Creating a Random Block of Questions

Owned by Marcie Savoie (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Apr 24, 2020 by Fraser Stowe (Unlicensed)

Create a random block of questions

You can create a random block of questions and choose the number of questions to use for the test or quiz within the block. Your test can include one or more random blocks. If you use more than one random block, be careful not use the same question or a student could get the question two times, (once in each block) even when randomized. Using random blocks of questions can increase the security of your test or quiz by making it harder for students to share test or quiz answers. For more information check out Test Setup Best Practices.

Note: To create random blocks you will need to turn off your browser's pop-up blocker to access the Create Random Block pop-up window. See Is your Windows browser blocking pop-up windows? and Is your Mac's browser blocking pop-up windows? to update your settings if needed.

  1. Begin by creating or editing your test. On the Test Canvas choose Create Random Block from the Reuse Question menu.

    Select Create Random Block from the menu


  2. In the pop-up window, select the check boxes for one or more pools. Then scroll down to view the question types available.

    Select pools to use in random block

  3. Select the check box for at least one question type to include. Wait for all questions that meet the criteria (pool and question type) to appear in the content frame and select Submit. The Test Canvas appears and displays a success message. The random block of questions is added to the test.

    Choose the question types to include in the random block


  4. Select Number of Questions to display to access the pop-up box and enter the number of questions you want students. Select Submit.
    Enter the number of question to display from the random block and click submit


  5. Select Points per question to access the pop-up box. Type a point value. This point value is assigned to each question in the random block. You can not assign separate point values for individual questions in the same random block. So, you may want to only include questions of approximately the same difficulty. Click Submit to save your changes.
    Enter the point value for each question and click submit


  6. Select Preview questions that match selected criteria to expand or collapse the list of questions. You can view and edit individual questions.
    Preview the questions used in the random block

You cannot delete questions within a random block. If you don't want a question to be included in your random block, remove it from the pool it appears in. (i.e. If you want to remove one of the true/false questions from Chapter 12 you will need to go to the Chapter 12 pool and find the specific question and delete that from the pool. After the question is deleted from the pool it will no longer appear in your random block.