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• What is SURE Q?
• Where can I read the SURE Q manual?
• What question packs are available?
• How many questions are in each pack?
• Who writes the questions?
• What's the difference between the site and home licences?
• Will you make a question pack for subject XYZ?
• What does the question window look like?
• What is Shuffle Mode?
• What is Select Mode?
• Is there a mark or a score?
• How does the answer log work?
• How can a teacher monitor the progress of pupils?
• What do you mean by instant constructive feedback?
• Can the software be run over a network or the internet?
• Is it available for Macs?
• What are the system requirements?

What is SURE Q?

SURE Q asks questions and the user has to answer them. Every answer receives an immediate response saying whether it was correct or incorrect. If the answer was incorrect, the software will try to point out why it thinks the mistake was made and give a gentle hint to guide the user towards arriving at the correct answer. In this way it can be used as part of formative assessment or assessment for learning. SURE Q also records all answers, types of mistakes made and allows both the pupil/student and their teacher to view progress in a powerful answer log window. Back to top

Where can I read the SURE Q manual?

You can read the manual online by clicking here. The SURE Q manual can be viewed from within the software, under the Help menu. Back to top

What question packs are available?

For the latest availability on question packs see our Products page. Back to top

How many questions are in each pack?

There as many questions as needed to cover every learning outcome or content statement in the subject specification (e.g. GCSE Maths). In practice this means there will be at least 250 questions in a question pack. Back to top

Who writes the questions?

The questions and all feedback to answers are written by teachers and by Counting Thoughts staff who have expertise in the relevant subjects. Each question pack is reviewed at least four times with at least two reviews being conducted by teachers who are currently teaching the subject in question. It is painstaking work and you might be surprised about the amount of discussion that can be prompted by the choice of one particular word or phrase! Back to top

What's the difference between the site and home licences?

A site licence lasts indefinitely and entitles any number of users to use the software on any number of computers as long as both users and computers are on the premises of the school. A home licence entitles one individual to use the software on their own computer at home and cannot be transferred to another user. Please contact us if you wish to buy a site licence and also wish your pupils/students to use the software at home and we will advise you on how you can use the software over the internet and on any relevant special offers we are running. Back to top

Will you make a question pack for subject XYZ?

At the time of writing this FAQ (5/4/2006) we are concentrating on science subjects and mathematics for UK qualifications. Our decision to produce a question pack for a subject depends on two main factors: the expertise of authors available to us and the demand for the question packs. If you would like to help us write questions or you want to request a question pack please contact us. Back to top

What is Shuffle Mode?

Shuffle Mode is the easiest way to use SURE Q: you select a topic and a difficulty level and press Go and then work your way through a random selection of 10 questions. This is ideal for quick bursts of revision, especially if you want to gauge how well you know a particular topic. Back to top

What is Select Mode?

Select Mode allows you to attempt any question or set of questions of your choice. For example, the teacher can tell you to attempt questions numbered 1.3.2, 1.3.5, 1.4.1, 1.4.7 and you can select these from the "tree" to create a short set of four questions. Alternatively, you can simply browse through questions by topic, sub-topic and name. Select mode also lets you see how many questions you have completed and gives an indication of how well you have been answering them (green filled rectangles). Back to top

Is there a mark or a score?

Yes, but the score is based on the number of attempts taken to answer the question. If a correct answer is given in one of the first three attempts at answering a question then points will be awarded: 3 for the first attempt, 2 for the second and 1 for the third. A question is said to be completed when either it has been answered correctly or it has been answered incorrectly three times. Once a question has been completed, the user can view a model answer. Also, users will not be given a question they have already completed in Shuffle mode (unless they clear the answer log or log on as another user). Back to top

How does the answer log work?

The answers given in the first three attempts at a question will be recorded in the answer log. The answer log can be viewed in one of two modes: Error categories (shown above) or Classifications. The Error categories shows a table where each row represents a particular kind of mistake. Each coloured icon represents an incorrect answer with its colour indicating the attempt number (green is first attempt, yellow is second, red is third). Clicking on the icon brings up the question along with the answer that was given and the feedback for that answer. The Classifications mode is very similar to the select mode tree, but only lists questions that have been completed. Back to top

How can a teacher monitor the progress of pupils?

SURE Q contains a user manager that can only be accessed by a user who knows the correct purchase code (usually the teacher). It allows the teacher to add, remove and rename users and reset their passwords. Also, it allows the teacher to inspect the answer log of any user or group of users. For example, in the screenshot above, Albert Einstein and Marie Curie are both selected (yellow highlighted) so the answer log shows the types of errors that these 20th Century physicists are making. The classifications tab could be used to discover that Albert Einstein has been working on questions concerning photon energy and Marie Curie has spent most time in the nuclear radiation section on dosimetry and safety. Back to top

What do you mean by instant constructive feedback?

When a user enters an answer they are not just told whether it is correct or incorrect, they are also given feedback in response to their answer. If the answer is incorrect the software will give them information designed to help them discover the correct answer for themselves. Where possible this feedback will be specific to the particular mistake that has just been made. Once the user has completed the question - answered it correctly or got it wrong three times - they can view a model answer. Back to top

Can the software be used on a network or over the internet?

The short answer is yes, but this question can have a number of different meanings depending on what is meant by "used on a network". Most importantly the software can easily be configured so that users can read/write to their own answer logs from any computer on a network with access protected by user names and passwords. SURE Q can be run on a client computer from an installation on the server, though we find that an installation (50-60Mb typically) on each client machine gives slightly better performance. Use over the internet is also possible, but in that case it is necessary that the software is installed in the pupil's home computer and the user must possess a home licence. If the school has a Virtual Private Network (VPN) then the central answer log folder can be used as described above. However, if your school does not have a VPN (most don't!) it will be possible to synchronize answer logs between home and school using email, or indeed any other method of transferring files. Back to top

What does the question window look like?

The question window - as shown above - has four main areas. The question text occupies the top left of the window with diagrams and graphs appearing to the right. The central bar is where the answer is entered. Some questions are multiple choice with buttons appearing in the question text, but in this example a numeric answer is required. Units are an essential part of giving the correct answer and can be typed or attached to the answer using the Units button (essential when characters are needed that don't appear on the keyboard). The lower part of the screen is where feedback is displayed. In this example the software has noticed that the acceleration has been divided by the force and so is advising the user on re-arranging the equation for Newton's second law. We try to keep questions and feedbacks as concise as possible, but equally we can't let them become too terse or skip important steps in a model answer, so where necessary text panes do have scroll bars. Back to top

Is it available for Macs?

Yes, it is available for Macs running OS X - more details are given in this pdf document. Back to top

What are the system requirements?

The system requirements for SURE Q are quite modest - it can run on virtually all PCs or Macs produced in the last five years and will run on many older machines too. (We have even got it running on an ancient Pentium MMX with 32Mb of memory and an elderly iMac after a surprisingly painless upgrade to OS X). The full system requirements along with other details on the software can be found in this pdf document. Back to top