Learn@Illinois Moodle - Quiz Activity

Learn how to use the quiz activity as a tool that can be used for assessing and delivering content, using a variety of questions, including multiple choice, essay, matching, and drag and drop.

For a permanent link to this information, please use: http://go.illinois.edu/MoodleQuiz

Assignment activity icon

Examples of Using Quiz Activity

  • Assessments, including formative and summative assessment
  • Lectures or lessons, which can include video content with questions interspersed
  • Flashcards so that students can review content

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. How do I add questions to a quiz?
    Once you have added the quiz activity, you will go into "Questions" in the quiz navigation menu. Then, click "add" on the right hand side of the page. You will be able to add a new question, a question from the Question bank, or a random question.
  2. What is the question bank?
    The Question bank houses all of the questions that are used in the quiz and lesson tools. It is located in the navigation menu. You can create categories for each quiz or lesson, and add questions to each category. Learn more on our Using the Question Bank page.
  3. How can I quickly and easily add questions to the question bank?
    See our Using UI Quick Quiz Entry page.
  4. How can I preview a quiz?
    On the quiz main page under the navigation bar, click "Preview quiz" and you will be able to preview all of the quiz.
  5. How do I change the answer to a quiz question after students have taken the quiz?
    To do this, see our article: Changing the Correct Answer to a Quiz Question
  6. How can I extend a deadline or time limit for a student?
    To do this, see our article: Extending Deadlines or Time Limits for Activities
  7. How do I set up a quiz to pull questions randomly?
    Once the questions have been created using the Question bank, go to the quiz and click " Questions" in the navigation menu. Then, click "Add" on the right hand side of the page. Use the "Add a Random Question" feature and choose the category. Learn more on our Using the Question Bank page.
  8. When should I put a lecture in Lesson instead of in Quiz?
    Put a lecture in Lesson instead of in quiz when you want to do "Choose your own Path/Ending" activities and there are no comprehension questions that you care to insert. See our Using the Quiz Activity as a Lecture page for more information.
  9. Can I use Quiz for video lectures and written content?
    Yes, both the Quiz and Lesson activities are compatible with video or text/image content. See our Using the Quiz Activity as a Lecture page for more information.
  10. How can I delete questions permanently?
    Deleting questions in your quiz or deleting a quiz will not delete the questions from the Question bank. You must delete questions in the Question bank. Click on the Question bank link and click the "edit" icon next to the question that you want to delete and select "delete". Note: Deleting questions that are being used in a quiz may cause errors in your Question bank.
  11. How can I get statistics that will help me get feedback on how good my questions are?
    See our Using Quiz Statistics to Identify Problematic Questions page.
  12. How can I organize the questions in my questions with headings?
    See our Creating Headings in Quizzes page.

Best Practices

  • It is highly recommended to create questions in the Question bank before adding them to your quiz for easier organization and to ensure that you are editing the correct questions in your quizzes.
  • For longer essay questions, encourage students to type answers in an offline text editor, save their work, and cut and paste into the Moodle text editor. Otherwise, they may lose their work if their internet connection is disrupted.
  • It is recommended that there is only one quiz question per page. This allows work to be saved as the student progresses through the quiz. Otherwise, they may lose their work if their internet connection is disrupted.
  • Communicate dates in a way that is easy to maintain.
    • Rarely use hard due dates (e.g. September 22, 2017) - opt for relative dates (e.g. Tuesday of Week 1) whenever possible
    • Use the year when typing hard due dates so that if it does not get updated, it will be clear that this is the wrong date
    • When you would like to close the quiz at midnight, consider using 11:55pm instead. Students are often confused when something is due on Monday at midnight, but the system says that it is due on Tuesday at 12:00am
  • Most quizzes can be fully automatically graded, but Essay type questions must be manually graded.

Groups and Groupings

  • With individual assignments such as Quiz, using groups is only for sorting. In other words, it does not affect the student view, but can be used by instructors to organize by section, for example, so that TAs can view all of their students at once.
  • See our Groups and Groupings page for more information. 

Related Topics

Moodle.org Documentation



Keywordsassessment, assessments, quizzes, exam, exams, lecture, lectures, lesson, lessons, boost   Doc ID77239
OwnerATLAS-TLTGroupUniversity of Illinois LAS
Created2017-10-09 13:03:59Updated2023-03-13 12:02:57
SitesUniversity of Illinois Liberal Arts and Sciences
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