These ten questions mix the five skills from Presentations: master layouts, text hierarchy, diagrams, navigation and checking two versions. They go from easy to harder. All names and files are invented.
Try each one on your own before opening the answer. Log any slip in the mistake log so you can recheck it later.
Questions
Q1 (easy). A student wants the same background colour on all slides. Where should the colour be set, and why?
Show answer
On the slide master. Every slide that uses the master then inherits the colour, and a later change is made once. Setting it slide by slide risks missing one or choosing a slightly different shade.
Q2 (easy). Which is a placeholder: a text box drawn by hand on slide 3, or the title box that comes with a layout? Explain why it matters.
Show answer
The title box that comes with the layout. A placeholder takes its font, size and position from the master, so it stays consistent. A hand-drawn box ignores the master and must be formatted manually.
Q3 (easy). A slide has a title at 24 points and bullets at 24 points. Suggest a fix.
Show answer
Make the title clearly larger and bolder, for example 36 points bold, and keep the bullets at 24. The levels now differ clearly. Set the sizes on the master so that every slide matches.
Q4 (medium). A slide of the invented Hill Walk Society has this text: “Our walks start at the car park, continue along the river path for two kilometres, climb the hill trail and finish at the viewpoint.” Describe a diagram for it and write the labels.
Show answer
The content is a sequence, so use a row of linked boxes with arrows. Labels: “Car park”, “River path (2 km)”, “Hill trail”, “Viewpoint”. That is four boxes, equal in size, arrows between them. The 24-word sentence becomes 9 words of labels.
Q5 (medium). Text on a slide is white on a light grey background. Name the problem and two valid fixes.
Show answer
The contrast is too low, so the text is hard to read. Fix 1: change the text to a dark colour. Fix 2: change the background to a dark colour so that the white text stands out. Set the choice on the master.
Q6 (medium). A 5-slide talk is delivered live by one student, in order. The student adds Home, Back and Next buttons to every slide. Is this a good choice?
Show answer
No. A short live talk in order needs little more than slide numbers. Extra buttons add clutter and more things to test. Buttons help only when the viewer chooses the route.
Q7 (medium). A student types “7” into a text box on slide 7. After adding a new slide at position 3, what does the box show, and what is the correct method?
Show answer
It still shows “7”, but the slide is now number 8, so it is wrong. Use a slide number field, ideally on the master, so the number updates automatically.
Q8 (harder). A contents slide links to slides 3, 4 and 5. A student moves slide 5 to position 3. The third link now opens the wrong slide. Explain the likely cause and the check to prevent it.
Show answer
The link may point to a position or an old target, not to the content. Re-link each item to its slide after moving, and always click every link in slideshow mode after reordering. The check takes under a minute and catches this fault.
Q9 (harder). A 10-slide deck exports to 13 pages. Give two possible causes and how to find them.
Show answer
Possible causes: some slides overflowed onto extra pages, notes pages were included in the export, or hidden slides were exported. Open the file, step through the page order and find where numbering breaks. Then change the export setting or fix the slide and export again. Recheck the count: it should match the 10 slides you meant to include.
Q10 (harder). A student checks the slideshow, then renames club_talk.pptx to club_talk.pdf and submits it. List what was missed and the correct steps.
Show answer
Renaming does not convert the file, so the new file is still the original content under a misleading name. Correct steps: finish the slideshow check; use the export or save-as option to create the fixed-layout version; name it clearly; open it in a viewer; check page count, fonts, text position and links; then submit.
If you got these wrong
| Error type | Questions | Go back to |
|---|---|---|
| Setting style per slide instead of on the master | Q1, Q2, Q7 | Build a consistent master layout |
| Sizes, weight or contrast | Q3, Q5 | Choose a readable text hierarchy |
| Text where a diagram would work | Q4 | Use a diagram instead of a dense paragraph |
| Too much or broken navigation | Q6, Q8 | Add navigation only where useful |
| Export and format errors | Q9, Q10 | Check the slideshow and exported version separately |
For a final pass on a finished task, use the ICT practical task and evidence checker. If the same pattern of slips continues, our online one-to-one ICT tuition lets a teacher watch your workflow directly.