I am new to using Moodle for exams, but am thinking that I would like the ability to do the following (shuffle is on - and I know if I switched that off, I could perhaps mimic something like this, but to discourage cheating, I want to keep shuffle on - both externally and internally - so please do not suggest "no shuffle+grade%=0 for Part A" as a solution):
1. Design a question with two parts - A and B. Suggests cloze.
2. Part A consists of an essay type response, with MathJax/TeX etc. in which the student puts down the symbolic / numerical solution that he or she came up with.
3. Part B is any type of response, but specifically (and I state this because it does not seem to exist as a question type in cloze) is a calculated type (that means - wildcards and ranges) response. Other possibilities - true/false, short answer, etc.
4. Part A is not graded at all (not even manual grading). Its simply recorded as a student response for the instructor to view if he or she wishes to.
5. Part B is graded.
6. There can be Part C, D, E, etc. treated just like Part B (all graded responses).
The advantage of this would be manifest to anyone conducting exams in sciences and engineering. Very often, we are not only interested in the right answer, but also (or rather, even more) the reasoning that lay behind that answer. Put another way, if the reasoning is correct, but the answer is wrong because of a calculation error, the student should reasonably expect to receive most of the credit for his or her attempt.
Right now, I have a few calculated type questions in an exam I am about to conduct, and I am extremely uneasy about penalizing good students who may make a calculation error in a calculated type question (happens far more commonly than you may think). The absence of a part A means that they have no way of telling me that they get the question but did not manage to crank out the right number. Even if it is a units error (I know there are limited ways to fix that at least), I have no way to know.
I know that nothing like this exists in Moodle currently. Are there any plans to include something like this?