When I first stumbled across Gimkit about four years ago, I was skeptical. Another gamified quiz platform? We already had Kahoot, Quizlet Live, and a dozen others competing for screen time in my seventh-grade social studies classroom. But after watching my typically disengaged students lean forward in their seats, strategizing about upgrades while simultaneously mastering vocabulary terms, I became a convert.
The secret sauce, I’ve learned, isn’t just the gaming mechanics. It’s the quality of the questions you feed into the system. A poorly constructed Gimkit can fall flat faster than a substitute teacher on a Friday afternoon. But well-designed question templates? They transform review sessions into genuine learning opportunities disguised as gameplay.
Let me walk you through everything I’ve figured out about building effective Gimkit question templates—the strategies that work, the mistakes I’ve made, and the approaches that’ll save you hours of prep time.
Understanding What Makes Gimkit Different
Before diving into templates, it’s worth understanding why Gimkit demands a slightly different approach than traditional quiz creation.
Unlike Kahoot, where everyone answers simultaneously, and speed is most important, Gimkit allows students to work at their own pace. They’ll see the same questions multiple times as they play, which means repetition is baked into the learning experience. This changes how you should structure your questions.
Students also have financial incentives within the game—they’re earning virtual currency to purchase power-ups and upgrades. This means they’re highly motivated to get answers correct, and they’re often more willing to slow down and think rather than just guessing randomly.
These mechanics have significant implications for template design. Your questions need to withstand repeated exposure without becoming frustrating, and they should genuinely test understanding rather than merely rewarding memorization of patterns.
The Foundation: Core Question Template Formats
Multiple Choice Templates
The bread and butter of any Gimkit is the multiple-choice question. But not all multiple-choice questions are created equal, and I’ve found certain structures consistently outperform others.
The Direct Recall Template
This is your straightforward question format:
Question: What is the chemical symbol for gold?
Correct Answer: Au
Wrong Answers: Ag, Go, Gd
Simple, clean, and effective for foundational knowledge. I use these sparingly because they’re the least engaging over repeated plays.
The Application Template
This format asks students to apply knowledge rather than just recall it:
Question: A farmer wants to add nitrogen to his soil. Which fertilizer component would help most?
Correct Answer: Ammonia compounds
Wrong Answers: Potassium chloride, Phosphate rock, Limestone
Students need to connect concepts rather than just recognize terms.
The Scenario-Based Template
My personal favorite for deeper learning:
Question: Maria measured the temperature of the water before and after adding salt. If the salt dissolved completely, what would she likely observe?
Correct Answer: The temperature would slightly decrease
Wrong Answers: The temperature would dramatically increase. No temperature change would occur. The water would freeze instantly.
These take longer to write but generate much richer discussions afterward.
The Reverse Definition Template
Flip the typical vocabulary question on its head:
Question: “The process by which plants convert sunlight into energy” describes which term?
Correct Answer: Photosynthesis
Wrong Answers: Respiration, Transpiration, Germination
This tests comprehension from a different angle than simply asking “What is photosynthesis?”
Text Answer Templates
Gimkit’s text answer feature allows for typed responses, which opens up different possibilities—and challenges.
The Fill-in-the-Blank Template
Question: Complete the sentence: The mitochondria is known as the _______ of the cell.
Correct Answer: powerhouse
Keep these answers short—one or two words maximum. Longer required answers lead to frustration over typos and spacing issues.
The Spelling Practice Template
Question: Spell the word meaning “occurring every two years”
Correct Answer: biennial
I’ve found this works brilliantly for commonly misspelled vocabulary, but you need to configure Gimkit to be strict or lenient on spelling based on your educational goals.
The Calculation Template
Question: What is 15% of 80?
Correct Answer: 12
Math teachers have told me that this format works wonderfully for mental math practice, although you’ll want to anticipate common wrong answers that students might type.
Building Effective Wrong Answers
Here’s something that took me embarrassingly long to figure out: your wrong answers are almost as important as your correct ones. Poorly designed distractors either make questions too easy or unnecessarily trick students.
The Common Misconception Approach
Design wrong answers based on errors you’ve actually seen students make:
Question: What is 3² + 4²?
Correct Answer: 25
Wrong Answers: 14 (students adding instead), 7 (students just adding the bases), 49 (students thinking (3+4)²)
Each wrong answer represents a genuine mathematical misconception, giving you diagnostic information about student understanding.
The Plausible But Incorrect Approach
Wrong answers should sound reasonable to someone who doesn’t know the material:
Question: Which planet has the strongest gravitational pull?
