Author interactive quizzes, draw random pools from question banks, grade with AI assist, and sync scores directly to your course gradebook.
A ProfDesk Quiz is an interactive, computer-delivered exam or self-test. It delivers questions sequentially, auto-scores objective responses, provides a review queue for written answers, and supports LaTeX mathematics via MathJax on every question.
ProfDesk separates quizzes into two modes based on how they connect to your course:
| Capability | Standalone Practice Quiz | Linked Assessment Quiz |
|---|---|---|
| Gradebook Integration | None. Results stay private to the student and instructor. | Automatic. Scores sync directly to the course gradebook, where you can still type over a score. A new attempt, re-marking or Sync to Gradebook replaces a typed score. |
| Settings Authority | Quiz Editor controls time limit, window, and attempts. | Assessment card controls window, due date, attempts, and score policy. |
| Delivery Channel | Practice Quizzes list or direct Learning Module link. | Assessment dashboard card, course roster, or Learning Module. |
| Learning Module Gating | Can be placed as an optional practice item. | Prerequisite locks on the module gate the quiz automatically. |
ProfDesk supports six distinct question formats, covering auto-graded objective checks and instructor-reviewed written answers.
| Type | Accepted Formats | Scoring Method | AI Generation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple Choice (`mcq`) | 2 to 8 text or image choices with exactly 1 correct answer. | Automatic (all-or-nothing). | Supported. |
| Multiple Answer (`multi`) | 2 to 8 choices with 1 or more correct answers. | Automatic (all-or-nothing or partial credit). | Supported. |
| True / False (`tf`) | Binary True or False. | Automatic (all-or-nothing). | Supported. |
| Short Answer (`short`) | Exact text keywords. A number answer adds how close it must be (exactly, within ±%, or a range from `numeric_min` to `numeric_max`) and an optional significant-figures check. | Automatic keyword match, numeric tolerance match, or queued for manual / AI review when AI-check is enabled. | Supported. |
| Essay (`essay`) | Rich-text formatted prose via Quill editor. Supports LaTeX MathJax formulas. | Manual review queue or AI rubric grading. Blank essays score 0 automatically without queueing. | Manual authoring only. |
| Matching (`match`) | 2 to 8 prompt-and-target pairs with optional right-hand distractors. | Automatic (all-or-nothing or partial credit per correct pair). | Manual authoring only. |
| Fill in Blanks (`fimb`) | Named blanks placed in the question text as [choice1]. Each blank holds every spelling you will accept. |
Automatic, one mark per blank, matched without regard to capitalisation or surrounding spaces. The same number written differently counts (.45 = 0.45), an optional rounding margin accepts nearby numbers, and Significant figures must match makes 0.2 wrong for 0.20. | Manual authoring, or imported from Canvas. |
| Dropdowns (`dropdown`) | Named blanks placed in the question text as [choice1]. Each blank offers its own list of choices with one correct. |
Automatic, one mark per blank. | Manual authoring, or imported from Canvas. |
Question banks are account-level pools of reusable questions. Unlike courses, which are tied to specific terms and rosters, question banks belong to your instructor profile and outlive individual courses.
When you insert a question from a bank into a quiz, ProfDesk creates an independent snapshot copy of the question and its options. Editing the question inside your quiz does not alter the question in your bank, and editing the question in your bank does not retroactively modify active or past quizzes. This guarantees that finished student attempts and historic exam records remain completely stable.
Deleting a question bank or a question inside a bank moves it to the account-level Bank Trash rather than deleting it immediately. Items remain recoverable for 48 hours on Free and 30 days on Pro. You can restore questions with one click or purge them early to free storage space.
Every quiz setting controls a specific behavior in the player or grading pipeline:
A quiz moves through three lifecycle states: Draft, Published, and Closed.
If a student encounters a power outage, computer crash, or network failure, you do not need to raise the attempt limit for the entire class. On the quiz Results dashboard, click Grant attempt next to the student's name. This grants one additional attempt exclusively to that student, and their previous attempts are kept. The button is not offered on a quiz that already allows unlimited attempts.
If a student closes their browser without clicking submit, their attempt remains marked as in-progress until their deadline is reached. An instructor can click Submit for student on the Results page to finalize the attempt immediately and record the score.
Students take quizzes in a dedicated, distraction-free player. The top navigation bar displays the quiz title, an active countdown timer, and a progress indicator.
