IMS Question & Test Interoperability (QTI) Specification

The IMS Question & Test Interoperability (QTI®) specification enables the exchange of item and test content and results data between authoring tools, item banks, test construction tools, learning platforms, assessment delivery systems, and scoring/analytics engines.

Conformance

A conformance certification program and online validation tool have also been developed and deployed. The QTI Evolution & Certification Committee maintains the QTI and APIP conformance programs. Contributing Members, Affiliates and e-Assessment Alliance participants have access to the tests in the eAssessment Alliance.

Organizations procuring QTI or APIP products are strongly encouraged to require IMS conformance certification for all such products to ensure the highest levels of interoperability are achieved across the educational community. Products that have achieved conformance certification are listed and updated at Conformance Certification Status.

The following document is a primer on conformance and the relationship between QTI v2.x and APIP v1.x. It is highly recommended that this document be read prior to reading the other specification documents: IMS Assessment Primer.

For information about QTI, join the discussion at: Question & Test Interoperability Forum.

IMS Question and Test Interoperability v2.2 Final Specification (1 September 2015)

An update to the QTI v2.2 specification documents including the XSDs was approved by the QTI Workgroup to correct some errors and bugs in the documentation. The QTI v2.2.1 specification (5 July 2016) and now the v2.2.2 (27 November 2017) is available below. A list of the updates and changes is available here: https://www.imsglobal.org/qti-v221-and-v222-updates

Version 2.2 - Final Specification - All Files

Download the complete document set as a single zip package

Version 2.2 Final Specification - Examples and Schemas

Download all the Examples and Schemas (zip file)

Version 2.2 Final Specification - Response Processing Templates

Version 2.2 Final Specification - XML Schema Documents

This is the set of Final Release XSDs developed by IMS Global to support validation of instances that conform to the IMS Question and Test Interoperability (QTI) v2.2 specification. The namespace and schema location details for the QTIv2.2 XSDs are provided in the tables below.

Packaging-Related XSDs - the construction of the package manifest for the zipped QTI package;
QTI-Specific XSDs - definition of the accessible QTI instances, results reports and usage data statistics;
Metadata-Related XSDs - the set of metadata supported in the manifest;
Other Required XSDs - other XSDs required for the full validation.

The key difference to the previous release is that this set contains the two new 2.2.1 version XSDs. In the new HTML5 XSD the changes address:

The ARIA attributes using the 'ElementIDList' class have been re-assigned the 'IDREFS' primitiveType and the 'ElementIDList' class has been deleted;
The QTI-HTML5v2.2 XSD reference has been changed to QTI-HTML5v2.2.1 XSD;
The multiplicity of the 'col' attribute in the 'ColGroup' class has been changed to [0..*];
The schematron rules for the extensions of the 'language' and 'base' characterisics have been corrected to refer to 'xml:lang' and 'xml:base' respectively.

For the new ASI XSD the changes address:

Correction of the 'preload' attribute multiplicity (to become [0..1]) for the 'Audio' class;
Replace the use of the 'ElementIDList' class with the 'IDREFS' primitiveType and delete the 'ElementIDList' class;
The import to the QTIv2.2 XSD has been changed to QTIv2.2.1 XSD;
The schematron rules for the extensions of the 'language' and 'base' characterisics have been corrected to refer to 'xml:lang' and 'xml:base' respectively.

The key for the following tables is:

"Namespace" - the namespace for the XSD (must be supplied in any XML instance referring to the corresponding XSD);
"XSD File Name" - the filename for the XSD;
"Schema Location" - the schema location for the XSD (must be supplied in any XML instance referring to the corresponding XSD).

The changed XSDs are marked by '*'.

The following set of XSDs are used for the validation of QTIv2.2:

P1 - used to validate the "imsmanifest.xml" file that must be present in the zipped package;
Q1* - used to validate a QTI instance (uses "Q2" to validate the accessibility content);
Q2 - used to validate the alternative accessibility content for the QTI object;
Q3* - used to validate the HTML5 content for the QTI object;
Q4 - used to validate the reporting of QTI results;
Q5 - used to validate the usage data statistics for presented QTI items;
M1 - used to validate the learning standards annotations, at the manifest and resource level, defined using the Curriculum Standards Metadata (CSM);
M2 - used to validate the metadata, in the "imsmanifest.xml" file, defined using IEEE LOM;
M3 - used to validate the QTI metadata that is associated with a QTI-based resource;
X1 - used to validate the xml-specific attributes;
X2 - used to validate the XInclude features;
X3 - used to validate the MathML 2 features;
X4 - used to validate the MathML 3 features;
X5 - used to validate the SSMLv1.0 features;
X6 - used to validate the SSMLv1.1 features.

