Add an exam or assignment to a course

A question bank holds your questions. To give it to students, you place it in a lesson, either as an exam or as an assignment. The same bank can be placed in as many lessons and courses as you like, each with its own settings.

In this video · 2:23

1. 0:00Add to a lesson
2. 0:26Pick the bank
3. 0:41When
4. 1:07The paper
5. 1:18Results
6. 1:34Free preview
7. 1:45Done

Read the narration

1. 0:05Your question bank is ready. Now put it in a lesson, as an exam or an assignment.
2. 0:12Every lesson ends with Add exam and Add assignment.
3. 0:17An exam can have a timer. An assignment has none: students answer in their own time, before the deadline.
4. 0:24Let's add an exam. Click Add exam.
5. 0:29Click Question bank library, and pick your bank.
6. 0:33You can also start a new bank right here, with New question bank.
7. 0:38Replacement name changes the title in this lesson only.
8. 0:43Turn on Submission ends, and pick the last day to submit.
9. 0:54Exam opens at works the same way, if it should open later.
10. 0:59Turn on Time limit: here, 20 minutes from when a student starts.
11. 1:04Accept late submissions lets work in after the deadline, marked late.
12. 1:10Shuffle answer choices gives every student the options in a different order.
13. 1:15Give each student a random selection draws different questions for each student.
14. 1:21Hold results until I publish is on: students see their score only after you publish.
15. 1:28Here, choose what they see then: their answers, the score, the correct answers and the explanations.
16. 1:36Free preview lets anyone try this exam, even visitors who have not signed up.
17. 1:41Nothing they answer is saved, and results show the moment they submit, so holding results turns off.
18. 1:48Click Add exam.
19. 1:51The exam is in the lesson, with its timer and a Free preview tag.
20. 1:57Its menu has the settings, the questions, a preview as a student, and the submissions.
21. 2:07And on the course page, visitors see it too, free to try.
22. 2:13More guides are at help.lessonq.com.

Exam or assignment?

Both use a question bank, are marked the same way and show results the same way. The difference is time:

	Exam	Assignment
Timer	Optional time limit, counted from when the student starts	No timer: students work until the deadline
Starting	The student reads a summary first, then clicks Start exam	It opens ready to answer; the work saves as they go
Questions shown	One at a time (students can switch to all)	All on one page (students can switch to one at a time)
Graded in	Exam Grading	Assignment Grading

Once placed, an exam can’t be turned into an assignment, or the other way round. Remove it and add it again as the other kind (see Remove an exam).

Before you start

• Who can do this: the academy owner and admins. Instructors can too, if they have the Curriculum Management permission on the course.
• What you need: a course with at least one lesson, and a question bank with questions. You can also create an empty bank right from the lesson and add the questions afterwards.

Add it to a lesson

1. Open the course: in the dashboard, go to Courses → Manage Courses (for instructors, just Courses) and click the course.
2. On the Lessons tab, scroll to the lesson.
3. Under the lesson’s items, click Add exam or Add assignment. The same options are in the lesson’s ⋮ menu.

1. Add exam. Opens the window for a new exam in this lesson.
2. Add assignment. The same window, for an assignment.

Starting from the bank instead

On the Question banks page, a bank’s ⋮ menu has Add to a lesson as exam and Add to a lesson as assignment. Choose the course and the lesson, and the same settings follow.

Choose the question bank

1. Question bank library. Opens the list of your academy’s banks. Search for one and click it. Each shows how many questions it has.
2. New question bank. Switches back to a new, empty bank. The window starts this way, with Name of the new question bank already filled in as New Exam (or New Assignment); rename it there. After you save, the question editor opens so you can write its questions.
3. Replacement name Optional. A title for this lesson only, for example Chapter test 1. Left empty, students see the bank’s own name. The bank’s own name is shown above it, read-only; rename the bank from the Question banks page.

Below these, Description Optional is a short note students read before they start.

When it opens and closes

1. Exam opens at (Assignment opens at). Off: it opens as soon as students can see it. On: pick a date and time; until then students see when it opens, with a countdown.
2. Submission ends. Off: no deadline. On: pick the last date and time to submit. After that, students who haven’t submitted see it as Missed.
3. Time limit (exams only). Off: no timer. On: the minutes a student has from the moment they click Start exam. When time runs out, their paper is submitted for them. If the deadline comes first, the paper closes at the deadline.
4. Accept late submissions. Lets students submit after Submission ends; their paper is marked Late. You need a Submission ends time to turn this on.

To pick a date, click the box, choose the day, type the hour and minute, choose AM or PM, then click Apply. Now sets the current time and Clear empties it. The opening time must be before the deadline.

Note

Changing the deadline or the time limit later affects papers started after you save. Students already answering keep the time they started with.

