Quiz Schema Used in AI Engineering from Scratch Lessons: Complete Technical Guide

The quiz schema used in AI Engineering from Scratch lessons is a strict JSON structure defined in AGENTS.md that requires exactly six questions per lesson—one pre-lesson, three in-lesson checks, and two post-lesson assessments—with fixed multiple-choice options and zero-based indexing for correct answers.

The rohitg00/ai-engineering-from-scratch repository enforces a uniform quiz schema across its entire curriculum to ensure consistent rendering and automated validation. This schema governs how every quiz.json file must be structured so that the site's lesson renderer can display assessments correctly and curriculum tooling can validate content automatically.

Core Structure of the AI Engineering Quiz Schema

According to the repository's documentation in AGENTS.md (lines 90-101), every quiz.json file must contain three top-level fields and a strictly formatted questions array.

Required Top-Level Fields

• lesson: A string containing the slug of the lesson directory (e.g., "32-architect-professional-system-capstone").
• title: A human-readable string representing the lesson title.
• questions: An array containing exactly six question objects.

Question Object Specification

Each object within the questions array must include the following fields:

Field	Type	Description
stage	string	Must be "pre", "check", or "post" indicating when the question appears (pre-lesson, in-lesson checkpoint, or post-lesson).
question	string	The text of the question being asked.
options	array	Exactly four strings representing multiple-choice options.
correct	integer	Zero-based index (0-3) pointing to the correct option in the options array.
explanation	string	Optional text explaining why the correct answer is right.

Validation Rules and Constraints

The quiz schema imposes strict validation rules that break the site renderer if violated. Legacy formats such as q/choices/answer are explicitly unsupported and will cause rendering failures.

Question Distribution Requirements

You must provide exactly six questions in this specific distribution:

• 1 pre-lesson question ("stage": "pre")
• 3 in-lesson check questions ("stage": "check")
• 2 post-lesson assessment questions ("stage": "post")

Zero-Based Indexing for Answers

The correct field uses zero-based indexing: valid values are integers 0, 1, 2, or 3 corresponding to the first, second, third, or fourth item in the options array. This differs from legacy schemas that might use 1-based numbering.

Options Array Length

Every question must provide exactly four options in the options array. The schema does not support variable-length multiple choice; four options are mandatory for every question object.

Example quiz.json Implementation

Here is a validated quiz.json file conforming to the AI Engineering from Scratch schema:

{
  "lesson": "32-architect-professional-system-capstone",
  "title": "Architect Professional System Capstone",
  "questions": [
    {
      "stage": "pre",
      "question": "What is the primary goal of a system capstone project?",
      "options": ["A", "B", "C", "D"],
      "correct": 2,
      "explanation": "Option C outlines the integration of multiple components."
    },
    {
      "stage": "check",
      "question": "Which component handles data routing?",
      "options": ["Router", "Dispatcher", "Mediator", "Broker"],
      "correct": 0,
      "explanation": ""
    },
    {
      "stage": "check",
      "question": "How is observability introduced?",
      "options": ["Logs", "Metrics", "Traces", "All of the above"],
      "correct": 3,
      "explanation": ""
    },
    {
      "stage": "check",
      "question": "What safety gate prevents runaway generation?",
      "options": ["Gate A", "Gate B", "Gate C", "Gate D"],
      "correct": 1,
      "explanation": ""
    },
    {
      "stage": "post",
      "question": "Which metric best reflects end-to-end latency?",
      "options": ["P99", "Mean", "Median", "Max"],
      "correct": 0,
      "explanation": ""
    },
    {
      "stage": "post",
      "question": "What is the recommended way to test the capstone?",
      "options": ["Unit tests", "Integration tests", "System tests", "All of the above"],
      "correct": 3,
      "explanation": ""
    }
  ]
}

File Locations and Repository Structure

The quiz schema is implemented across several locations in the ai-engineering-from-scratch repository:

• AGENTS.md: Contains the canonical schema definition (lines 90-101) and validation documentation (line 105).
• phases/*/*/quiz.json: Individual lesson quizzes organized by phase and module.
• certifications/claude/*/quiz.json: Certification-specific assessments using the identical schema.
• skills/learn/SKILL.md: References quiz file locations within skill documentation.

Summary

• The quiz schema requires exactly six questions per lesson: 1 pre, 3 check, and 2 post stages.
• All answers use zero-based indexing (0-3) in the correct field.
• Each question must provide exactly four options in the options array.
• The schema is defined in AGENTS.md and validated against files in phases/ and certifications/ directories.
• Legacy formats like q/choices/answer will break the site renderer.

Frequently Asked Questions

What file defines the quiz schema in AI Engineering from Scratch?

The schema is defined in AGENTS.md at lines 90-101, which documents the required fields, types, and validation rules for all quiz.json files in the curriculum.

How many questions must each quiz.json contain?

Every quiz.json must contain exactly six questions: one pre-lesson question, three in-lesson check questions, and two post-lesson assessment questions. This distribution is enforced by the curriculum validators.

Why does the schema use zero-based indexing for correct answers?

The correct field uses zero-based indexing (0-3) to align with JavaScript array indexing conventions used by the site's rendering engine. This means correct: 0 refers to the first item in the options array, not the second.

Where are the actual quiz files stored in the repository?

Lesson quizzes are stored in phases/*/*/quiz.json following the directory structure of the curriculum. Certification quizzes use the same schema and are located in certifications/claude/*/quiz.json.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}