Multiple choice with figure options in exam class

Question

I am creating multiple choice questions using exam class however I faced two issues: 1). Want to have two columns choices but it displays by default as A, C, B, D, and 2). Figures in choices are bottom aligned instead of top alignment. Any suggestion? Below is my MWE:

\documentclass{exam}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}
    \begin{questions}
        \question
        \begin{minipage}[t]{0.65\linewidth}
        Consider the network graph shown in the figure, which of the following is NOT a \textit{tree} of this graph?
            \begin{multicols}{2}
                \begin{choices}
                    \choice
                        \includegraphics[scale=0.2]{example-image-a}
                    \choice
                        \includegraphics[scale=0.2]{example-image-b}
                    \choice
                        \includegraphics[scale=0.2]{example-image-c}
                    \CorrectChoice
                        \includegraphics[scale=0.2]{example-image-a}
                \end{choices}
            \end{multicols}
    \end{minipage}
    \hspace{2em}%
    \begin{minipage}[t]{0.35\linewidth}
        \vspace{-\baselineskip}
        \includegraphics[scale=0.4]{example-image-a}
    \end{minipage}
\end{questions}
\end{document}

Output after running the above code gives as:

However, I wish to have something like this:

Answer 1

Here's one option:

\documentclass{exam}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{adjustbox}

\begin{document}
    \begin{questions}
        \question
        \begin{minipage}[t]{0.65\linewidth}
        Consider the network graph shown in the figure, which of the following is NOT a \textit{tree} of this graph?
                \begin{choices}
            \begin{multicols}{2}
                    \choice
                        \adjustbox{valign=t}{\includegraphics[scale=0.2]{example-image-a}}
                    \choice
                        \adjustbox{valign=t}{\includegraphics[scale=0.2]{example-image-b}}
            \end{multicols}\par
            \begin{multicols}{2}
                    \choice
                        \adjustbox{valign=t}{\includegraphics[scale=0.2]{example-image-c}}
                    \CorrectChoice
                        \adjustbox{valign=t}{\includegraphics[scale=0.2]{example-image-a}}
            \end{multicols}
                \end{choices}
    \end{minipage}\hfill%
        \begin{adjustbox}{minipage={0.30\linewidth},valign=t}
        \includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{example-image-a}
    \end{adjustbox}
\end{questions}
\end{document}

I used the adjustbox package to get the desired top alignment. For the numbering schema I used two multicols environments instead of just one.

I also changed the scale option for \includegraphics to widthand changed some spaces to prevent overfull\hbox`es.

Answer 2

egreg has answers for almost every thing. For your first issue, you may use this solution give by egereg:

%%------------------egreg's code starts-------------
\usepackage{environ,xparse}
\ExplSyntaxOn
\cs_undefine:N \choices
\cs_undefine:N \endchoices
\NewEnviron{choices}{%
  \par\nopagebreak
  \harish_dochoices:V \BODY
  \par
}
\tl_new:N \l_harish_choices_tl
\seq_new:N \l_harish_choices_seq
\seq_new:N \l_harish_choices_final_seq

\cs_new_protected:Npn \harish_dochoices:n #1
 {
  \setcounter{choice}{0}
  \tl_set:Nn \l_harish_choices_tl { #1 }
  \tl_replace_once:Nnn \l_harish_choices_tl { \CorrectChoice } { \choice* }
  \seq_set_split:NnV \l_harish_choices_seq { \choice } \l_harish_choices_tl
  \seq_pop_left:NN \l_harish_choices_seq \l_tmpa_tl
  \seq_set_map:NNn \l_harish_choices_final_seq \l_harish_choices_seq
   { \exp_not:n { \makechoice ##1 } }
  %\seq_map_inline:Nn \l_harish_choices_final_seq { \makebox[.5\linewidth][l]{##1}\hspace{0pt plus .3\linewidth} }
% }
    \seq_map_inline:Nn \l_harish_choices_final_seq
   {
    \makebox[.5\linewidth][l]{
      \parbox[t]{.45\linewidth}{\raggedright \hangindent1.5em ##1\strut}
    }\hspace{0pt plus .3\linewidth}
   }
 }
\cs_generate_variant:Nn \harish_dochoices:n { V }
\ExplSyntaxOff
\makeatletter
    \NewDocumentCommand{\makechoice}{s}
 {%
  \stepcounter{choice}
  \makebox[1.2em][l]{\IfBooleanT{#1}{\ifprintanswers\CorrectChoice@Emphasis\fi}\Alph{choice}.}
 }
\makeatother
\CorrectChoiceEmphasis{\bfseries\boldmath}

