diff --git a/app/validators/answer_format_validator.rb b/app/validators/answer_format_validator.rb
index 32f0a3f..9e71bb0 100644
--- a/app/validators/answer_format_validator.rb
+++ b/app/validators/answer_format_validator.rb
@@ -6,31 +6,32 @@ class AnswerFormatValidator < ActiveModel::EachValidator
   private
 
     def text record, attribute, value
-      return unless value.length.between? 1, 1000
+      clean_val = value.to_s.strip
+      return if clean_val.length.between?(1, 1000)
 
-      if value.blank?
+      if clean_val.blank?
         record.errors[attribute] << (options[:message] || "Please enter an answer.")
       end
 
-      if value.length > 1000
+      if clean_val.length > 1000
         record.errors[attribute] << (options[:message] || "The character limit for a textarea answer is 1000")
       end
     end
 
     def radio record, attribute, value
-      return unless value.nil?
+      return unless value.to_s.strip.blank?
 
       record.errors[attribute] << (options[:message] || "Please select an answer.")
     end
 
     def checkbox record, attribute, value
-      return unless value.nil? || value.join.blank?
+      return unless value.nil? || Array(value).join.blank?
 
       record.errors[attribute] << (options[:message] || "Please select an answer.")
     end
 
     def live_code record, attribute, value
-      return unless value.nil?
+      return unless value.nil? || value.values.join.blank?
 
       msg = "You must write code in one of the above textareas to progress."
       record.errors[attribute] << (options[:message] || msg)
diff --git a/app/views/candidate/_live_code.html.erb b/app/views/candidate/_live_code.html.erb
index 8abd4ec..95fdf44 100644
--- a/app/views/candidate/_live_code.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/candidate/_live_code.html.erb
@@ -29,3 +29,5 @@
       # to check for JS capability/enabled
   %>
 </div>
+
+<%= render partial: "candidate/answer_errors", locals: {question: question, answer: @answer} %>
diff --git a/app/views/candidate/live_coder.html.erb b/app/views/candidate/live_coder.html.erb
index df661bb..97d0afd 100644
--- a/app/views/candidate/live_coder.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/candidate/live_coder.html.erb
@@ -13,6 +13,4 @@
   <%= text_area_tag 'answer[live_code][js]', (@answer['js'] unless @answer.nil?), { 'data-id' => 'code-js', class: 'code-answer code-js' } %>
 </div>
 
-<%= render partial: "candidate/answer_errors", locals: {question: @question, answer: @answer} %>
-
 <div class="results" data-id="results"></div>
diff --git a/test/validators/answer_format_validator_test.rb b/test/validators/answer_format_validator_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..56b4881
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/validators/answer_format_validator_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,157 @@
+require 'test_helper'
+
+class AnswerValidatable
+  include ActiveModel::Validations
+
+  attr_accessor :answer
+  attr_accessor :question
+
+  validates :answer, answer_format: true
+
+  MockQuestion = Struct.new(:input_type)
+
+  def initialize input_type
+    @input_type = input_type
+  end
+
+  def question
+    MockQuestion.new(@input_type)
+  end
+end
+
+class AnswerFormatValidatorTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
+  # input_type RADIO
+
+  test "radio should pass with string" do
+    obj = AnswerValidatable.new('radio')
+    obj.answer = 'option-1'
+
+    assert obj.valid?
+    assert obj.errors.messages.empty?
+  end
+
+  test "radio should FAIL with nil" do
+    obj = AnswerValidatable.new('radio')
+    obj.answer = nil
+
+    refute obj.valid?
+    assert_match(/select.*answer/, obj.errors.messages[:answer][0])
+  end
+
+  test "radio should FAIL with empty string" do
+    obj = AnswerValidatable.new('radio')
+    obj.answer = ''
+
+    refute obj.valid?
+    assert_match(/select.*answer/, obj.errors.messages[:answer][0])
+  end
+
+  # input_type TEXT
+
+  test "text should PASS with string" do
+    obj = AnswerValidatable.new('text')
+    obj.answer = "this is a valid answer"
+
+    assert obj.valid?
+    assert obj.errors.messages.empty?
+  end
+
+  test "text should FAIL with nil" do
+    obj = AnswerValidatable.new('text')
+    obj.answer = nil
+
+    refute obj.valid?
+    assert_match(/enter.*answer/, obj.errors.messages[:answer][0])
+  end
+
+  test "text should FAIL with empry string" do
+    obj = AnswerValidatable.new('text')
+    obj.answer = "   "
+
+    refute obj.valid?
+    assert_match(/enter.*answer/, obj.errors.messages[:answer][0])
+  end
+
+  test "text should FAIL with more than 1000 charactures" do
+    obj = AnswerValidatable.new('text')
+    obj.answer = SecureRandom.urlsafe_base64(1001)
+
+    refute obj.valid?
+    assert_match(/char.*limit.*1000$/, obj.errors.messages[:answer][0])
+  end
+
+  # input_type CHECK BOX
+
+  test "checkbox should PASS with populated array" do
+    obj = AnswerValidatable.new('checkbox')
+    obj.answer = ["", "", "valid answer"]
+
+    assert obj.valid?
+    assert obj.errors.messages.empty?
+  end
+
+  test "checkbox should FAIL with nil" do
+    obj = AnswerValidatable.new('checkbox')
+    obj.answer = nil
+
+    refute obj.valid?
+    assert_match(/select.*answer/, obj.errors.messages[:answer][0])
+  end
+
+  test "checkbox should FAIL with empty string" do
+    obj = AnswerValidatable.new('checkbox')
+    obj.answer = " "
+
+    refute obj.valid?
+    assert_match(/select.*answer/, obj.errors.messages[:answer][0])
+  end
+
+  test "checkbox should FAIL with array of empty strings" do
+    obj = AnswerValidatable.new('checkbox')
+    obj.answer = ["", "", "  "]
+
+    refute obj.valid?
+    assert_match(/select.*answer/, obj.errors.messages[:answer][0])
+  end
+
+  # input_type LIVE CODER
+  test "live_code should PASS with populated hash" do
+    obj = AnswerValidatable.new('live_code')
+    obj.answer = { html: 'this is html', css: '', js: '' }
+
+    assert obj.valid?
+    assert obj.errors.messages.empty?
+  end
+
+  test "live_code should PASS with finish later" do
+    obj = AnswerValidatable.new('live_code')
+    obj.answer = { later: "true" }
+
+    assert obj.valid?
+    assert obj.errors.messages.empty?
+  end
+
+  test "live_code should FAIL with nil" do
+    obj = AnswerValidatable.new('live_code')
+    obj.answer = nil
+
+    refute obj.valid?
+    assert_match(/write.*code/, obj.errors.messages[:answer][0])
+  end
+
+  test "live_code should FAIL without checking finish later" do
+    obj = AnswerValidatable.new('live_code')
+    obj.answer = { "later" => "" }
+
+    refute obj.valid?
+    assert_match(/write.*code/, obj.errors.messages[:answer][0])
+  end
+
+  test "live_code should FAIL without values" do
+    obj = AnswerValidatable.new('live_code')
+    obj.answer = { "later" => "", "html" => "", "css" => "", "js" => "" }
+
+    refute obj.valid?
+    assert_match(/write.*code/, obj.errors.messages[:answer][0])
+  end
+end