[Tex/LaTex] Make options al horizontal instead vertical in multiple choice

examexamdesignquestionnairetemplates

I want to type some multiple choice questions. I have the following code. The problem is that in some questions I need options in one line and evenly spaced, and in some questions I need two in one line and evenly spaced. How can I do that.
I know that there are some answers related to this but I tried to figure out from that how to change this code, but every time I get an error and I don't want to use a different code all together. It will be nice if I am able to do this in this very code.

Thanks for the help in advance.

\documentclass{article}
%--------------------------------------------------------------------
%--------------------------------------------------------------------
\newcounter{choice}
\renewcommand\thechoice{($\alph{choice}$)}
\newcommand\choicelabel{\thechoice}
%--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\newenvironment{choices}%
  {\list{\choicelabel}%
     {\usecounter{choice}\def\makelabel##1{\hss\llap{##1}}%
       \settowidth{\leftmargin}{W.\hskip\labelsep\hskip 0 em}%
       \def\choice{%
         \item
       } % choice
       \labelwidth\leftmargin\advance\labelwidth-\labelsep
       \topsep=0pt
       \partopsep=0pt
     }%
  }%
  {\endlist}
%--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\def\CChoice{%
      \choice
      \addanswer{\theenumi}{\thechoice}%
    }
    \let\CChoice\CChoice
%    \par % Uncomment this to have choices always start a new line
   % \let\par\@empty
    % If we're continuing the paragraph containing the question,
    % then leave a bit of space before the first choice:
    \ifvmode\else\enskip\fi
    \ignorespaces
  %
  {}
\makeatother
\newbox\allanswers
\setbox\allanswers=\hbox{}
\newcommand{\addanswer}[2]{%
  \global\setbox\allanswers=\hbox{\unhbox\allanswers \quad #1.~#2}%
}
\newcommand{\showanswers}{%
  \vfill
  \begin{center}
    Answers
  \end{center}
  \unhbox\allanswers
}





%--------------------------------------------------------------------
\begin{document}

\begin{enumerate}
\item One of these things is not like the others; one of these things
  is not the same.  Which one doesn't belong?
  \begin{choices}
    \choice George
    \choice Paul
    \choice John
    \CChoice Ringo
  \end{choices}
\item What was the color of George Washinton's white horse?
  \begin{choices}
    \choice Green
    \CChoice Yellow
    \choice White
    \choice Socrates    
  \end{choices}
\item What was the color of George Washinton's white horse?
  \begin{choices}
    \choice Green
    \choice Yellow
    \CChoice White
    \choice Socrates
  \end{choices}
\item One of these things is not like the others; one of these things
  is not the same.  Which one doesn't belong?

  \begin{choices}
    \choice George
    \choice Paul
    \choice John
    \choice Ringo
  \end{choices}
\item What was the color of George Washinton's white horse?

  \begin{choices}
    \choice Green
    \choice Yellow
    \choice White
    \choice Socrates    
  \end{choices}
\end{enumerate}

\showanswers
\end{document}

Best Answer

From this question: we create a multicolumn environment:

\makeatletter
\newenvironment{multichoices}[1][2]{%
\begin{multicols}{#1}}{%
\end{multicols}}
\makeatother

and use it in the choices environment. MWE:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{multicol}
%--------------------------------------------------------------------
%--------------------------------------------------------------------
\newcounter{choice}
\renewcommand\thechoice{($\alph{choice}$)}
\newcommand\choicelabel{\thechoice}
%--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\newenvironment{choices}%
  {\list{\choicelabel}%
     {\usecounter{choice}\def\makelabel##1{\hss\llap{##1}}%
       \settowidth{\leftmargin}{W.\hskip\labelsep\hskip 0 em}%
       \def\choice{%
         \item
       } % choice
       \labelwidth\leftmargin\advance\labelwidth-\labelsep
       \topsep=0pt
       \partopsep=0pt
     }%
  }%
  {\endlist}
%--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\def\CChoice{%
      \choice
      \addanswer{\theenumi}{\thechoice}%
    }
    \let\CChoice\CChoice
%    \par % Uncomment this to have choices always start a new line
   % \let\par\@empty
    % If we're continuing the paragraph containing the question,
    % then leave a bit of space before the first choice:
    \ifvmode\else\enskip\fi
    \ignorespaces
  %
  {}
\makeatother
\newbox\allanswers
\setbox\allanswers=\hbox{}
\newcommand{\addanswer}[2]{%
  \global\setbox\allanswers=\hbox{\unhbox\allanswers \quad #1.~#2}%
}
\newcommand{\showanswers}{%
  \vfill
  \begin{center}
    Answers
  \end{center}
  \unhbox\allanswers
}

