M24 - Quizzes

Keywords: quiz, question, exam, multiple choice, e-exam.

What is it?

A quiz is a useful way to test or evaluate students knowledge on a particular subject or area of study. It can be used both formative and credit barring assessment. 

Why use it?

• When used for formative testing, it can check the student's current knowledge levels, and let them see areas for improvement.
• Marking can be automated on some question types (such as multiple choice). 

Who can use it?

• Tutors can create quizzes
• Students can take quizzes

Before I start...

Think about:

• What type of questions would work best?
• Do I want to apply a penalty for wrong answers?
• Should I allow multiple attempts?
• do I want students to review their attempt(s)?

How do I set one up?

Add a Quiz quick guide

1. To create a Quiz remember to Turn editing on.
2. In the topic where you want the quiz to appear, click on the Add an activity or resource link and select Quiz.
3. Give the quiz a meaningful and unambiguous Name.
4. In the Description, explain clearly what the students have to do, any pre-quiz requirements and so on. Note you can use the Editor to add links, images etc..
5. For Timing, you can choose when the quiz is available to students, by setting an open date/time and closed date/time. Tick the Enable box to allow this. When a Time limit is set, Moodle will automatically submit the quiz after this time expires. The student is warned when time runs low. You can also set a time limit on the quiz. We recommend you set When time expires to 'Open attempts are submitted automatically.'
6. Grade controls which Grade category the results will come under, Attempts allowed - how many attempts your students are allowed to take, and Grading Method - how multiple attempts (if allowed) are graded.
7. Layout - Shuffling the question order randomly can help stop repetition, predictable patterns and cheating off a neighbour (in exams). If you want the questions to display in the order they appear on the edit screen, set this to 'As shown on the edit screen'. Placing Every question on a New page is recommended for exams, as student responses will be saved every time they change page.
8. Question Behaviour - Shuffling within the question (i.e. randomising the answers) can also help stop repetition, predictable patterns and cheating off a neighbour (in exams). You can choose what kind of feedback (if any) to provide students. For exams, you will probably want to keep this set to deferred feedback. Certainty Based Marking (CBM) is a new option available in Moodle 2. More information about this method of testing is available from: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/lapt/
9. Review options - information is presented at various stages throughout the quiz - for exams, these should all be unchecked so students can't see their attempts or marks.
10. Extra Restrictions on attempts - If you are setting an exam, you should require a password. If you need to check what it is, click Unmask.
11. Once you are happy with the settings, Save and display.

Caution

• Creating a quiz in Moodle is actually a three stage process. 
  1. Firstly you create questions in a Question bank. 
  2. Next you set up a Quiz. 
  3. Finally you add questions from the bank to the quiz.

Examples and case studies

• Tips and good practice and tips for Using a Quiz are available from moodledocs.

Questions & Answers

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Further information

There are lots of other areas to explore in relation to quizzes on Moodle. Some other parts of the Moodle.org website you might find helpful include:

Building a quiz - Detailed step-by-step guidance on Building a Quiz.

Question Types - More details on the range of Question types available in Moodle.

Question categories - In Moodle Question categories are great for organising your question and can be used to quickly add random questions.

Quiz reports - How to access and understand various Moodle Quiz reports, including grades, responses and statistics report.

Quiz quick guide - If you are still struggling you might want to try the Quiz quick guide from moodledocs.

Importing question - How to import questions from Moodle from other sources, including Word table format.