Turn Exam Questions into Interactive Simulations with AI

When you turn exam questions into interactive simulations, students stop treating a problem as a string of numbers and start seeing the situation behind it: the kettle heating up, the gas syringe filling, the fence changing shape. This guide shows how to rewrite an exam or textbook question as a description that AI can build, which level to choose and what it costs, how to check the result against the worked answer, and how to add number questions that are checked automatically. It ends with three worked examples in physics, chemistry and math, each with the original question, the prompt and what to check.

If you haven't created a simulation before, read how to create a simulation for your lesson with AI first. This guide assumes you know the Create page.

Why turn an exam question into a simulation?

An exam question freezes one moment of a situation. A simulation lets students move around it.

• Students see the setup. "Only three sides need fencing" is easy to miss in text and impossible to miss when the pen is drawn against the wall.
• They can check their own answer. A student who calculates 252 s for the kettle can set the same values and watch the thermometer reach 100 °C at 252 s.
• They can ask "what if?" What if the kettle is only 84% efficient? What if there is more acid? Each variation is a new question you didn't have to write.
• Misconceptions show up. A student who thinks the reactant with the smaller mass runs out first sees the zinc left over at the bottom of the flask.
• One build, many questions. A good exam-question simulation covers the original question, its variations and next year's version.

Check the library first

Many classic exam problems already exist as library simulations, and those are free. Search for the topic before you spend credits.

The "two cars approaching each other" problem is a good example. In the library simulation below, car A starts at 0 m with 10 m/s and 0.5 m/s², and car B starts at 200 m with −15 m/s and 0.5 m/s². The readout says they meet at t = 8.00 s at x = 96.0 m, the same answer students get from 10t + 0.25t² = 200 − 15t + 0.25t². Pin your exam's numbers on a share link and the problem becomes an activity.

If a library simulation is close but not quite right, a remix with Customize with AI costs 20 credits and keeps the parts that already work.

How to rewrite an exam question as a description

An exam question is written for a student who must find one number. A description for AI is written for a builder who must show a whole situation. Rewrite it in six steps.

1. Name the subject, level and situation. "Grade 10 physics. An electric kettle heating water."
2. Turn the given quantities into sliders. Each slider gets a range, a step and a default. Use the exam's numbers as the defaults, so the simulation opens on the original question.
3. Turn the unknowns into readouts. Whatever the question asks for (time, volume, area) becomes a value on screen, with a unit and a sensible number of decimals.
4. Say what to draw. A diagram of the setup, a graph against time or against the variable, labels students will recognize from the paper.
5. Copy the exam's constants and assumptions exactly. g = 9.8 or 10 m/s², c = 4,200 J/(kg·°C), Ar(Zn) = 65, a molar volume of 24 dm³/mol, "no heat loss". If the simulation uses different constants, its answers won't match the mark scheme.
6. Decide what to hide. Ask for a "Show values" checkbox if you want students to calculate before they see the answer.

The description box takes up to 8,000 characters, so you can paste the original question too. Put it after your own description, labeled "Original exam question for context", so the AI builds the situation rather than a worksheet.

Which level, and what it costs

Level	Cost	Free edits	Typical exam question
Simple	15 credits	5	One formula, a graph or a scaled diagram: optimization, a function, a ratio
Medium	25 credits	5	A process with moving parts: heating, a reaction, motion, a circuit
Complex	80 credits	10	Several linked stages or 3D: a multi-step practical, a 3D molecule

Once the free edits are used, each extra edit costs 2 credits, and a major rewrite costs 10 (30 for Complex). Failed jobs refund their credits automatically. The three examples below cost 25 + 25 + 15 = 65 credits, about a third of a 200-credit pack ($10). Pro includes 200 credits every month; see pricing.

Check the result against the worked answer

AI output can be wrong, and an exam simulation is only useful if it agrees with the mark scheme. Before students see it:

1. Open it at the defaults. These are the exam's numbers, so the readout should show the exam's answer. Compare every part, (a), (b) and (c).
2. Change one value and recalculate by hand. A simulation that matches only the default case may have the answer hard-coded.
3. Test the edges. Minimum and maximum of every slider, plus the case where the situation changes (a reactant fully used up, the water reaching 100 °C).
4. Check units and rounding. cm³ versus dm³, seconds versus minutes, and the same number of significant figures as the mark scheme.
5. Fix by symptom. Describe the wrong value and the right one in a single edit: "At 1.5 kg, 2.0 kW and 20 °C the water reaches 100 °C at 189 s, but it should be 252 s (Q = mcΔT = 504,000 J)."

Add number questions with tolerance

The worked answer becomes your first question. Click Share, open the Questions tab and add a Number question with the exam's answer, a tolerance and the unit.

Set the tolerance from the rounding students will do. If the mark scheme accepts 4.2 min and 252 s, ask for seconds and accept ± 3 s. Then add one variation the exam didn't ask, and a prediction before the simulation unlocks: "Will a kettle with half as much water take half as long?" The guide to collecting student answers walks through every setting, and adding simulations to quiz questions covers LMS quizzes.

Three worked examples

Physics: heating water in a kettle (Medium)

Original question: "An electric kettle rated at 2.0 kW contains 1.5 kg of water at 20 °C. The specific heat capacity of water is 4,200 J/(kg·°C). (a) Calculate the energy needed to heat the water to 100 °C. (b) Calculate the time this takes, assuming no energy is wasted. (c) The kettle actually takes 5.0 minutes. Calculate its efficiency."