From initial draft creation to final gradebook release, every quiz attempt transitions through defined milestones:
Objective questions (Multiple Choice, True/False, Multiple Answer, and Matching) are graded automatically by the server upon submission. Written responses route to your course review queue.
Essay questions and short answers with AI-check that did not exact-match receive a provisional score of 0 and enter the Review Queue. The quiz attempt remains in Pending Review status and withholds gradebook synchronization until all pending responses are marked.
Sync to Gradebook on the Results page sends every marked score to the linked assessment again. It replaces the gradebook score of each student who submitted, including a score typed in by hand, so it first shows how many scores will change, how many of those were typed, and who is excused. Excused students keep their status and mark, and attempts still waiting for review are not synced.
Fill-in-the-blank and short answer questions compare what the student typed with each accepted answer, ignoring capitals and extra spaces. A number written differently still matches: .45, 0.45 and 0.450 are the same answer. Units are never ignored. 10 seconds does not match an accepted answer of 10, and 10 megabytes does not match 10 bytes, so list every spelling you accept. A number that starts with a zero, such as a zip code or 00000101, is compared as written.
When an accepted answer is a number, such as 0.20, 9.8 m/s or 1.4x10^6, the question editor shows This answer is a number below the answers. Text answers show none of it. A fill-in-the-blank question shows it once for every blank whose answer is a number. Under How close must the student be? choose one:
10.9 also accepts 10.91 and 10.9091, while an answer of 0.45 accepts only 0.4455 to 0.4545. It applies to accepted answers that are just a number.To grade significant figures, turn on Significant figures must match on the question and type each accepted answer with the figures you expect. The student's answer must then be the same number with the same number of significant figures: with 0.20 accepted, 0.20 and .20 are right, while 0.2 and 0.200 are wrong. Zeros before the first digit never count. Zeros at the end of a whole number count only with a decimal point, so 200 has one significant figure and 200. has three. In scientific notation the figures are counted before the power of ten, so 2.0x10^3 has two. The editor shows how many significant figures each accepted answer has, and warns when a whole number ending in zero would count fewer than you meant. Within ± % still applies on top. A range checks only the value, so significant figures are switched off when you choose it; use typed accepted answers for questions that grade significant figures.
Open a student's attempt from the Results page with View. Every question that ProfDesk marked automatically has a Change mark button. Enter any mark from 0 to the question's points and save. The attempt total, the Results page and the gradebook update straight away. The question then says You set this mark beside what the answer key would give, and Use automatic mark hands it back to the key. The student sees Marked by your instructor. Essays are marked under Review answers.
Saving a question marks every submitted attempt again with the new answer key. If no mark goes down, the question saves straight away and tells you how many students gained marks. If any mark would go down, or a score typed into the gradebook would be replaced, you see the numbers first and can cancel. Tick Don't lower anyone's mark to let those students keep their current mark on the affected questions. Those marks then show as set by you.
Re-marking never changes a mark you gave by hand, whether on the Review page or with Change mark. It updates the gradebook only for students whose quiz score changed. Re-mark attempts on the Results page runs the same check without editing anything, for example to apply the number matching above to attempts submitted before it existed.
ProfDesk offers AI-powered grading assist to accelerate marking without removing instructor oversight:
You can sequence quizzes directly inside Learning Modules to guide students through readings, videos, and self-checks.
When an assessment linked to a quiz is placed inside a learning module:
Students can build their own private practice quizzes in the Student Workspace for self-study and revision.
Student practice quizzes are always ungraded, allow unlimited attempts, and display instant answer explanations upon completion. If a teacher deletes a course, student-created practice quizzes survive in the student's study library under an archived course snapshot.
ProfDesk provides export options for both question sets and student performance data:
ProfDesk Quizzes is available on both the Free and Pro plans:
| Capability | Free Plan | ProfDesk Pro ($5 / month) |
|---|---|---|
| Quiz Authoring | Unlimited quizzes across your 2 active courses. | Unlimited quizzes across unlimited active courses. |
| Question Banks | Create and manage question banks, and save quiz questions into them. | Adding questions from a bank into a quiz, in any course. |
| Dates & Availability | Publish when you are ready, set a deadline, close at that deadline automatically, close or reopen by hand, and grant per-student extensions. | Everything on Free, plus scheduling the opening date in advance and a separate closing date, so late work is accepted past the deadline. |
| Bank Trash Retention | 48 hours recoverable retention. | 30 days recoverable retention. |
| AI Question Generation | Draws from 20 monthly AI credits. | Draws from 500 monthly AI credits. |
| AI Essay & Short Answer Grading | Draws from monthly AI credits. | Draws from monthly AI credits. |
| Learning Module Sequencing | Basic placement without prerequisite gates. | Full prerequisite chaining and completion rules. |
Open the quiz Results page and locate the student's row. Click Submit for student on their in-progress attempt. ProfDesk scores their answered questions immediately and routes any essay or short-answer questions to your review queue.