\makeatletter
\newenvironment{multichoices}[1][2]{%
\begin{multicols}{#1}}{%
\end{multicols}}
\makeatother

%--------------------------------------------------------------------
\begin{document}

\begin{enumerate}
\item One of these things is not like the others; one of these things
  is not the same.  Which one doesn't belong?
  \begin{choices}
   \begin{multichoices}[4]
    \choice George
    \choice Paul
    \choice John
    \CChoice Ringo
   \end{multichoices}
  \end{choices}
\item What was the color of George Washinton's white horse?
  \begin{choices}
   \begin{multichoices}[2]
    \choice Green
    \CChoice Yellow
    \choice White
    \choice Socrates    
   \end{multichoices}
  \end{choices}
\end{enumerate}
\end{document}

BTW: why not use the exam class?

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Multiple choice with answers at the end of the chapter

Here's a bit of a hack using the endnotes package. I tried to inline some comments.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{endnotes}

% Define two new counters for ease of using.
\newcounter{questionnumber}
\newcounter{choicenumber}[questionnumber]
% Formatting the counters, this is where you change how the counters appear.
\renewcommand*\thequestionnumber{\arabic{questionnumber}.}
\renewcommand*\thechoicenumber{\alph{choicenumber})}

% Define the \question and \choice commands to be similar to what is 
% given in the OP
\newcommand*\question{\item}
\newcommand*\choice{\item}
% Here's a bit of a hack: \endnotetext stores the \meaning of the its argument
% in the endnotetext file, so the macros aren't expanded. I use \edef to fully
% expand the current \thechoicenumber, and use \expandafter to stuff it into
% the argument for \endnotetext. Suggestions for improvements are welcome!
\newcommand*\entreplace[1]{\endnotetext[\value{questionnumber}]{#1}}
\makeatletter
\newcommand\truechoice[1]{\item \protected@edef\currentcount{\thechoicenumber~~#1} \expandafter\entreplace\expandafter{\currentcount}}
\makeatother
% Define a choices environment, just a list basically. 
\newenvironment{choices}{\begin{list}{\thechoicenumber}{\usecounter{choicenumber}}}{\end{list}}

% These are to set up the endnotes. The first makes the endnote marks look 
% like the question numbering (as opposed to being in superscript). The second
% sets the endnotes heading to read "Answers". 
\renewcommand*\makeenmark{\theenmark.~~}
\renewcommand*\notesname{Answers:}

\begin{document}
\begin{list}{\thequestionnumber}{\usecounter{questionnumber}}
\question Some question
\begin{choices}
\choice False choice
\choice Bad choice
\truechoice{This is true for no good reason} True choice.
\end{choices}

\question Who won the 2012 Presidential Election in US?
\begin{choices}
\choice Mitt Romney
\truechoice{Without even counting Florida} Barack Obama
\end{choices}
\end{list}

% Print the "answers"
\theendnotes
\end{document}

And here's the output:

enter image description here

Edit:

In response to zar's comment below, if we want the input syntax to be

\truechoice{Choice text}{Justification/commentary}

instead of

\truechoice{Justification/commentary} Choice text

one can change the definition to

\newcommand\truechoice[2]{\item #1 \protected@edef\currentcount{\thechoicenumber~~#2} \expandafter\entreplace\expandafter{\currentcount}}

But this way you have to put the choice text in braces, for example, you must write

