26Course Test
Updated in July 2025
26.1 Create A Test
26.2 Edit Tests and Questions
Note
If teachers edit a question in a question pool, the edits appear everywhere the question is used.
Note
When adding questions to a test, using "Reuse questions" > "Copy question" (i.e. copy the questions from the Question Bank or other Course Tests), teachers can edit the copies in current Course Test without concern that other assessment are not affected (i.e. the copied questions are NOT linked with the source questions). Changes make to one instance of the question or content aren't reflected in the other instances. If teachers want changes to show in all instances, they must find and edit each copied instance.
After students open the assessment, teachers CANNOT:
- Add new questions and answers
- Delete a question
- Delete answers in Matching and Multiple Choice questions
- Change the number of blanks in a Fill in the Blanks question
- Move the content, such as switch the order of questions, answers, or additional content
- Add or remove questions from a question pool or delete a pool from an assessment
Note
Teachers cannot change the points an individual student earned for an automatically graded question.
After students open the assessment or make submissions, teachers can:
- Edit the text of questions and answers
- Edit the point value (New grades are recalculated for all previously submitted assessments)
- Give everyone full credit for a question
- Change which answers are correct
- Change the scoring options for Multiple Choice and Matching questions
- Align questions with goals, from the assessment only
Note
The regraded score is applied to the attempt score. If teachers manually change the grade for the assessment in the gradebook, the regraded score doesn't change the override score.
Please refer to the Blackboard Official Guide for details:
[Blackboard Official Website]
Edit Tests and Questions
26.3 Test Settings
Note
Teachers cannot choose these options until the assessment has questions.
Note
Teachers cannot update these options after students start their submissions.
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(a) Display one question at a time
Due dates appear on the calendar and in the activity stream. Late submissions appear with a Late label in the course gradebook.
- Focus on a single question at a time
- Enhance browser performance for student access on older computers
- Enhance experience for students in remote areas with poor network connections
- Have an improved user experience when test taking from a mobile device, where touch scrolling can lead to mistakes
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(b) Prohibit backtracking on questions
Enforce a sequence through questions in an assessment with the Prohibit backtracking option. A sequence is important when upcoming questions provide hints or reveal answers to earlier questions. Once students answer the question and continue to the next one, they cannot go back.
Note
When "Prohibit backtracking" has been enabled, "Display one question at a time" is recommended.
Note
If students skip questions, an alert informs them that they cannot go back once they have done so.
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(c) Randomize questions
Each time a student begins a test attempt, the questions appear in a different order.
Note
If the test include references to the question numbers as they appear on the Content and Settings tab, do not use the Randomize questions option. The random order changes the question numbering and may cause confusion.
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(d) Randomize answers
Answers appear in order as teachers create the test. Each time a student begins a test attempt, the answers appear in a different order.
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(e) Randomize pages
If the assessment includes questions across multiple pages (for example a page of Multiple Choice questions followed by a page with Essay questions), Randomize pages randomizes the order in which these pages are displayed. Do not randomize first page allows you to lock the first page in place.
Please refer to the Blackboard Official Guide for details:
[Blackboard Official Website]
Assessment Settings
26.4 Assessment Results
26.5 Give Full Credits
Teachers can give everyone full credit for a question if the question didn't explain clearly or doesn't accurately reflect concept. After teachers select Edit/Regrade in a question's menu, teachers can select the check box for "Give full credit for question". After teachers give full credit, teachers can clear the check box to revert to the automatic grade or a previously assigned manual grade.
The update affects existing attempts, attempts in progress, and subsequent submissions. Student grades are updated, but the new grades or reversal may not appear immediately.
When giving full credit, teachers cannot change student scores for an individual question. Teachers can override a student’s assessment score to adjust the points if needed.
Student’s View of Full credits
After grading is completed and students the correct answers are shown, students can see which questions awarded full credit. Full credit given appears next to the grade pill and is also noted in the answers section.
Please refer to the Blackboard Official Guide for details:
[Blackboard Official Website]
Give full credit
26.6 Grade Tests
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26.6.1 Grade by questions (questions need manual grading)
Select a test to grade to access the Submissions page. Then select the Questions tab on the left to grade the submissions by question. The center panel displays all the student responses for an individual question. This is especially useful when grading essay questions.
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By default, the question list includes all questions in the test presented to students. Use the filter to display all questions or only those that need manual grading, such as essay questions. Use the Needs Grading filter to focus on remaining grading work.
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The selected question you have chosen to grade. Includes the question type and text.
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The number of responses to the question graded so far.
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If the question is long, expand it to view the full text.
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The student you selected to grade.
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Timestamp for the attempt submission.
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Question score.
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Hide the student response.
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Student's answer.
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Show or hide the model answer, if available.
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Scroll down to grade the next student's response
- 26.6.2 Override Grades
Teachers can assign total grade manually to students by typing in the grade pill in the gradebook. An override label appears next to the grade.
Please refer to the Blackboard Official Guide for details:
[Blackboard Official Website]
Override Grades
- 26.6.3 Edit points a student earns on a question
Teachers can change the points a student earns on an assessment question. The points field supports negative and positive values with up to two decimal points.
Note
Overrides on total test grade must be removed so that the assessment grade reflects changes the instructor makes to the points a student earns on a question.
26.7 Question Analysis
Providing statistics on overall performance, assessment quality, and individual questions. This data helps teachers recognise questions that might be poor discriminators of student performance. Question analysis is for assessments with questions. Teachers can run a report before all submissions are in if they want to check the quality of your questions and make changes.
Please refer to the Blackboard Official Guide for details:
[Blackboard Official Website]
Question Analysis
26.8 Question Pools
Teachers can choose the number of questions from a pool to display to students. For example, show 3 questions out of 50. The questions are then randomly distributed so each student sees a different set of 3 questions.
In the student view, questions randomly selected from a pool appear just as other questions do. Students won't know the questions are from a pool.
Please refer to the Blackboard Official Guide for details:
[Blackboard Official Website]
Question Pools