Prompt:

Grade 10 physics, specific heat capacity and power. An electric kettle heating water, with a thermometer and a timer. Sliders: power 0.5–3.0 kW (default 2.0 kW), mass of water 0.5–2.0 kg (default 1.5 kg), starting temperature 5–40 °C (default 20 °C), efficiency 50–100% (default 100%). Use c = 4,200 J/(kg·°C). Heat the water when I press Start and stop at 100 °C; do not model boiling. Show a temperature–time graph, the elapsed time in seconds, the energy supplied by the kettle and the energy absorbed by the water in kJ. Start, Pause and Reset buttons, and a "Show values" checkbox.

What to check:

• Defaults: energy absorbed 504 kJ, 100 °C reached at 252 s (4.2 min).
• Efficiency 84%: 300 s, with 600 kJ supplied. This is part (c) run backward: 504 ÷ 600 = 84%.
• Mass 0.75 kg: 126 s, half the time.
• The graph's slope at the defaults: 2,000 ÷ (1.5 × 4,200) = 0.317 °C per second.
• The temperature must never pass 100 °C.

Number questions: "How long does the kettle take at the default settings?" 252 ± 3 s. "Set the efficiency to 84%. How long now?" 300 ± 3 s.

The library's specific heat capacity simulation compares materials under the same heater. If that's closer to your exam question, remix it instead.

Chemistry: limiting reactant with zinc and acid (Medium)

Original question: "6.5 g of zinc is added to 100 cm³ of 1.0 mol/dm³ hydrochloric acid. Zn + 2HCl → ZnCl₂ + H₂. (a) Show which reactant is in excess. (b) Calculate the volume of hydrogen produced at room temperature and pressure (1 mol of gas occupies 24 dm³). (c) Calculate the mass of zinc left over. (Ar: Zn = 65)"

Prompt:

Grade 10–11 chemistry, limiting reactants. Zinc granules are added to hydrochloric acid in a conical flask connected to a gas syringe. Reaction: Zn + 2HCl → ZnCl₂ + H₂. Sliders: mass of zinc 0–13 g in 0.5 g steps (default 6.5 g), volume of acid 0–200 cm³ in 10 cm³ steps (default 100 cm³), acid concentration 0.5–2.0 mol/dm³ (default 1.0). Use Ar(Zn) = 65 and a molar volume of 24 dm³/mol. When I press React, animate bubbles and the syringe filling to the final volume. Show the moles of Zn and HCl, which reactant is limiting, the volume of hydrogen in cm³, and the mass of zinc left. Show leftover zinc in the flask. Reset button.

What to check:

• Defaults: 0.100 mol Zn and 0.100 mol HCl. HCl is limiting because the zinc needs 0.200 mol. Hydrogen: 0.050 mol, 1,200 cm³. Zinc left: 3.25 g.
• 200 cm³ of acid: both reactants used up exactly, 2,400 cm³ of hydrogen, 0 g left.
• 3.25 g of zinc with 100 cm³: both used up exactly, 1,200 cm³.
• 13 g of zinc with 100 cm³: still 1,200 cm³, with 9.75 g of zinc left. More zinc doesn't help when the acid runs out.
• Watch for the most common AI mistake: ignoring the 2 in 2HCl, which gives 2,400 cm³ at the defaults.

Number questions: "What volume of hydrogen is produced?" 1,200 ± 10 cm³. "What mass of zinc is left?" 3.25 ± 0.05 g. A good prediction first: "Which runs out first, the zinc or the acid?"

For reaction rates rather than amounts, the library's gas volume over time simulation already has zinc, acid and a gas syringe.

Math: maximum area of a fenced pen (Simple)

Original question: "A farmer has 100 m of fencing to make a rectangular pen against a long straight wall. The wall forms one side, so only three sides need fencing. Find the dimensions that give the largest possible area, and that area."

Prompt:

Grade 10–11 math, quadratic optimization. A rectangular pen against a long wall, drawn to scale from above, with fencing on three sides only. Sliders: total fencing L from 40 to 200 m (default 100 m) and the width x of each side perpendicular to the wall, from 0 to L/2 in 0.5 m steps (default 10 m). The side parallel to the wall is L − 2x. Show both side lengths and the area A = x(L − 2x) in m². Plot A against x with a point that moves with the slider. Add a "Show maximum" checkbox that marks the vertex and its coordinates.

What to check:

• Defaults, x = 10 m: 80 m along the wall, area 800 m².
• x = 25 m: 50 m along the wall, area 1,250 m², the maximum.
• x = 20 m and x = 30 m: both 1,200 m², symmetric around the vertex.
• L = 60 m: maximum at x = 15 m, area 450 m².
• If the maximum shows 625 m², the AI fenced all four sides. Ask for an edit: "The wall is one side; only three sides are fenced."

Number questions: "What is the largest possible area?" 1,250 ± 1 m². "How wide is each side perpendicular to the wall?" 25 ± 0.5 m. For other optimization problems, see the library's real-world optimization simulation.

FAQ

Can I paste the exam question straight into the Create page?

You can, but you'll get a better simulation if you rewrite it first: sliders with ranges, readouts, what to draw and the exact constants. Paste the original underneath for context.

Which level should I choose for an exam question?

Simple for one formula and a graph, Medium for most physics and chemistry problems with a process, Complex only for 3D or several linked stages.

What if the simulation's answer doesn't match the mark scheme?

Check the constants first: g, molar volume, relative atomic masses. Then describe the wrong value and the expected one in an edit. Each edit creates a new version you can go back from.

Can students see the answer in the simulation?

Only if the simulation displays it. Ask for a "Show values" checkbox so the answer stays hidden until a student chooses to look. To make students commit first, add the exam question as a prediction: the simulation stays locked until they answer.

Do students need credits or an account?

No. Credits are only used when you create, remix or edit. Students open your link without an account.