The paper

1. Shuffle question order. Every student gets the questions in a different order.
2. Shuffle answer choices. Every student gets the options of each multiple choice question in a different order.
3. Give each student a random selection. Off: everyone sits every question in the bank. On: each student gets a random draw. Add rules such as Draw 5 of any type, or of one type or tag; Add a rule for more. The sentence underneath shows the result, for example Every student sits 10 questions worth 15 marks.

A random selection has a few rules. Each rule needs enough matching questions in the bank, the questions one rule draws must all be worth the same marks (so every student’s paper is worth the same), and two rules can’t pick from the same questions. LessonQ tells you what to fix before you can save.

The order, the options and the draw are fixed when a student starts. Refreshing the page never gives them a different paper.

What students see in their results

1. Hold results until I publish. On by default. Students see only that their paper was submitted, until you publish the results (see Grade and publish results). Off: they see results straight after submitting.

2. What students see. Tick what students may see, and when:

   • Their answers: what they submitted.
   • Score: their marks.
   • Correct answers: the answer key, and which ones they got right.
   • Explanations: the explanation you wrote for each question, plus the feedback and files you add while marking.

   The After submit column is for the time between submitting and the deadline. After close is for after the deadline, and needs a Submission ends time. Anything shown after submitting stays shown after the close. Everything is ticked to begin with.

A sentence under the grid sums up what students will see. Two common setups:

• Keep the answer key back until everyone has finished: tick Correct answers and Explanations under After close only, so students who submit early can’t pass the answers on.
• Show nothing but the score: tick only Score.

Note

These settings also apply to papers already submitted. If you change them after students have finished, LessonQ asks you to confirm first.

Availability and free preview

1. Required to attempt. On by default. In a course where lessons unlock in order, students must submit this before the next item opens. Off: they can skip it and carry on.
2. Free preview. Anyone can take this exam, even visitors without an account and members who haven’t enrolled. Their answers are never saved. See below.
3. Hidden. Students don’t see it at all. Use it to prepare an exam before you release it.

The Thumbnail at the top of this column is an optional picture for the item.

Free preview: let anyone try it

Free preview is a good way to show visitors what your exams are like. When it’s on:

• the exam shows a Free preview tag on the course page, and anyone can open it;
• visitors and members who haven’t enrolled take it as a preview. Nothing they answer is saved: no attempt, no score, no progress. They can start again as often as they like;
• multiple choice and true / false questions are marked straight away. Written answers aren’t marked, and visitors can’t upload files, so file questions are optional for them;
• results show the moment they submit (whatever you ticked under After submit), so Hold results until I publish turns off and can’t be turned on;
• enrolled students take it as normal, and their attempts are saved and marked as usual.

1. Hold results until I publish is off and locked while free preview is on, and a note warns that students who finish early can pass the answers on.

Don't use free preview for a real test

Visitors can take a free preview as many times as they like, so anything the results show, like the correct answers, can be collected and shared. Use it for sample papers, and keep your real exams for enrolled students.

Free preview can’t be used on an item that’s limited to some batches.

Save it

Click Add exam (or Add assignment). It appears at the end of the lesson. The row shows its kind, the time limit and, when it’s on, a Free preview tag. Drag it by its handle to move it within the lesson.

If you started a new bank, its question editor opens now: add the questions, then close it.

Change it later

Click the exam’s ⋮ menu in the lesson.

1. Exam settings (Assignment settings). The same window, to change any setting except the bank and the kind.
2. Edit questions. Opens the question bank. A change to the bank applies everywhere the bank is used.
3. Preview as student. See the paper as your students do. Nothing is saved.
4. View submissions. Who has submitted, and the grading (see Grade and publish results).

The menu also has Move to lesson… (its attempts and settings move with it), Hide from students / Show to students, and Delete item. Move to lesson… appears when the course has more than one lesson.

Every exam and assignment in the course is also listed on the course’s Exams and Assignments tabs.

Remove an exam or assignment

Choose Delete item in its ⋮ menu and confirm.

This deletes the students' attempts

Removing an exam from a lesson also deletes every attempt and result on it, uploaded answer files included. The question bank itself stays in your library. To stop students seeing it but keep the results, use Hide instead.

What’s next

• How students take an exam, and what visitors see in a free preview.
• Grade and publish results.

What if…

Add exam stays grey. Something is missing: pick or name a question bank. A switched-on Exam opens at, Submission ends or Time limit also needs its value, and a random selection needs valid rules.

A student wants a second try. Each student gets one attempt. To let them try again, reset their progress and attempts (see Grade and publish results).

I edited a question after students took the exam. Each student’s paper is fixed when they start. Your change applies to papers started after you save it.

I want the same exam in two courses. Add the same question bank to a lesson in each course. Each placement has its own settings and its own results.

I set a time limit longer than the time left before the deadline. LessonQ warns you. A student who starts late gets only the time left until the deadline.

Students in my sequential course are stuck behind an exam. Turn off Required to attempt to let them skip it, or extend Submission ends. A paper that was missed after the deadline counts as done, so it doesn’t block them.