How to build and run a quiz

Create a quiz, add questions and an answer key, set how it runs, and see how students did.

Last updated 12 October 2026

What you will learn

How to create a quiz and add questions
What each setting does
How to see and re-mark attempts

Before you begin

The course must exist.

A quiz is a set of questions the system marks for you, automatically, as soon as the student finishes. Use it for knowledge checks. For a scheduled, invigilated assessment, use Examinations instead.

The Quizzes screen listing quizzes with their state, duration, attempts and pass mark. — The quiz list. Click a quiz title to open it.

Step 1 — Create the quiz

Step 1. Click Quizzes in the left-hand menu.
Step 2. Click New quiz.
Step 3. Choose the Course, type a Title, and set the Passing score.
A quiz starts unpublished, so students cannot see it yet.
Step 4. Set Duration (minutes) and Attempts allowed if you want to limit them.
Step 5. Add Instructions for the student.
Step 6. Click Create quiz.

Step 2 — Add questions

Step 1. Open the quiz by clicking its title.
Step 2. On the Questions tab, click Add question.
Questions and the answer key together. Correct answers are labelled.
Step 3. Type the question, choose its type, and set how many points it is worth.
Step 4. Enter the answers and mark which are correct.

Students never receive the answer key

The answer key is only visible to people who can edit the quiz. What the system sends to a student contains no information about which answer is right.

Step 3 — Decide how it runs

Open the Settings tab to control the quiz.

Duration (minutes): Leave blank for no time limit.
Attempts allowed: How many times a student may sit it.
Passing score (%): The percentage needed to pass.
Total marks: Optional. Set one and the system refuses questions beyond it.
Questions per attempt: Leave blank to use every question. A number draws that many at random from the bank, so students get different papers.
Shuffle: Mix up the question order, the answer order, or both, for each attempt.

The Settings tab of a quiz showing duration, attempts, passing score, total marks, questions per attempt and shuffle options. — Settings apply to attempts started after you save them.

A quiz locks once somebody has sat it

After the first attempt you can no longer change the pass mark or the number of questions. Changing them would rewrite what that student's result means.

Step 4 — Publish it

A quiz starts unpublished and students cannot see it. Use the Published switch at the top of the quiz to release it.

Step 5 — See how students did

Step 1. Open the Attempts tab.
Each attempt with its score. Student names are blurred in this guide for privacy.
Step 2. If you corrected a question's answer key, click Re-mark to score that attempt again.

Take it lets you sit the quiz yourself, which is the best way to check it reads properly before students see it.

What you should see

Students can take the quiz, and their scores appear on the Attempts tab and in the grade book.

Helpful tips

Always use Take it once before publishing. Typos in questions are very hard to spot while writing them.
Use Questions per attempt with a large question bank so no two students get the same paper.

If something goes wrong

Students cannot see the quiz.: It is not published yet. Turn on the Published switch at the top of the quiz.
You cannot change the pass mark.: Somebody has already sat the quiz, so it is locked. This protects results that have already been given.
An attempt is stuck as In progress.: Use Close expired attempts on the Settings tab.