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Highlight the right answer in a Word or PDF question paper, upload it, and Klappa builds a tap-to-answer deck. With AI features on, Klappa Cortex checks every marked answer and writes the reasoning before you study.
THE SHORT ANSWER
Klappa turns a past paper into a multiple-choice deck in one pass: highlight the correct option in each question of a Word or PDF file, upload it to Build MCQ, and every question becomes a card you answer by tapping an option.
Before the deck is built, Klappa Cortex checks each marked answer, flags the ones it disagrees with and writes a one-sentence explanation. You review and edit everything, then study the deck in Klappa or export it as an .apkg file for Anki.
The document is read in your browser. Only the questions, their options and the marked answers go to Cortex for checking, and only when AI features are switched on. Klappa is free, including Klappa Cortex.
STEP BY STEP
Build MCQ lives in the Anki Portal. The whole job is one highlighting pass in your document and one review pass in Klappa.
PASTED TEXT
Klappa also builds the deck from pasted text, which suits questions copied out of a PDF without highlights or questions drafted with an AI chat (see flashcards with ChatGPT and Claude).
The format is plain: start each question with its number and a period (1. Question text), put each option on its own line as A. to E., add the correct answer's text at the end of an option line after a tab or two spaces, and separate questions with ####.
If no answer text matches an option, Klappa marks the first option. The review screen shows the marked answer in green for every question, so check it before you generate.
WHAT CORTEX ADDS
Klappa Cortex reads every question with its marked answer and returns three things: whether it agrees with the marked option, which option it would mark instead, and one concise sentence on why the correct answer is right and the key distractor is wrong.
It also flags questions it reads as loosely worded, with a short note. Medical terms in the explanations are linked to AMBOSS, which makes the builder a good fit for medical and dental school past papers (more in flashcards for medical students and flashcards for dental students).
Cortex flags and never changes your marked answer on its own. The answer stays as you set it until you press Accept suggestion or tap a different option.
Cortex is opt-in: switch AI features on in Settings, under Privacy, and confirm you are 16 or older. With AI off, Build MCQ still parses and builds the deck; the review screen counts the questions as not verified, and the explanations stay blank for you to write.
TWO ROUTES
Klappa reads question papers in two places, and the right one depends on what you want next: a checked deck you can take to Anki, or a Klappa deck with four study modes.
On the Klappa deck route, Learn shows your paper's own options, shuffled, and after you answer, Cortex (with AI features on) explains why the right option is right and why each wrong one is wrong. Klappa decks schedule with FSRS-6 at 0.95 retention and a 60-day maximum interval, and in Study and Learn, FMSR-1 adjusts a review card's interval from that card's own history once it has three or more reviews. How the scheduler works, or the plain-language version in FSRS explained.
| Build MCQ (Anki Portal) | Import MCQ (Klappa deck) | |
|---|---|---|
| Where to find it | Anki Portal, Build MCQ | Create deck, Import MCQ tab |
| Input | Highlighted .docx or .pdf, or pasted text | Highlighted .docx or .pdf, or pasted text |
| Answer check | Cortex checks every marked answer before the deck is built (AI features on) | No check at import; in Learn, Cortex explains each option after you answer (AI features on) |
| Explanations | One sentence per question, editable, saved on the card | Generated in Learn, choice by choice |
| How you study | Tap an option: the correct one turns green, a wrong pick red, and the explanation appears; questions with several right answers use a Check answer button | Flashcards, Learn (multiple choice), Write and Test |
| Export | Anki package (.apkg) | Klappa deck file (.klappa), or tab-separated text copied to the clipboard |
QUESTIONS
Yes. Upload the PDF to Build MCQ in the Anki Portal with the correct option highlighted in each question, review the deck, then press Export .apkg. The package opens in Anki like any other deck, and you can bring an .apkg back into Klappa through the Anki Portal import.
Klappa reads highlighting only, not bold. In a PDF it looks for the coloured highlight that Word or Acrobat draws on the page when exporting, and for Highlight annotations. A question with no highlight defaults to its first option and appears in the parser warnings so you can fix it in review.
Klappa reads the PDF's text, so a scan with no text layer yields no questions and Klappa tells you it may be a scan. Password-protected PDFs are refused with a message asking you to remove the password. Re-save the paper from Word, or paste the text instead.
Yes, in Build MCQ. On the review screen, tap every correct option and the question is marked multi. The file reader takes the first highlighted option, so set the others by hand.
No. Build MCQ parses, builds and exports with AI features off. Turning them on adds the Cortex answer check and the written explanations.
Nothing. Klappa is free, including Build MCQ, Klappa Cortex and .apkg export. Use it in any web browser or the Mac app.