Manage Quiz Settings

Owned by Christine Sandella
Last updated: Apr 11, 2024
3 min read

Canvas Quizzes offers a robust selection of settings. Below you will find more information about each option.

  • Shuffle Answers: Use this setting to randomize answers. You can also shuffle questions by creating a question group. 

  • Time Limit: Choose to set a time limit by entering the number of minutes students are given to complete the entire quiz. The timer starts once a student begins the exam and will not be paused if the student navigates away from the quiz. An unfinished timed quiz will automatically submit when the time limit expires. If no time limit is set, students will have unlimited time to complete the quiz. 

  • Multiple Attempts: Allow multiple attempts using the following options:

    • Recent Quiz Score: Choose whether to keep the highest score, latest score, or the average score of all attempts. By default, Canvas will keep the highest score unless this setting is changed.

    • Allowed Attempts: You can allow limited or unlimited attempts. The default dashes represent unlimited attempts. 

  • Quiz Responses: Allows students to see what they answered, any automatic feedback generated by the quiz for correct or incorrect answers, and which questions they got wrong. Quizzes default to this option. If you do not want students to see their quiz responses, deselect the checkbox. 

    • Only Once After Each Attempt: Restrict students view of the quiz results to only be able to view the results immediately after they have completed the quiz. Results include both their responses and the correct answers. When the quiz is saved with this option, you can use the Moderate Quiz feature to provide additional student views of quiz results. 

The Only Once After Each Attempt setting may not be appropriate for quizzes that require manual grading, such as essay questions, where students would require additional views to see the updated results. 

  • Correct Answers: Enable a green correct tab on every correct answer for the entire quiz. Quizzes default to this option. If you do not want students to see the correct answers, deselect the checkbox. This option also allows you to control when and for how long students can see the correct answers by setting dates and times in the Show and Hide fields. 

    • To show answers immediately after a quiz is submitted, leave the “Show” and “Hide” fields blank. 

    • To create a date range to display the answers, set a start date in the “Show” field and an ending date in the “Hide” field. 

    • To always show answers after a specific date, set a date in the “Show” field. 

    • To hide answers after a specific date, set a date in the “Hide” field. 

If the Only Once After Each Attempt option is selected, it will override any show or hide dates or times. If you want to show or hide correct answers on any specific date or time, this option should not be selected. 

  • One Question at a Time: Show one question at a time.

    • If you chose this option, you are provided with the option to Lock Questions after a student answers. If selected, students cannot return to the previous question once it has been answered. 

  • Require Access Code: Require students to enter an access code to take the quiz. 

  • Filter IP Addresses: Filter IP addresses and require students to take a quiz from a specific computer lab. 

Best Practices for Canvas Quizzes

Maximize the following Canvas Quiz features when creating and administering quizzes.

  1. Utilize question banks to:

    1. Draw your quiz questions from a pool of questions. 

    2. Randomize question order (must use Question Groups feature). 

    3. Update question banks for each course iteration. 

    4. Additional Resources for Question Banks

      1. What are question banks? 

      2. How do I create a quiz by finding questions in a question bank? 

      3. How do I import quiz banks from publisher? 

  2. Randomize answer choices for each question. 

    1. How do I create a quiz with a question group to randomize quiz questions? 

  3. Display one question at a time. 

  4. Provide time limits for assessments: 

    1. Set time limits for completion of the quiz once started. Enough time should be given to allow students to answer the question without aide of a textbook or Internet resources. 

    2. Routinely review start and end times for exams after they have been taken. This allows you to identify anyone who takes an unusually short amount of time to complete an exam. 

  5. Set availability dates for assessments and results.

    1. Allow access to the quiz for a set date range. For example, available on Friday at 5 p.m. and due on Sunday at 9 p.m.

    2. Release the student's test score after the availability time has ended. 

    3. Release results to the students after all students have taken the exam.