Your questions complement the student's profile. They should help you understand motivation, practical circumstances or relevant experience, not ask the student to repeat what's already on their profile.
Give every question a purpose
Decide which decision the answer will help with. If the information is already in the profile or the listing, you probably don't need the question. Three to five questions are usually enough.
Make the question easy to answer
Keep it short and say what you want to know. Use yes/no or multiple choice when the answers are fixed, and free text when you need an example or context.
- Ask about one thing at a time.
- Avoid vague words such as “passionate” without context.
- Only make essential questions required.
- Only ask for an attachment if you'll really read it.
Let knock-out questions flag
For a yes/no or multiple-choice question you can set the answer you expect. Applicants who answer differently are flagged in the list, but no one is rejected automatically. An answer can have a good explanation, so look at the whole application before you decide.
