DR. JENNIFER LYNN WAGNER

D2L Brightspace Tips: Change Quiz Points to Fix Grades

Changing the total maximum points for a quiz in D2L Brightspace requires extra steps if students have already taken the quiz and the grades have been sent to the grade book. Percentage grades for all students must be calculated using the same number of maximum points in order to ensure that grading is fair and consistent; however, it is not currently possible to change the maximum points on completed quiz attempts. If you need to change the maximum points for a quiz that students have already taken, such as after editing or deleting a quiz question, this will only be done in the grade book. The completed attempts in Quizzes will still show the original maximum points. If you edit or delete any questions, the overall grades in Quizzes will be updated to match what is in the grade book, and marked with the label manually overwritten.

Only percentages are synced back and forth between quizzes and the grade book. You will need to verify that the students' earned points on the quiz attempts are correct before changing the maximum points in the grade book to ensure that correct percentages are sent back to the quiz. You will not need to do any manual calculations or type points in the grade book. In order for grades to be published and sent automatically to the grade book, make sure that both Auto-publish attempt results immediately upon completion and Synchronize to grade book on publish are checked under Evaluation & Feedback in each quiz.

Note: If you need to change maximum points on assignments or discussions, the instructions are different since it is possible to change the points on both the assignment or discussion and in the grade item.

Go directly to a section:

  1. Change Maximum Points Only for a Quiz
  2. Change Question to Bonus (extra credit)
  3. Change Points on a Question
  4. Delete a Question
  5. Dismiss a Question (without deleting it)

Or watch the video:

Direct link to video, with transcript widget

Change Maximum Points Only for a Quiz

Scenario: I want to change the maximum points on my quiz from 10 points to 20 points in order to match what is on my course syllabus.

Explanation: Since the maximum points cannot be changed on the attempts that students have completed, you will need to change the maximum points in the grade book after clearing out the students' grades in the grade item using Retract Feedback in the quiz. Students' grades will not be changed since the points they earned relative to the total points (i.e. their earned percentage) remains the same. The points shown in the grade book will be equal to the points earned in the attempt multiplied by (new maximum points / old maximum points). For example, a student who received 8/10 on the quiz will have 16/20 in the grade book because 8 * (20/10) = 16 and 8/10 = 16/20. This is the only case where the points in the overall grade in the quiz and the grade book will NOT match, but the percentages will match.

Instructions:

  1. Go to Assessments -> Quizzes -> Drop-down menu by name of quiz -> Grade. Select all attempts and click Retract Feedback to clear out quiz grades from the grade book.
  2. Go to Assessments -> Grades and change the maximum points on the associated grade item. Click yes on the pop-up message.
  3. Return to Assessments -> Quizzes -> Drop-down menu by name of quiz -> Grade. Select all attempts and click Publish to send the updated grades to the grade book.

If you changed the maximum points in the grade book BEFORE retracting feedback from the quiz, the wrong grades will be sent back to the quiz. Use Retract Feedback to clear grades from the grade book, but the overall grade will still appear wrong within the quiz. Select all the attempts and click Publish so that the overall grade reverts back to matching the attempt grade and all grades are re-sent to the grade book. Now that grades have been corrected, you can follow the instructions above.

Note: If you want to ensure that both points and percentages in the overall grade in the quiz and the grade book will match exactly, you will need to follow the directions for Change Points on a Question instead and use Update all attempts on EVERY question that you changed points for. (Editing the quiz so that the maximum points have changed is what allows the overall grade to match exactly with the grade book.)

Return to top of page

Change Question to Bonus (extra credit)

Scenario: I forgot to set a question as a bonus in my 10 point quiz. All 5 questions were worth 2 points but one question should have been a bonus and the maximum points should have been 8 instead of 10.

Explanation: Marking a question as bonus on a quiz will only change it for future attempts, not already completed attempts. The points for the question will remain part of the total points in the completed attempts. However, this is a relatively easy problem to solve since you just need to decrease the maximum points in the grade item. It does not matter whether the student got the bonus question correct or not, i.e. a student who got 8/10 either got a regular question wrong or the bonus question wrong, but it doesn't matter which - either way, they earned 8 points on the quiz.