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1. Packaging-Related XSDs

ID	Namespace	XSD File Name	Schema Location
P1	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imscp_v1p1	qtiv2p2_imscpv1p2_v1p0.xsd	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/qti/qtiv2p2/qtiv2p2_imscpv1p2_v1p0.xsd

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2. QTI-Specific XSDs

ID	Namespace	XSD File Name	Schema Location
Q1*	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsqti_v2p2	imsqti_v2p2p2.xsd	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/qti/qtiv2p2/imsqti_v2p2p2.xsd
Q2	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/apip/apipv1p0/imsapip_qtiv1p0	apipv1p0_qtiextv2p2_v1p0.xsd	http://www.imsglobal.org/profile/apip/apipv1p0/apipv1p0_qtiextv2p2_v1p0p1.xsd
Q3*	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsqtiv2p2_html5_v1p0	imsqtiv2p2p2_html5_v1p0.xsd	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/qti/qtiv2p2/imsqtiv2p2p2_html5_v1p0.xsd
Q4	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsqti_result_v2p2	imsqti_result_v2p2.xsd	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/qti/qtiv2p2/imsqti_result_v2p2.xsd
Q5	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsqti_usagedata_v2p2	imsqti_usagedata_v2p2.xsd	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/qti/qtiv2p2/imsqti_usagedata_v2p2.xsd

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3. Metadata-Related XSDs

ID	Namespace	XSD File Name	Schema Location
M1	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/qti/qtiv2p2/imscsmd_v1p0	qtiv2p2_csm_v2p2.xsd	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/qti/qtiv2p2/qtiv2p2_csm_v2p2.xsd
M2	http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/LOM	imsmd_loose_v1p3p2.xsd	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsmd_loose_v1p3p2.xsd
M3	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsqti_metadata_v2p2	imsqti_metadata_v2p2.xsd	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/qti/qtiv2p2/imsqti_metadata_v2p2.xsd

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4. Other-Related XSDs

ID	Namespace	XSD File Name	Schema Location
X1	http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace	xml.xsd	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/w3/2001/xml.xsd
X2	http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude	XInclude.xsd	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/w3/2001/XInclude.xsd
X3	http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML	mathml2.xsd	http://www.w3.org/Math/XMLSchema/mathml2/mathml2.xsd
X4	http://www.w3.org/2010/Math/MathML	mathml3.xsd	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/w3/Math/XMLSchema/mathml3/mathml3.xsd
X5	http://www.w3.org/2001/10/synthesis	ssmlv1p0.xsd	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/w3/2001/ssmlv1p0.xsd
X6	http://www.w3.org/2010/10/synthesis	ssmlv1p1-core.xsd	http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/w3/2010/ssmlv1p1-core.xsd

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IMS Question and Test Interoperability v2.1 Final Specification (31 August 2012)
On 1 September 2016, the IMS QTI Evolution and Certification Committee approved a minor change to the ASI Information Model document to correct the maxChoices attribute default setting (Section 7.1) to match the QTI v2.1 XSD.

Version 2.1 - Final Specification - All Files

Download the complete document set as a single zip package

Version 2.1 Final Specification - Examples and Schemas

Download all the Examples and Schemas (zip file)

The XSD files are:

QTI Assessment, Section and Item XSD – imsqti_v2p1.xsd
QTI Metadata XSD – imsqti_metadata_v2p1.xsd
QTI Usage Data XSD – imsqti_usagedata_v2p1.xsd
QTI Result Reporting XSD – imsqti_result_v2p1.xsd

Version 2.1 Final Specification - Glossaries

Version 2.1 Final Specification - Response Processing Templates

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IMS Question and Test Interoperability v2.0 Final Specification

IMS Question and Test Interoperability v2.0 Final Specification has three key objectives:
(1) To address relevant issues deferred from v1.0: a new information model has been defined with a new interaction model and a profile of XHTML to replace static material. Authors will now have more control over the behaviour and positioning of feedback and support for cloning using item templates has been added.
(2) To define a method for putting QTI into content packages: a new document has also been created dedicated to meta-data and usage-data (item statistics)
(3) To describe a method for using QTI with Learning Design, Simple Sequencing and the CMI data model

The key document to review is the Overview which describes the purpose of the other documents in the package. The Information Model document contains the detailed information, examples are provided and documented through the Implementation Guide. For those familiar with version 1.x the Migration Guide describes the differences, element by element. An experimental migration script has also been provided.

It should be noted that this specification is focusing on the Item. It is not updating Section and Assessment from v1.x, see the Overview document for more details.

Version 2 - Final Specification - HTML

Version 2.0 - Final Specification - PDF

Download the PDF documents

Version 2.0 -IMS XML Examples and Schemas

Version 2.0 -Response Processing Templates

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The IMS Question & Test Interoperability Specification provides proposed standard XML language for describing questions and tests. The specification has been produced to allow the interoperability of content within assessment systems. This will be useful for publishers, certification authorities, teachers, trainers, publishers and creators of assessments, and the software vendors whose tools they use. Authoring tools, and publishers, may publish XML and this data can be imported into other authoring tools and delivery systems. An introduction to help you with your initial learning curve has been produced in the form of a white paper.

An Addendum to IMS QTI v1.2 was reviewed by the IMS Technical Advisory Board in March 2003. This addendum describes amendments that should be made by adopters of the IMS QTI Specification V1.2, thereby creating the IMS QTI V1.2.1 Specification. The differences between the V1.2 and the V1.2.1 specifications are limited to:

Typographic corrections - corrections of spelling mistakes, wrong references, phraseology, etc.;
Editorial additions - the provision of improved or new descriptions to clarify the specification;
Functional corrections - changes to the functionality to correct mistakes and to clarify the intended capability of the specification.

Version 1.2.1 - Final Specification- Addendum - HTML