Correct Answer: Jupiter
Wrong Answers: Saturn, Neptune, Mars
All planets are plausible to a student uncertain about the content.
Avoiding Giveaway Patterns
I’ve seen teachers accidentally create patterns that savvy students exploit:
- The longest answer is always correct.
- “All of the above” appears too frequently.
- Wrong answers are obviously absurd.
Mix up your answer lengths and keep everything feeling authentic.
Subject-Specific Template Strategies
English Language Arts Templates
Vocabulary in Context
Question: In the sentence “The benevolent king shared his wealth with the peasants,” the word benevolent most likely means:
Correct Answer: kind and generous
Wrong Answers: strict and demanding, wealthy and powerful, young and inexperienced
Literary Device Identification
Question: “The wind whispered secrets through the trees” is an example of:
Correct Answer: Personification
Wrong Answers: Simile, Hyperbole, Onomatopoeia
Grammar Application
Question: Choose the sentence with correct comma usage:
Correct Answer: After the storm, we cleaned up the yard.
Wrong Answers: After the storm, we cleaned up the yard. / After the storm, we cleaned up the yard.
Mathematics Templates
Conceptual Understanding
Question: Why can’t you divide by zero?
Correct Answer: The result would be undefined
Wrong Answers: The answer would be zero, The answer would be infinity, It would crash the calculator
Process Recognition
Question: To solve 2x + 5 = 13, your first step should be:
Correct Answer: Subtract 5 from both sides
Wrong Answers: Divide both sides by 2, Add 5 to both sides, Multiply both sides by 5
Error Analysis
Question: A student wrote: 3(x + 4) = 3x + 4. What mistake did they make?
Correct Answer: They didn’t distribute to both terms
Wrong Answers: They added instead of multiplying, they forgot to flip the sign, their equation is actually correct
Science Templates
Cause and Effect
Question: What happens to air pressure as altitude increases?
Correct Answer: It decreases
Wrong Answers: It increases, It stays the same, It fluctuates randomly
Classification
Question: A whale is classified as a mammal rather than a fish because:
Correct Answer: It breathes air through its lungs
Wrong Answers: It lives in water, it has fins, it is large in size
Process Sequencing
Question: During cellular respiration, which happens first?
Correct Answer: Glycolysis
Wrong Answers: Krebs Cycle, Electron Transport Chain, Fermentation
Social Studies Templates
Primary Source Analysis
Question: A historian finds a letter from 1776 discussing British taxation. This source would be most useful for understanding:
Correct Answer: Colonial attitudes toward British rule
Wrong Answers: Modern tax policy, British geography, Medieval economics
Geographic Thinking
Question: Why did early civilizations often develop near rivers?
Correct Answer: Rivers provided water, transportation, and fertile soil
Wrong Answers: Rivers protected against invasion, Rivers had gold deposits, Rivers were sacred to all ancient religions
Cause and Consequence
Question: The invention of the printing press most directly led to:
Correct Answer: Increased literacy and spread of ideas
Wrong Answers: Discovery of electricity, Development of railroads, Decline of art
Creating Template Libraries: An Organization That Saves Time
After my third year of using Gimkit extensively, I had hundreds of questions scattered across dozens of kits. Finding and reusing content became a nightmare. Here’s the system I eventually developed.
The Master Template Document
I maintain a Google Doc (though any word processor works), organized by unit and question type. Each entry includes:
- The question text
- Correct answer
- Three wrong answers
- Difficulty tag (basic, intermediate, advanced)
- Standard alignment (optional but helpful for documentation)
This lets me quickly copy-paste into Gimkit rather than recreating questions from memory.
The Difficulty Progression Structure
Within each unit, I organize templates by cognitive demand:
Tier 1 – Knowledge Recall
Basic facts, definitions, and identification
Tier 2 – Comprehension
Explain, summarize, interpret.
Tier 3 – Application
Use knowledge in new contexts.
Tier 4 – Analysis
Compare, contrast, and examine relationships.
When building a Gimkit for a specific purpose, I select questions from appropriate tiers. A quick review might be Tier 1-2 heavy. A pre-assessment for advanced students might lean toward Tier 3-4.
Tagging and Categorization
Gimkit’s built-in organization tools are limited, so I rely on naming conventions:
- U3-Vocab-Photosynthesis (Unit 3, vocabulary focus)
- U5-Review-CivilWar (Unit 5, general review)
- EOY-Cumulative-Grammar (End of year, cumulative content)
This makes searching through your kit library vastly more efficient.