Instructions when both the quiz and grade item were created with the same number of maximum points before students submitted attempts and grades were sent to the grade book:

  1. Go to Assessments -> Quizzes -> click the name of the quiz to edit it. Check the box next to the question, choose More Actions, and click Toggle Bonus. Click Save and Close to go back to the list of quizzes.
  2. Go to Assessments -> Grades and change the maximum points on the associated grade item to the new lower number of maximum points, which will allow for extra credit.
  3. Check the Can Exceed box if you want students to be able to receive more than 100% for this grade item. Click yes on the pop-up message after clicking Save. Check Can Exceed on the category (if the grade item belongs to a category) and Final Calculated Grade if you want students to be able to receive more than 100% for the category and final grade.
  4. Return to Assessments -> Quizzes -> Drop-down menu by name of quiz -> Grade and verify that the overall grade for each student now matches the grade in the grade book.

Important! If you made the mistake of setting a lower number of maximum points on the grade item (8) compared to the quiz (10) before students' earned points were sent to the grade book, there are a few additional steps to follow to fix the grades. Starting out with different maximum points on the grade item vs. the quiz will not work in this case since only percentages and not points are sent back and forth.

Instructions when the quiz and grade item were created with a different number of maximum points before students submitted attempts and grades were sent to the grade book:

  1. Go to Assessments -> Quizzes -> click the name of the quiz to edit it. Check the box next to the question, choose More Actions, and click Toggle Bonus. Click Save and Close to go back to the list of quizzes.
  2. Go to Assessments -> Quizzes -> Drop-down menu by name of quiz -> Grade. Select all attempts and click Retract Feedback to clear out quiz grades from the grade book.
  3. Go to Assessments -> Grades and change the maximum points on the associated grade item to match the original maximum points on the completed quiz attempts. Click yes on the pop-up message.
  4. Check the Can Exceed box if you want students to be able to receive more than 100% for this grade item. Click yes on the pop-up message after clicking Save. Check Can Exceed on the category (if the grade item belongs to a category) and Final Calculated Grade if you want students to be able to receive more than 100% for the category and final grade.
  5. Return to Assessments -> Quizzes -> Drop-down menu by name of quiz -> Grade. Select all attempts and click Publish to send the updated grades to the grade book. Students' grades will be incorrect on the quiz attempt at this point.
  6. Return to Assessments -> Grades and change the maximum points on the associated grade item to the new lower number of maximum points, which will allow for extra credit. Click yes on the pop-up message.
  7. Return to Assessments -> Quizzes -> Drop-down menu by name of quiz -> Grade and verify that the overall grade for each student now matches the grade in the grade book.

Even though Toggle Bonus is an option when working with pool questions, it is not actually possible to make a pool question a bonus question. Clicking on Toggle Bonus will do nothing, but D2L does not warn you that this does not work. In this case, start with step 2 but beware that the maximum points in the overall grade will not match what is in the grade book. However, the percentages will match.

Return to top of page

Change Points on a Question

Scenario: I need to change the points on one question in my quiz. When I created it, I set all 5 questions to 2 points, but one question should have been set to 4. So the maximum points should now be 12 instead of 10.

Explanation: Changing the points a question is worth will only change it for future attempts, not already completed attempts. You can change the number of points students received for the question on their completed attempts, but the maximum points for the quiz will not change. This means the students' grades will be temporarily incorrect in the quiz after you update the points for the question. You will need to fix this in the grade book by changing the maximum points on the grade item after editing the question and updating all attempts.

Instructions:

  1. If you will be increasing points on the question, go to Assessments -> Grades and check Can Exceed on the grade item to ensure that students' earned points transfer correctly to the grade book in the following steps.
  2. Go to Assessments -> Quizzes and click the name of the quiz to edit it. Check the box next to the question, choose More Actions, and click Set Points. Enter the new number of points and click Save on the pop-up message. Click Save and Close to go back to the list of quizzes.
  3. Open the drop-down menu by the name of the quiz, choose Grade, and select the Questions tab.
  4. Choose Update all attempts and click on the question you want to change points for.
  5. Choose give to attempts with answer, choose or enter the correct response, type in the new points, and click Save. Students' grades will be incorrect on the quiz attempt at this point.
  6. Go to Assessments -> Grades and change the maximum points on the associated grade item. Click yes on the pop-up message.
  7. Return to Assessments -> Quizzes -> Drop-down menu by name of quiz -> Grade and verify that the overall grade for each student now matches the grade in the grade book.

