The Question Bank

The Question Bank allows a teacher to create, preview, and edit questions in a database of question categories. The questions in a category can be added to a Quiz or to a Lesson activity. The teacher enters the question bank by creating or editing a quiz activity or via Administration > Question bank. Each course begins with a default category or group of questions for the course.

TIP: Use the question bank as a shared departmental/course resource by exporting/importing the question bank.

Creating Questions

It is possible to create questions from the Edit Quiz page or in the Question Bank. If the latter, questions can be added/organized into individual categories.

To create a question in the question bank:

1. Click on the Question Bank link located in the Administration block.

2. Click the Create a question button.

3. Choose the desired question type and click Next.

4. See the question type documentation on Moodle.org for a description of each.

5. The default category is set for the question automatically. If you have created other categories, you may select one of those from the Category drop-down. 

   • TIP: If you wish to give multiple quizzes in a course creating a category for each quiz will make managing questions much easier.

6. Enter a question name. This is a label for the question. 

   • TIP: If you have a large number of questions and/or want your questions to be in a particular order, this is a good field to add a numeral or letter for the question. Choose a naming convention and stick with it to be able to organize and find questions later.

7. Enter the question text. This is the question you wish to ask.
   
   Every question requires a Question name and the Question text.  The Question name is for your own reference and will not be shown to students.  The Question text is the prompt of the question to which students respond.
   
   
   

8. Enter appropriate answers in the Answers section of the question.

9. Indicate which answer is correct by setting the Grade for that answer to be 100%.  Use the Grade setting to indicate partially correct alternate answers, when applicable.

   • TIP: If you have a question for which multiple answers make up a fully correct answer, you can give each answer a portion of the 100% i.e. A and B each get 50%.

10. Click Save changes when you are finished.

Creating Question Categories

It is possible to create categories of questions. If you wish to give multiple quizzes in a course creating a category for each quiz will make managing questions much easier.

To create a question category:

1. Click on Question Bank > Categories located in the Administration block.

2. Scroll down and choose the parent category (by default the course category is chosen)

3. Enter a name for the category.

4. You may optionally add a description for the category. This may be helpful to do if you plan to create multiple categories.

5. Click the Add category button.

Adding Questions to a Quiz from the Question Bank

1. Open your course and Turn Editing on.

2. Add a quiz to the course or open the quiz and click Edit quiz in the Quiz administration block (you may also click the Edit quiz button if you have not previously added any questions).

3. Click to Show the Question bank located on the right side of the screen. 

4. At this point you may select the category of questions from which the question bank that were previously added. 

5. Select the questions you want to add to the quiz and then click the Add to quiz button.

Importing Questions

If you have a question bank from another course it is possible to import it directly into question bank of your current course.

To import questions:

1. Click Question Bank > Import located in the Administration Block

2. Select the file format of the file you will be importing. 

3. Either drag-and-drop the file into the drop area or click Choose a file to browse for the file you wish to import.

4. Click Import.

5. Click Continue.

6. This will bring you to your Question Bank. You may choose to leave the questions in the category into which they were imported or move them to another category.

Exporting Questions

If you would like to use questions from one course in another it is possible to export them from the first course and then import them into the second.

To export questions:

1. Click Question Bank > Export located in the Administration Block

2. Select the file format for the exported questions. The following formats are available:

3. Choose the export category (in most cases this may be left at the default).

4. Click the Export questions to file button.

5. Click Continue.

Sharing Question Banks

By default, teachers can manage only the questions in the context of the courses they are in. The local Moodle administrator may set up a role to allow teachers to share and manage questions on a larger scale.Click this link to learn more about this role.