Create and Edit Classic Quizzes

Last updated on February 13, 2026

Classic Quizzes are the original quiz tool in Canvas for creating exams, tests, and quizzes. While Canvas continues to expand and develop the New Quiz tool, Classic Quizzes remain available for instructors to use, and there is currently no institution-wide timeline at MSU Denver for discontinuing them.

Many instructors continue using Classic Quizzes because they are familiar with the interface or have existing quizzes and Question Banks already built in this format. Classic Quizzes can still support a wide range of assessment needs, and content can be migrated to New Quizzes later if desired.

This tutorial will guide you through how to create and edit Classic Quizzes in Canvas.

If you’d like to learn about New Quizzes, check out our tutorial called  Create and Edit “New” Quizzes.

Directions

Create a Classic Quiz

1. Log in to your Canvas Account.
2. Select the Course you’d like to work in.
3. Click Modules in the left-hand navigation menu.
4. Find the module where you want the quiz to be added and click on the plus button (+) at the far right.
5. Click on the drop-down menu next to Add, and select Quiz.
6. Click Create Quiz from the top of the selections in the selection box.
7. Click the option button for Classic quizzes next to Quiz Engine.
8. Enter a name for your quiz in the Quiz Name field.
9. Optionally, you can choose an assignment group for your quiz using the drop-down menu next to Group This helps with organization for you and your students.
10. Click the blue, Add Item button at the bottom right to create your new classic quiz. 
11. Click the title of the quiz you just created, usually placed at the bottom of the module list.
12. Click the Edit button at the top right of the page to add details to your quiz.
13. Enter instructions for your quiz in the text box below the title.
14. Choose the desired Quiz Type from the drop-down menu.
    • Practice Quiz will not factor into the student’s grade and should be used for optional opportunities to prepare for a quiz.
    • Graded Quiz is the standard and most common option.
    • Graded Survey – a survey is a quiz type used to award points for participation rather than accuracy. This entry should be used to make participation in the survey required and factored into the student’s grade.
    • Ungraded Survey should be used when you want to make participation in the survey voluntary and not factored into the student’s grade.
15. Choose the Assignment Group you would like to put the quiz into.
    • Note: Assignment Groups are used for organization, this choice is optional.
16. Select any Options that you would like to enable for the quiz.
    • Shuffle Answers will randomize the order of answers for multiple-choice questions.
    • Time Limit will give students a set amount of time to complete the quiz.
      1. Note: Students can still start the quiz at any point during the availability window (discussed below); a time limit will simply start a countdown when the student starts the quiz.
    • Allow Multiple Attempts will give the student either an unlimited or set number of tries for the quiz. You can select the Highest, Latest, or Average scores to be recorded as the student’s grade.
      1. Select Allowed Attempts if you only want a set number of attempts a student can use. 
    • Let Students See Their Quiz Responses will let students see which questions they answered incorrectly. You may choose to disable this to prevent students from sharing possible answers to the quiz with those who have not taken it yet. Once selected, you will also have options for controlling how and when the answers are displayed to students.
    • Show One Question at a Time will change the quiz to display questions separately, one at a time, rather than all at once. Once this is selected, you have the option to Lock questions after answering to prevent students from returning to previous questions
17. Quiz Restrictions aren’t necessary in most cases.
    • Require an Access Code will ask the student for a password that you must provide them. This can be helpful for proctored exams where you don’t want students accessing it outside of their proctored session.
    • Filter IP Addresses will allow only computers with the selected IP Addresses to access the quiz.
18. Assign the quiz to your students in the Assign menu.
    • By default, the quiz will be assigned to Everyone, which is all students in the course.
    • The Due Date will mark when the quiz is due for students. Canvas also uses this for marking late or missing submissions in the Gradebook..
    • The Available From and Until will create an availability window during which the quiz can be completed.
      1. Available From is the date and time that students will first be able to open the quiz.
      2. Until is the date and time that the quiz will close for students, and they will no longer be able to access it.
      3. Note that this should be at least as long as the Time Limit, if any exists, including any extended time limits provided in the Moderate page. The student will be kicked out of the quiz when the availability window ends, even if they have time left on their time limit. The student’s completed work will be submitted if this happens.
    • Click the + Assign To button at the bottom of the Availability menu to set new rules for specific students.
19. Click Save (or Save and Publish) in the bottom right-hand corner of the page. 

Add Questions to the Quiz

1. Click on the Questions tab at the top of the Edit screen.
2. Click the + New Question.
3. To add a single question to the quiz.
   • Give the question a Name to quickly reference the question later. This is only visible to the instructor.
   • Choose the Question Type by clicking on the drop-down menu next to the name (by default this will read “Multiple Choice”).
   • Enter a Point Value for the question in the top right corner.
   • Enter the Text of the question or prompt in the Rich Content Editor.
   • Enter the Text for each possible answer to the question.
     1. Some question types, such as Essay, will not require you to provide predefined responses.
   • Mark the correct answer(s) by hovering your mouse over the question and clicking the green arrow that appears in the top left-hand corner.
   • Click + Add Another Answer in the bottom right-hand corner to add another answer choice.
   • Click the Trashcan to the right of an answer to delete that answer choice.
   • Click  the ellipsis under an answer choice to add comments to that answer.
     1. These comments will appear if the student selects that answer when taking the quiz. 
   • Click Update Question in the bottom left-hand corner when you’re finished creating/editing the question.
4. Edit or remove a question by hovering your cursor over the question and clicking either the Pencil (edit) or X (delete) icon that appears in the top right-hand corner of the question.
5. Click + New Question Group at the bottom of the page to add a question bank to the quiz.
   • To learn about how to create a question bank, see our tutorial, Create and Use a Question Bank for Classic Quizzes. 
   • Click Link to a Question Bank to select a question bank already created.
   • Click Create Group to create a new question bank.
   • Enter a Group Name, the Number of Questions to pull randomly from the bank, and a Point Value that each of those questions will be worth.
     1. This will pull questions from a Question Bank randomly for each student. The number of questions the quiz will pick must be set at equal to or less than the number of questions in the bank.
6. Click Find Questions at the bottom of the page to add specific questions from a Question Bank.
   • Select a Question Bank from the left-hand column of the pop-up window to pull questions from.
   • Select the boxes next to the questions you would like to add to the quiz.
   • Scroll to the Bottom of the right-hand column of the pop-up window.
   • In the Add questions to the question group drop-down, select a group if you would like to add these questions to a question group.
   • Click Add Questions at the bottom of the pop-up window.
7. Click Save or Save and Publish when you are finished adding or modifying questions in the quiz.

Edit a Classic Quiz

1. Click on Quizzes in the left-hand navigation menu.
2. Locate the Classic Quiz that you would like to edit.
   1. Note: Classic Quizzes can be differentiated from New Quizzes by the icons directly to the left of their names. Classic Quizzes have the outline of a rocket ship while New Quizzes have a solid-colored version of that image.
3. Click on the Name of the quiz that you would like to edit.
4. Click on Edit in the top right-hand corner of the screen.
5. Modify the Details or Questions of the quiz.
6. Scroll to the Bottom of the page.
7. Click Save in the bottom right-hand corner of the page.