The following are some of the questions we frequently get asked about the Quiz feature in Canvas. For a full list of FAQs from Canvas, check out these Canvas Guides from Instructure: Quizzes

How can I add an extra credit question to a quiz or exam?

You can create a question(s) and set the point value to 0. When you grade the extra credit question any points that they earn are then added to their exam score as extra credit since the question value was at 0.  

How can I provide feedback on quiz questions after the due date?

Canvas allows feedback to be displayed by checking the box Let Students See Their Quiz Responses (Incorrect Questions Will Be Marked in Student Feedback). 

If a quiz is given in class or "offline" can it be put in the same Assignment Group with online Quizzes?

Yes, while the “offline” quiz is not created using the Quizzes tool (the Assignment tool is used), it can be in the same Assignment Group as those created using the Quizzes tool. 

How do I create a Gradebook column for a quiz I give in class?

To create a Gradebook column for a paper quiz delivered in class you can go to the Assignment page and add a new Assignment. Select No Submission or On Paper as the Submission Type.  You do NOT want to use the quiz tool as Canvas will be waiting for you to enter quiz questions and the value will always be 0.  

Can I have Canvas put my questions in a random order for my test?

Yes, we can make a group of questions and Canvas will randomly distribute those questions so each student gets a different version of the quiz.

Can I exempt students from a quiz or assignment?

Yes. One way to do this is to create a differentiated assignment and only assign it to part of the class. When you are assigning your quiz, assignment, or graded discussion you may enter individual student names or sections in the assign to area. Anyone that you don’t assign the assignment to will have a grayed-out cell for their area in the Gradebook to indicate that the assignment doesn’t count for them. The second way you can exempt a student from a graded quiz, assignment or discussion is to type EX in the Gradebook cell for that particular student. 

How do I use both an online quiz and a pencil paper quiz for the same assessment? For example those absent on the day a quiz is done in class on paper.

One way to take care of this is by using differentiated assignments. You can assign an assignment to some students and everyone that wasn’t assigned that assignment will be grayed out in the Gradebook indicating that they were not supposed to do the assignment. It will not be included in their total. Then you could create an online quiz for the students that missed the exam and again just assign it to them using the differentiated assigning feature so they make up the work. 

How do I extend time to a student in an exam?

When you need to extend time to a student on an exam you can click on the title of the exam and then look to the right and click on Moderate This Quiz. When you click on Moderate This Quiz a window will open with everyone listed; if they have attempted the quiz, how long they took, how many attempts they have left, their score, and a pencil to edit with. Click on the pencil for the student whose time or attempts you need to extend. A window will open allowing you to extend their time or attempts. If the quiz is locked out with the Until date you will need to check the box to manually unlock the quiz for the next attempt.  

Can I grade essay questions within a quiz with a letter grade?

No, you can’t grade an essay question in Canvas with a letter grade. However, you can use two decimals places in your grade. For example if my essay question is worth 10 points I can assign someone 7.25 points indicating a C+ rather than a C.  

What is the limit to the number of characters I can put in a matching distractor?

There was a time when you could only have 80 characters in a distractor because that is all the field could display. Canvas has fixed this issue and now we can enter an unlimited number of characters and they will display to the students. 

How do I edit, update and save those edits to quiz questions?

When you need to edit a quiz question before you make your quiz live for your students don’t forget to hit the Update Question which is the save for the changes you just made to the question itself. Canvas uses the term Update Question for any edits or changes made to a question so please don’t forget to hit the Update Question after you have made any changes in a quiz question.  

How can I use Canvas to generate different exams for different students?

Canvas has the ability to group questions together and then randomly distribute the questions to students making each exam different reducing their ability to share answers. The bigger the question group the more random you can make the exams. For example if you have 5 questions in your group and ask Canvas to deliver 5 then they will be in a different order. If you have 20 questions in your group and you ask Canvas to deliver 5 questions then we have just increased dramatically the randomness of the quiz and no two students will be delivered the same quiz.  

Can I import questions from a Word document to a quiz or exam?

Yes, you can import questions from a Word document into Canvas. We use a third party tool called Respondus that everyone can get a free copy of on their computer, however it is not compatible with Macs. Please give us a call if you would like to learn how to use Respondus to get your quiz from Word into Canvas quickly and easily. 

How can I avoid putting Exams under Quizzes?

Canvas uses the Quiz tool to generate any survey, quiz, test, exam or any type of assessment that uses any of the 11 question types Canvas has in the quiz tool. On the Quiz page Canvas will then sort your assessments into the specific quiz type you selected (practice quiz, graded quiz, graded survey, ungraded survey). You don’t need to and should not be displaying the Quiz page to your students. You can link all quizzes to the module making it easy for students to find the correct assessment at the appropriate time.