From the quiz Results page, click Grant attempt next to that student's name. This adds one attempt to their personal allowance while keeping the class-wide limit unchanged. The button is not offered on a quiz that already allows unlimited attempts.
A quiz only syncs to the gradebook if it is linked to an assessment. In addition, if the quiz contains essay questions or AI-checked short answers, scores sync only after all pending items in your Review queue are finalized.
Yes. Type over the score in the Gradebook or the student gradebook. The quiz can take it back: a new attempt, a re-mark that changes that student's quiz score, or Sync to Gradebook on the Results page replaces a typed score with the quiz result. Both warn you first. To change the mark on one question instead, open the attempt with View and use Change mark. A mark set there is kept through every re-mark.
Yes. On the Results page, open the student's attempt with View and click Change mark on the question. Enter any mark from 0 to the question's points. The attempt total and the gradebook update straight away, and the student sees that you marked it. Later changes to the answer key do not change a mark you set. Use automatic mark hands the question back to the answer key. Essays are marked under Review answers as before.
Yes. Saving the question marks every submitted attempt again with the new key. If that would lower any student's mark, or replace a score you typed into the gradebook, ProfDesk shows you the numbers first and offers Don't lower anyone's mark, which lets students keep their current mark on the questions that would go down. Marks you gave by hand are never changed by re-marking. Re-mark attempts on the Results page runs the same check at any time.
It no longer is. In fill-in-the-blank and short answer questions, the same number written differently counts as a match: .45, 0.45 and 0.450 are all accepted. Units are never ignored, so 10 seconds does not match an answer of 10, and 10 megabytes does not match 10 bytes. List each spelling you accept, or choose Within ± % under How close must the student be? so that 10.91 counts for 10.9. Attempts submitted before this change are updated the next time you save a question in that quiz or use Re-mark attempts.
Yes. When an accepted answer is a number, the question editor shows its number settings. Turn on Significant figures must match there, and type each accepted answer with the figures you expect, such as 0.20. The student's answer must then be the same number with the same number of significant figures: 0.20 and .20 are right, 0.2 and 0.200 are wrong. Zeros before the first digit never count, and zeros at the end of a whole number count only with a decimal point, so 200 has one significant figure and 200. has three. The editor shows how many significant figures each answer has, and warns when a whole number ending in zero would count fewer than you meant. A range (Anywhere from ... to ...) checks only the value, so use typed accepted answers for these questions. The switch is off unless you turn it on.
There are two separate blocks. A quiz cannot go back to draft while a student is in the middle of an attempt, so use Close Quiz instead, which stops new attempts and lets the one in progress finish. A quiz that is linked to an assessment cannot be unpublished from the quiz editor at all, change its visibility from the assessment card in Manage Assessments.
Closing a standalone quiz stops new attempts from starting. Students with an attempt already in progress are allowed to complete and submit their work. Closing does not hide the quiz, students can still open it to see their results. A quiz that is linked to an assessment cannot be closed from the quiz editor, close it from the assessment card in Manage Assessments instead.
Matching pairs are authored with prompts alongside their correct targets. The player always shuffles the right-hand pool so that answers do not appear directly opposite their corresponding prompts.
When a quiz is linked to an assessment, the assessment card controls the due date, submission lock, attempt limit, and score-to-keep policy. Update those settings directly on the assessment card in Manage Assessments.
No. Copying a question from a bank into a quiz creates an independent snapshot. Changes made in your bank never alter questions in active quizzes, and edits in a quiz do not overwrite the bank.
If the quiz or linked assessment is configured with the Latest attempt grade policy, the most recent attempt is recorded even if an earlier attempt had a higher score. Use the Highest score policy if you want only the best score kept.
AI question generation supports Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer, True/False, Short Answer, and Essay questions. Matching, Fill in Blanks and Dropdown questions must be authored manually, or imported from Canvas or a question bank.
For a linked quiz, availability is governed by the parent assessment. If the assessment is unpublished, deleted, or locked after the due date, students cannot open or start the quiz.
Student-created practice quizzes survive course deletion. They are preserved in the student's private workspace under an archived course snapshot, with all personal attempts and study history intact.