\truechoice{True Choice!}{That choice was true for no good reason}

Edit 2: S.G. and zar noticed some problems with my abuse of the \edef function. A more complicated, but functionally better hack is the following (I'm including the full file below for easy of copy-pasting)

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{endnotes}

% Define two new counters for ease of using.
\newcounter{questionnumber}
\newcounter{choicenumber}[questionnumber]
% Formatting the counters, this is where you change how the counters
% appear.
\renewcommand*\thequestionnumber{\arabic{questionnumber}.}
\renewcommand*\thechoicenumber{\alph{choicenumber})}

% Define the \question and \choice commands to be similar to what is 
% given in the OP
\newcommand*\question{\item}
\newcommand*\choice{\item}
% Here's a bit of a hack: \endnotetext stores the \meaning of the its argument
% in the endnotetext file, so the macros aren't expanded. I use \edef to fully
% expand the current \thechoicenumber, and use \expandafter to stuff it into
% the argument for \endnotetext. Suggestions for improvements are welcome!
\newcommand*\entreplace[1]{\endnotetext[\value{questionnumber}]{#1}}
\newcommand\truechoice[2]{\item #1 \edef\tempchoice{\thechoicenumber} \expandafter\def\expandafter\currentcount\expandafter{\tempchoice \ \ #2} \expandafter\entreplace\expandafter{\currentcount}}

% Define a choices environment, just a list basically. 
\newenvironment{choices}{\begin{list}{\thechoicenumber}{\usecounter{choicenumber}}}{\end{list}}

% These are to set up the endnotes. The first makes the endnote marks look 
% like the question numbering (as opposed to being in superscript). The second
% sets the endnotes heading to read "Answers". 
\renewcommand*\makeenmark{\theenmark.~~}
\renewcommand*\notesname{Answers:}

\begin{document}
\begin{list}{\thequestionnumber}{\usecounter{questionnumber}}
\question Some question
\begin{choices}
\choice False choice
\choice Bad choice
\truechoice{True choice}{This is true for no good reason $1+1$. Let me
add more text. There should be four or five lines. Can I put displayed
math in here? \emph{test} \[ E = mc^2\] Some more text.}
\end{choices}
\end{list}

% Print the "answers"
\theendnotes
\end{document}

and this is what it outputs

enter image description here

which as one can see correctly handles the \emph command and math (both displayed and inline) environments.

[Tex/LaTex] Multiple Choice Answer Key in exam package at the end of document

I started with the first answer to Showing Solutions of the Questions "separately" and modified it to something that is nearly exactly what I wanted. It turns out that \item and \setbox don't play well with each other (read to the bottom of Missing Item number in enumerate for the details).

MWE:

\documentclass[answers]{exam}

%%%%The following sets up a box to save all the answer information into.
\newbox\allanswers
\setbox\allanswers=\vbox{}

\newenvironment{answer}
{%
  \global\setbox\allanswers=\vbox\bgroup %
  \unvbox\allanswers%
    \thequestion \thechoice\\
}%
{%
  \egroup%
}

\newcommand{\CC}{\CorrectChoice \leavevmode\begin{answer}\end{answer}}% New command \CC replaces \CorrectChoice from exam.sty and saves answers in the box \allanswers .


\newcommand{\showallanswers}{%
\ifprintanswers \centering Here are the answers: \par \usebox\allanswers \fi}


\begin{document}


\begin{questions}
\question[5] Important Question 1
    \begin{choices}
    \choice 99
    \CC 100
    \choice 50 
    \choice 1
    \choice none of these
    \end{choices}

% \vfill 


    \question[5] Important Question 2.
\begin{choices}
\CC 6 
\choice 12
\choice 24
\choice 36
\choice none of these
\end{choices} \answerline %\vfill

\end{questions}


\showallanswers
% The answers have the same text format as the answers within the question, so are naturally \textbf when 

\end{document}

The only thing that would make this better is to have the list of problem numbers and answers inside a tabular environment, but I am going to leave that for another day.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Multiple choice with answers at the end of the chapter

[Tex/LaTex] Multiple Choice Answer Key in exam package at the end of document

Related Question