your best friend and why?" No specific answer is expected. 

With this question type, Speechace assesses the student's **pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary,** and **grammar**. Additionally, when used in conjunction with the [relevance setting](/speechace-speaking-test/speechace-workspaces-create-manage-and-share-speaking-assessments/creating-assessments/score-settings.md#evaluate-relevance-of-answer), this question type can also assess whether the test taker's response was relevant to the question.

## Getting Started

To get started, do the following:

1. Select the **Open-ended** question type to display the associated configuration panel.
2. Type the instructions for the test taker either in the **Question field** on the left or the **Instruction field** on the right.

**Some examples of open-ended questions:**

* "What is your favorite ice cream, and why?"
* "Please tell me about a cultural celebration or tradition in your country."

<figure><img src="/files/kx2IaGB6mmb6XzLaRnNZ" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

## Configuration Panel

The configuration panel for Open-ended question type consists of the following elements:

<figure><img src="/files/txwrI3lb2Io2afYV8KKP" alt="" width="253"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### **Question Field**

In this field, you provide instructions to the test taker in the form of an open-ended question. When combined with the relevance setting, the text in the Question Field helps the AI evaluate whether the test taker’s response is relevant to the question.

<figure><img src="/files/bMiEQpxaiJ52prbd7KG5" alt="" width="375"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### **Optional Instruction**

As the name suggests, this is an optional field. The Optional Instruction field allows you to provide instructions to the test taker while keeping the text in the Question Field hidden.

In some scenarios, the test creator might prefer not to display the Question Field's text to the test taker to prevent potential cheating through copying the question on tools like ChatGPT or because the question is already included in a cue card. However, they may still want to include the question for [relevance setting](/speechace-speaking-test/speechace-workspaces-create-manage-and-share-speaking-assessments/creating-assessments/score-settings.md#evaluate-relevance-of-answer) to ensure the AI can assess the relevance of the test taker’s response.

In such cases, the test creator can add content for the AI to evaluate relevance in the Question Field. To prevent test takers from seeing this content, any instructions meant for them, such as "Review the cue card and answer the question," should be placed in the Optional Instruction field. The text in the Optional Instruction field will be visible to the test taker, while the content in the Question Field remains hidden.

<figure><img src="/files/do33L8P6hq77RNKV5wb8" alt="" width="369"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="/files/kG2T14aEgpMF3QYigmh4" alt="" width="370"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### Cue Cards field

The **Cue Cards** field is where you can add extra context for your test-takers. You can upload one or two cue cards, which can be **images, audio, or video clips**. This is an optional field.

<figure><img src="/files/B0uO9Z4uAalSogFso04j" alt="" width="362"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

{% hint style="success" %}
To learn more about cue cards, please review the [**Cue Cards user guide**](/speechace-speaking-test/speechace-workspaces-create-manage-and-share-speaking-assessments/creating-assessments/create-new-custom-assessments/custom-assessment-configurations/cue-cards.md)**.**
{% endhint %}

## What the Test Taker Sees

Let us take a few examples of cue cards which you can upload and see how will it appear for the test taker:

1. If you fill out the **Question field and also upload an image of a text cue card**, this appears to the test taker as follows (with the instructions under the avatar).\ <br>

   <figure><img src="/files/nTOBCgFZj57Z0aem4wpR" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>
2. If you upload **two cue cards (one audio without cover image, one video)**, they appear to the test taker as follows. <br>

   <figure><img src="/files/m8mOPtEHrcBRos3NTueK" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>


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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://speaking-test-docs.speechace.com/speechace-speaking-test/speechace-workspaces-create-manage-and-share-speaking-assessments/creating-assessments/create-new-custom-assessments/custom-assessment-configurations/types-of-questions/open-ended.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.