%%------------------egreg's code ends-------------

He helped me once upon a time when I was a victim of similar requirement while I was doing some question paper.

For the second issue, you can load the adjustbox package (as Gonzalo did) but with export option. This will make keys like valign etc available for \includegraphics command. So you have to use

\includegraphics[scale=0.2,valign=t]{example-image-a}

Remember that in this case graphicx is loaded by adjustbox.

Here is the full code:

\documentclass{exam}
\usepackage[export]{adjustbox}

%%------------------egreg's code starts-------------
\usepackage{environ,xparse}
\ExplSyntaxOn
\cs_undefine:N \choices
\cs_undefine:N \endchoices
\NewEnviron{choices}{%
  \par\nopagebreak
  \harish_dochoices:V \BODY
  \par
}
\tl_new:N \l_harish_choices_tl
\seq_new:N \l_harish_choices_seq
\seq_new:N \l_harish_choices_final_seq

\cs_new_protected:Npn \harish_dochoices:n #1
 {
  \setcounter{choice}{0}
  \tl_set:Nn \l_harish_choices_tl { #1 }
  \tl_replace_once:Nnn \l_harish_choices_tl { \CorrectChoice } { \choice* }
  \seq_set_split:NnV \l_harish_choices_seq { \choice } \l_harish_choices_tl
  \seq_pop_left:NN \l_harish_choices_seq \l_tmpa_tl
  \seq_set_map:NNn \l_harish_choices_final_seq \l_harish_choices_seq
   { \exp_not:n { \makechoice ##1 } }
  %\seq_map_inline:Nn \l_harish_choices_final_seq { \makebox[.5\linewidth][l]{##1}\hspace{0pt plus .3\linewidth} }
% }
    \seq_map_inline:Nn \l_harish_choices_final_seq
   {
    \makebox[.5\linewidth][l]{
      \parbox[t]{.45\linewidth}{\raggedright \hangindent1.5em ##1\strut}
    }\hspace{0pt plus .3\linewidth}
   }
 }
\cs_generate_variant:Nn \harish_dochoices:n { V }
\ExplSyntaxOff
\makeatletter
    \NewDocumentCommand{\makechoice}{s}
 {%
  \stepcounter{choice}
  \makebox[1.2em][l]{\IfBooleanT{#1}{\ifprintanswers\CorrectChoice@Emphasis\fi}\Alph{choice}.}
 }
\makeatother
\CorrectChoiceEmphasis{\bfseries\boldmath}

%%------------------egreg's code ends-------------

\begin{document}
    \begin{questions}
        \question
        \begin{minipage}[t]{0.65\linewidth}
        Consider the network graph shown in the figure, which of the following is NOT a \textit{tree} of this graph?
            %\begin{multicols}{2}
                \begin{choices}
                    \choice
                        \includegraphics[scale=0.2,valign=t]{example-image-a}
                    \choice
                        \includegraphics[scale=0.2,valign=t]{example-image-b}
                    \choice
                        \includegraphics[scale=0.2,valign=t]{example-image-c}
                    \CorrectChoice
                        \includegraphics[scale=0.2,valign=t]{example-image-a}
                \end{choices}
            %\end{multicols}
    \end{minipage}
    \hfill%
    \begin{minipage}[t]{0.3\linewidth}
        \vspace{-\baselineskip}
        \includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{example-image-a}
    \end{minipage}
\end{questions}
\end{document}

If you are not struck with exam class, I suggest you to use exsheets class which has a native support for this kind of lists.