drupal site architecture puzzlement????

i'm making a multiple-choice quiz application but i'm stuck as to how to start

[ i've just read Pro Drupal Development from cover to cover thinking that would help (with this project), but whilst i'm still stuck i probably only need pointing the right direction. at least i'm hoping ]

basically, i'll have to create a page that lets the user configure the quiz ( which categories of questions they want answering, etc. & i think i'm ok with that. i'll just create a module, implement hook_menu & implement a few Form API hooks )

the problem comes with the question pages themselves

conceptually, each (multiple choice) question page appears twice. the first time with just the question & 5 answers. the 2nd time, once you've selected an answer & clicked 'submit', is when the page is reloaded - only this time it includes some extra information. this extra information includes a tick (or cross) indicating whether you got the question right or wrong, a custom block showing how other users answered this question, & an explanation of the correct answer that appears beneath the question & answers, which is basically just a <div> element with some text in it

my problem is, how do i go about coding these question pages in drupal?

i mean, can i create a node that contains form elements, & that can appear in 2 different modes???
or, do i forget about nodes altogether & create some kind of template-page, and add form elements to it with form API? (can you even do this???)

anyway, if anyone can provide any illumination i'd be very grateful

(& cos i'm a noob to building-sites-with-custom-modules please don't feel like you should spare the waffle. i'm all ears to that kinda stuff)