AI Skill Report Card
Generating Trivia Questions
Quick Start15 / 15
Topic: "Historic U.S. inventions"
Question: What unusual item did Benjamin Franklin invent that was originally called "swim fins"?
A) Flippers for swimming
B) Ice skates with metal blades
C) Wooden snowshoes
D) Leather horseshoes
Answer: A) Flippers for swimming
Fun fact: Franklin invented swim fins at age 11 in 1717, made from wood and shaped like lily pads.
Recommendation▾
Add specific templates or frameworks for creating distractors (e.g., 'wrong answers should be same category/time period/scale as correct answer')
Workflow13 / 15
Progress:
- Choose specific U.S. category (history, geography, culture, inventions, etc.)
- Select obscure but verifiable fact
- Write clear, engaging question
- Create one correct answer
- Generate three plausible wrong answers
- Add brief fun fact for context
Categories that work well:
- State/city origins and naming
- Forgotten historical figures
- Unusual laws or customs
- Corporate/brand history
- Geographic oddities
- Early inventions and patents
Recommendation▾
Include guidance on sourcing and fact-checking methodology rather than just saying 'verify facts'
Examples18 / 20
Example 1:
Input: "Something about state geography"
Output:
Question: Which U.S. state has more miles of coastline than California and Florida combined?
A) Alaska
B) Texas
C) Maine
D) North Carolina
Answer: A) Alaska Fun fact: Alaska has 6,640 miles of coastline compared to California's 840 miles and Florida's 1,350 miles.
Example 2: Input: "Corporate history trivia" Output: Question: What did the Coca-Cola company originally sell before switching to soft drinks? A) Patent medicine called "Coca-Cola Syrup" B) Baking powder C) Ice cream D) Candy bars
Answer: A) Patent medicine called "Coca-Cola Syrup" Fun fact: Dr. John Pemberton marketed it as a cure for headaches and nervousness in 1886.
Recommendation▾
Provide more comprehensive coverage of question types and difficulty calibration - skill feels somewhat incomplete for its scope
Best Practices
- Verify facts - Use reliable sources for all claims
- Make distractors believable - Wrong answers should be plausible, not obviously fake
- Keep questions focused - One clear fact per question
- Vary difficulty - Mix obvious-once-you-know with genuinely surprising
- Include the "why" - Fun facts make trivia memorable
- Test readability - Questions should be clear on first read
Common Pitfalls
- Don't use disputed facts - Avoid controversial or uncertain claims
- Don't make questions too long - Keep under 25 words when possible
- Don't repeat answer patterns - Vary which letter (A, B, C, D) is correct
- Don't use extreme superlatives without verification ("most," "only," "never")
- Don't rely on pop culture that quickly dates the content