The Item Bench

Step 1 of 5

Set the blueprint

Name the topic, the course context, and the cognitive level you're testing. This tags the item so it maps back to a course objective later.

Subject domain

Species / clinical context optional Course / unit optional

Learning objective this item measures

Cognitive level (Bloom's Taxonomy)

Step 2 of 5

Find source material

Search the built-in shelf of veterinary-education resources, or ask Claude to suggest angles and search terms for your topic.

Search the resource shelf

Ask Claude

Claude can suggest useful search terms, source types, and a short factual primer on your topic — drafted from its general knowledge, not a live web search. Verify anything you use against a current source before it goes on an exam.

Claude cannot browse the internet from inside this tool — it answers from what it already knows, which can be incomplete or out of date. Cross-check drug doses, guidelines, and current standards against the shelf above or your own references before writing an item.

Step 3 of 5

Draft the stem

Write a stem that could stand as its own question — a reader should be able to answer it before ever seeing the options.

Question stem Correct answer Rationale why this is correct — useful for an answer key

Cover-the-options test: read only the stem and your answer. If it makes sense as a stand-alone statement, the stem is doing its job. If it only makes sense next to the option list, rewrite it.

Step 4 of 5

Write distractors

Good distractors are wrong for a specific, plausible reason — usually a real mistake a learner at this level actually makes.

Keep options the same type and roughly the same length as the answer (all drug names, all doses, all diagnoses). A distractor that's obviously shorter, longer, or from a different category than the rest tips off a test-wise guesser.

Step 5 of 5

Review, flag, and export

Run the flaw check, then add the item to your bank. Export the whole bank as a CSV whenever you're ready.