Common Mistakes I’ve Made (So You Don’t Have To)
The Overwhelming Kit
Early on, I created 150-question kits, thinking more content meant better learning. Wrong. Students got fatigued, and questions became so infrequent in rotation that repetition benefits disappeared.
Better approach: Keep kits between 25 and 50 questions for most uses. Create separate kits for different subtopics rather than one massive review kit.
The Trick Question Trap
I once wrote questions designed to catch students who weren’t reading carefully—things like “Which is NOT an example of…” buried in otherwise straightforward questions. Students hated it, and it tested reading carefulness more than content knowledge.
Better approach: Be direct. If you want to assess understanding of exceptions, make that the explicit focus rather than a gotcha.
The Copy-Paste Syndrome
Importing questions directly from textbook test banks often resulted in awkward phrasing, overly complex scenarios, or answer choices that didn’t match Gimkit’s format well.
Better approach: Use external sources for inspiration, but rewrite questions in your own voice for the Gimkit context.
Ignoring Mobile Play
Many students play Gimkit on phones rather than computers. Questions with long text passages or complex formatting become nearly unreadable on small screens.
Better approach: Keep questions concise. If you need extended passages, consider breaking them into multiple shorter questions or using Gimkit on computer-only days.
Collaborative Template Development
One of the most valuable things I’ve done is collaborate with department colleagues on template libraries. Here’s how we structured it:
The Shared Resource Model
Three of us who teach the same course each took responsibility for creating templates for specific units. We then shared kits with each other, effectively tripling our resource library with one-third the individual work.
Quality Control Check-Ins
We scheduled brief monthly meetings to review each other’s questions, catch errors, discuss student feedback, and refine answer choices based on classroom observations.
The Living Document Approach
Rather than treating templates as fixed once created, we added a “revision notes” section where anyone could flag questions for review. Things like “students consistently miss this—might need rewording” or “answer choice B is too similar to the correct answer.”
Adapting Templates for Different Game Modes
Gimkit offers various game modes, and some questions work better in certain modes than others.
Classic Mode Templates
Standard format works well here. Mix difficulty levels so students at various understanding levels can experience success while still being challenged.
Team Mode Templates
Consider including more challenging questions since students can discuss with teammates. This is a great time for those Tier 3-4 analysis questions.
Trust No One Mode
Since students compete individually and can sabotage others, emotionally charged or trick questions can increase frustration. Keep templates straightforward for this mode.
The Floor is Lava
Speed matters more here, so favor shorter questions that can be read and processed quickly.
Measuring Template Effectiveness
How do you know if your templates are actually working? I look at several indicators:
Completion Rates
If students are consistently abandoning games early, questions might be too difficult or frustrating.
Common Wrong Answers
Gimkit’s reports show which wrong answers students select. If everyone picks the same wrong answer, either that distractor is too appealing, or there’s a genuine misconception you need to address through teaching.
Post-Game Performance
Do students perform better on summative assessments covering Gimkit content? I’ve tracked this informally and found well-designed kits correlate with improved retention—though causation is tricky to establish.
Student Feedback
Sometimes I just ask: “Which questions felt confusing? Which felt too easy? Which made you think?” Students often provide surprisingly useful insights.
Accessibility Considerations
Not all students interact with Gimkit identically, and templates should account for diverse learners.
Reading Level Adjustments
For classes with struggling readers, simplify question stems without dumbing down content:
Instead of: “Which of the following represents the most accurate characterization of the protagonist’s emotional state during the climactic scene?”
Try: “How does the main character feel during the most important scene?”
Processing Time
Some questions require significant mental processing. In timed modes, these can disadvantage students who think carefully but slowly. Balance quick-recall questions with deeper thinking questions.
Visual Alternatives
When possible, describe visual concepts in words. “A right triangle with legs of 3 and 4,” rather than relying on an image that might not display well on all devices.
Final Thoughts
After years of building and refining Gimkit question templates, I’ve come to see this work as genuinely valuable instructional design rather than just quiz creation. The questions we ask shape what students pay attention to, what they practice, and ultimately what they learn.
Good templates don’t just happen. They evolve through classroom use, student feedback, and continuous refinement. That first kit you create won’t be your best—and that’s okay. What matters is building systems to capture what works, discard what doesn’t, and gradually develop resources that genuinely serve student learning.
The gaming elements will keep students engaged in the short term. But it’s the quality of your questions that determines whether that engagement translates into lasting understanding. Take the template work seriously, collaborate when possible, and don’t be afraid to revise ruthlessly.
Your students—and your future self at 10 PM during finals week—will thank you.