How to Use the Tech Tinker Club Quiz

This quiz is designed to help children review and strengthen the ideas they’ve learned in Tech Tinker Club sessions. Each week covers a different topic from our Micro:bit projects — such as inputs and outputs, loops, conditions, variables, and sensors — with a mix of multiple-choice and drag-and-drop questions.

The aim is not to test memory, but to practise logical thinking and reasoning. The questions encourage children to read short snippets of pseudocode (a simplified way of writing code) and to think about what the Micro:bit would do step by step. This is an important skill in programming — understanding how instructions flow and predicting what will happen before testing it.

How to Take the Quiz

Choose a week
Each week corresponds to a theme from club sessions. Start with the one you’ve already covered in class.

Read each question carefully
Questions may include a short piece of pseudocode. Read it line by line, as if it were real code blocks in MakeCode.

Select or drag your answer

• For multiple-choice questions, click the option you believe is correct.
• For drag-and-drop questions, match terms to their correct definitions by dragging them into the boxes.

Use hints if needed
Some questions offer a hint to help guide your thinking. Using a hint won’t affect your score.

Submit and review
After submitting, you’ll see whether your answer was correct and a short explanation of why. Read the reasoning carefully — it often contains key ideas that will help in the next question.

Move to the next question
Once you finish all questions in a week, you’ll see your score and can return to try another week at any time.

You don’t need to finish everything in one go. The quiz saves nothing permanently, so it’s meant for open practice — you can revisit questions freely.

Understanding Pseudocode

What is pseudocode?

Pseudocode is a simplified, human-readable way of writing a program. It describes what the program does without worrying about exact syntax or punctuation. It sits halfway between natural language and real code.

In MakeCode, we build programs using colourful puzzle-like blocks. For the quiz, we use a small, consistent Tech Tinker Club pseudocode style, where:

• Keywords like IF, THEN, REPEAT and FOREVER are written in CAPITAL LETTERS.
• Variables use lowercase letters with underscores, for example score or bird_y.
• Sensor readings and system values are written in square brackets, like [light level] or [button A is pressed].

Here is an example of our pseudocode style:

REPEAT 3 TIMES
    SHOW ICON heart
    PAUSE 200 ms
END REPEAT

This means exactly the same as using the blocks:

• A repeat loop that runs three times.
• Inside, the heart icon appears.
• The program pauses for 200 milliseconds.
• Then the loop repeats until it has run three times.

If you’d like to see the full list of commands and how they map from MakeCode blocks to our pseudocode, you can look at the Tech Tinker Club Pseudocode Reference.

Why use pseudocode?

• It helps children read logic. By removing the colour and shape of blocks, pseudocode focuses attention on meaning — sequence, conditions, and loops.
• It builds transferable skills. The same logic applies later in Python or JavaScript; tracing pseudocode is the first step.
• It improves debugging skills. Plain text encourages slower, more deliberate thinking and helps spot mistakes before running a program.
• It prepares for secondary computing. Pseudocode appears throughout KS3–KS4/GCSE Computer Science, easing the move from blocks to text.

Helpful Tips for Working Through the Quiz

• Take your time. These questions are about understanding logic, not speed.
• Use paper and pencil. Jot down variable changes or loop counts. If x = 2 and the code says repeat 3 times change x by 1, write 3, 4, 5.
• Read conditions carefully. Small symbols matter:
  • < means less than
  • > means greater than
  • = means exactly equal to
• Check how loops work. repeat N times runs a set number; forever never stops; while (condition) runs only while something is true.
• Think about timing. Pauses are in milliseconds (ms). 1000 ms = 1 s. For “3 seconds at 50 ms per update” → 3000 ÷ 50 = 60.
• Relate pseudocode to MakeCode blocks. Map lines to blocks: IF … THEN → If block; REPEAT N TIMES → Repeat loop; WHEN button A is pressed → Event.
• Stay curious. If something’s unclear, rebuild it in MakeCode later and see what the Micro:bit does.

Why Practising Logic Matters

This quiz isn’t about memorising commands — it’s about learning how computers think. By reasoning through loops, conditions, and variables, children develop computational thinking: breaking problems down, predicting outcomes, and debugging mistakes.

Those skills go far beyond programming. They build confidence in problem-solving, mathematics, and clear step-by-step reasoning — all essential parts of STEM learning.