Return to top of page

Delete a Question

Scenario: My quiz has 5 questions worth 2 points each, but I want to delete one question because it is badly worded/ambiguous/too difficult. I don't want this question to count against students who got it wrong.

Explanation: Deleting a question from a quiz only deletes it for future attempts. The question will still appear when viewing the completed attempts. You can change the number of points students received for the question on the completed attempts to 0, but the maximum points for the quiz will not change. This means the students' grades will be temporarily incorrect in the quiz after you update all attempts to 0 for the deleted question. You will need to fix this in the grade book by changing the maximum points on the grade item after deleting the question and updating all attempts. This will increase the grades of students who got the question wrong and decrease the grades of students who got it right (unless the score was 100%).

Instructions:

  1. Go to Assessments -> Quizzes and click the name of the quiz to edit it. Check the box next to the question, choose More Actions, and click Delete. Click Delete again to confirm on the pop-up message. Click Save and Close to go back to the list of quizzes.
  2. Open the drop-down menu by the name of the quiz, choose Grade, and select the Questions tab.
  3. Choose Update all attempts and click on the question that you deleted under Questions that are not in the quiz anymore.
  4. Choose give to all attempts, type in 0 for the points, and click Save. Students' grades will be incorrect on the quiz attempt at this point. You may also want to add a comment so that students will know that this question is no longer included in the maximum points.
  5. Go to Assessments -> Grades and change the maximum points on the associated grade item. Click yes on the pop-up message.
  6. Return to Assessments -> Quizzes -> Drop-down menu by name of quiz -> Grade and verify that the overall grade for each student now matches the grade in the grade book.

Return to top of page

Dismiss a Question (without deleting it)

Scenario: My quiz has 5 questions worth 2 points each, but one question is badly worded/ambiguous/too difficult so I don't want this question to count against students who got it wrong. I do not want to delete the question.

Explanation: If you'd rather not delete an unwanted question from a quiz, there are other options depending on how you want the students' grades to be affected.

1. Give Everyone Extra Credit

Treat the unwanted question as a bonus question and decrease the maximum points in the grade book. This will increase the grades of all students. See Change Question to a Bonus Question above.

2. Give Everyone Full Credit

Give all students full points for the unwanted question using Update All Attempts. The maximum points for the quiz remains the same. This will increase the grades of students who got the question wrong, but the grades of students who got it right will not change.

Instructions:

  1. Go to Assessments -> Quizzes -> Drop-down menu by name of quiz -> Grade and select the Questions tab.
  2. Choose Update all attempts and click on the question you want to give full credit for.
  3. Choose give to all attempts, type in the points that the question is worth, and click Save. You may also want to add a comment so that students will know that their response may be incorrect even though they received full credit.
  4. Click Go Back to Questions and choose the Users tab. The earned points for each student will be updated.

3. Give Everyone No Credit

Change the question to a bonus question worth 0.00001 points (it is not possible for a question to be worth 0 points), give all students 0 points using Update all attempts, and decrease the maximum points in the grade book. This will increase the grades of students who got the question wrong and decrease the grades of students who got it right (unless the score was 100%). Notice that this is similar to Change Points on a Quiz Question.

Instructions:

  1. Go to Assessments -> Quizzes and click the name of the quiz to edit it. Check the box next to the question, choose More Actions, and click Set Points. Enter .000001 in the box and click Save on the pop-up message. Choose More Actions again and click Toggle Bonus. Click Save and Close to go back to the list of quizzes. This ensures that the question will not count against students, nor will it actually count as extra credit since the point value is too small.
  2. Open the drop-down menu by name of quiz, choose Grade, and select the Questions tab.
  3. Choose Update all attempts and click on the question.
  4. Choose give to all attempts, type in 0 for the points, and click Save. Students' grades will be incorrect on the quiz attempt at this point. You may also want to add a comment so that students will know that this question is no longer included in the maximum points.
  5. Go to Assessments -> Grades and change the maximum points on the associated grade item. Click yes on the pop-up message.
  6. Return to Assessments -> Quizzes -> Drop-down menu by name of quiz -> Grade and verify that the overall grade for each student now matches the grade in the grade book.

Return to top of page