Assessments and quiz types
An assessment is a quiz attached to either a module (as a knowledge check after a few lessons) or to the course itself (as a final exam). This page covers every question type, how each one gets scored, and the settings that govern attempts, time, and passing thresholds.
Where an assessment lives
Two attachment points:
- Module-level assessment. Attaches to one specific module. Renders after the last lesson in that module. Use this for checkpoints — a five-question quiz at the end of a unit.
- Course-level assessment. Attaches to the course directly, not to any module. Renders as the final step of the course. Use this for the comprehensive final exam.
A course can have both — module checkpoints plus a final exam — and you can have multiple module-level checkpoints, one per module.
Create an assessment
In the course editor, open a module and click Add assessment, or open the course's top-level Add final assessment action. Set:
- Title. What members see as the quiz name ("Module 2 Check", "Final Exam").
- Description. Optional. Shown to members on the assessment intro screen.
- Passing score percent. Default 80. The percentage a member needs to score to pass this specific assessment. Falls back to the course's passing score if you leave it at the default.
- Max attempts. Default 3. The number of times a member can take this quiz. After they hit the max, they're locked out — see "Retakes and attempt limits" below.
- Shuffle questions. When on, every attempt shows the questions in a random order. Useful for high-stakes assessments where members might share answers across attempts.
- Time limit (minutes). Default 0 (no limit). When non-zero, the quiz auto-submits when the timer expires, scoring whatever the member has answered so far.
the assessment header with passing score, max attempts, time limit, shuffle
Question types
Every question has a type, a prompt, a point value, an order, and (optionally) an explanation shown after submission. Five types are available — three auto-graded, one text-match, and one human-graded.
Multiple Choice (auto-graded)
A single-correct-answer multiple choice question. You define two or more options and mark exactly one as the correct answer. Members pick one.
Scoring: the member earns the full point value if they pick the correct option; zero otherwise. No partial credit.
True/False (auto-graded)
A two-option question with True and False. You mark which one is correct. Identical scoring to multiple choice — full points or zero.
Multi-Select (auto-graded with partial credit)
A multiple-correct-answer question. You define two or more options and mark one or more as correct. Members pick any subset.
Scoring uses partial credit: (correct_selected − wrong_selected) ÷ total_correct, floored at zero, multiplied by the question's point value. So if a question has three correct answers worth 6 points total, a member who picks two correct and zero wrong earns 4 points; a member who picks all three correct plus one wrong earns 4 points; a member who picks one correct and two wrong earns 0 (floored).
This rewards thoughtful selection over a "select everything" strategy.
Short Answer (auto-graded by exact match)
A free-text question, but graded automatically against a list of accepted answers. You define one or more "options" — these are the accepted answer strings rather than radio choices. Members type a response.
Scoring: case-insensitive, whitespace-stripped exact match. If the member's answer matches any accepted string, they earn the full point value; otherwise zero.
Use this for questions with a clear canonical answer where typing is faster than selecting — names, dates, single numbers, defined terms. If there's any ambiguity in valid responses, use Free Form instead and grade manually.
Free Form (manually graded)
A free-text question that requires a human grader to score. The platform leaves the answer un-graded after the member submits, the attempt lands in the grading queue, and an admin or chapter officer reviews and assigns points.
Use Free Form for short essays, scenario responses, and anything where a member's reasoning matters more than matching a specific string.
Auto-graded vs. manually graded
Four of the five question types — multiple choice, true/false, multi-select, and short answer — are scored automatically the moment the member submits the attempt. The attempt's overall score is computed, the pass/fail flag is set, and the member sees their result immediately.
Free Form questions are the exception. An attempt that contains at least one Free Form answer:
- Is auto-graded for everything else first. The platform computes a preliminary score that includes the auto-gradable answers only.
- Lands in the grading queue with
is_graded = false. The attempt is flagged as awaiting human review. - Waits there until a grader assigns points to every Free Form answer. As each one is graded, the attempt's overall score is recomputed.
- Once every Free Form answer has been scored, the attempt flips
is_graded = true, the final pass/fail decision is made, and the member is notified.
A member can see their auto-graded portion of the score right away, but the overall "pass" state stays pending until grading is finished. This avoids announcing "you passed" on an attempt that's still half-ungraded.
See grading queue for the grader's workflow.
Attempt records
Every time a member starts a quiz, the platform creates an attempt record. It tracks:
- Attempt number. Sequential per member, per assessment — first attempt is
#1, second is#2, etc. - Started at / submitted at. Timestamps for the attempt window.
- Score percent. The aggregate score across all graded answers. Recomputes after every manual grade.
- Passed. True if the final score met the passing threshold; false if not; null if still awaiting manual grading.
- Is graded. False until every answer has a score. Flips true once the grading queue clears for this attempt.
- Graded by / graded at. Stamped when a human grader finishes the last manual answer.
Members can view their own past attempts and see which questions they got right or wrong (with the optional explanation text, if you wrote one).
Retakes and attempt limits
If Max attempts is set to a positive number, members get exactly that many tries. After their last attempt, the platform locks them out — even if every attempt failed, they can't keep retrying.
For learning-focused quizzes, set max attempts to 3 or higher. For compliance-style assessments where a one-shot answer matters, set to 1 and lean on the explanation field to teach after the fact. For open-book finals, unlimited attempts (max 0) paired with a high passing score works well.
If a member exhausts their attempts and you want to grant another shot, an admin can reset the count manually. There's no member-facing "request another attempt" flow today.
Time limits
A non-zero Time limit starts the clock when the member opens the attempt. When the timer hits zero, the attempt auto-submits with whatever's been answered so far. Unanswered questions count as zero.
Members see a live countdown while taking the quiz. There's no warning ping at the one-minute mark — set the time limit with a few minutes of buffer if you want to ensure no one runs out on a borderline.
If you set a time limit, also set a sensible max-attempts. A timed quiz with max attempts 0 (unlimited) is rarely what you want.
Passing score: assessment vs. course
The course has a passing score (default 80%). Each assessment also has a passing score (default 80%). The assessment-level setting overrides the course-level setting for that specific assessment.
This lets you mix difficulty: a course that requires 80% overall but has a single brutal final exam at 90%, or an easier 70% on the module checkpoints with a stricter 85% on the final.
Order of questions
Questions render in their order field. The first question in an assessment is order = 0. If Shuffle questions is off, every member sees them in the same order. If it's on, each attempt re-shuffles independently.
Shuffling is per-attempt, not per-member — the same member retaking a shuffled quiz will see a different order on their second attempt.
Question explanations
Each question has an optional Explanation field. The explanation is shown to the member after they submit the assessment, alongside their per-question result. Use it to:
- Explain why an answer is correct, so members learn from mistakes.
- Reference the source material ("See Module 2, Lesson 3").
- Reinforce the policy point you're testing.
Explanations only render for auto-graded questions. Free Form questions show the grader's feedback (entered at grading time) instead.
Related
Last verified against v0.62.1.