How to edit questions on a student reference request

References are now configured within a dedicated Reference step in your application form. Each reference form type has its own set of questions, so you can tailor what you ask depending on the type of reference required.

Note: If your school uses multiple reference types, you will need to edit questions separately for each form type. See How to set up multiple reference types for an overview of form types.

Getting there

Navigate to:

Settings › Application Form › Reference step

Selecting a form type to edit

The Reference step displays a left panel listing all your configured reference form types — for example, Academic Reference, Character Reference. Click the form type you want to edit to select it. The right side of the screen will show a student-facing preview of that form.

Note: The preview shown is how the form appears to the applicant. You are not yet in edit mode at this point.

To access the questions and make changes, click the I want to make more changes button in the top right corner. This exits the student preview and opens the full question editor for that form type.

Editing questions

This section contains all the questions your referee will be asked when completing their reference. There is a Preview button that shows exactly how the form will appear to the referee once you have finished editing.

The default questions cover a range of areas including subject suitability, attendance, effort, and behaviour. You can switch individual questions on or off using the toggle buttons — any question that is toggled off will not be shown to the referee.

You can edit the wording of any question, add new answer options, remove existing ones, and control their visibility. Questions can be reordered by clicking the Sort Questions button and dragging them into the desired sequence.

Layout options

For each question you can choose how much of the page width it occupies: 33%, 50%, or 100%. This helps keep shorter questions side by side and longer questions on their own row.

Conditional questions

You can set conditional questions on reference forms so that certain questions only appear based on how the referee answers a previous question. All supported question types work with conditional logic.

Filtering by reference responses

Once references are collected, you can filter your applicant list based on responses provided in reference forms. This makes it easier to review and compare applicants by areas such as subject suitability, attendance, punctuality, effort, behaviour, risk indicators, and English proficiency. These filters can be combined with existing application filters when creating a dashboard tile or viewing your registered students list.

Tip: To set up automated reminders for referees who haven't yet completed their form, see How to create an automated reminder for incomplete referee forms.