Go to your Blackboard course site and follow the steps below.

Creating a Test Adding a Random Block of Questions | Making a Test Available | Back to Top

However you add questions, the steps to creating a Test are the same. They are repeated here so you can stay on this page as you complete this exercise. Click here to go directly to what's new for this exercise.

Step 1: Click on the Control Panel button.

Step 2:  In the Control Panel area, under Assessment, click Test Manager.

Step 3:  On the Test Manager page, click on the Add Test button.

Step 4:  Type the Name, Description, and Instructions for your Test, then click the Submit button to continue.

Tip: When you create Tests, do not use your browser's Back button to return to the previous page. Instead, use the Cancel button at the bottom of each page.

Step 5:  Before you start adding questions to your Test, confirm the default settings for new questions by clicking Creation Settings. The settings here are the same as they are for a Pool, with the addition of Scoring Options.

• You can choose a default point value for each new question in an exam. You can always change the point value for an existing question.
• If you want to give partial credit for answers, turn this on to give yourself this option.
• You can also make individual questions count as extra credit. The points for those questions are not counted in the Test total, but they are awarded to students who get those questions correct.

For this exercise, turn off all options.

Note: Like the creation settings for a Pool, these options can be turned on and off at any time. Also, any information you provided as part of an option is not lost if you turn off that option for new questions.

Step 1:  From the drop-down menu, select the Random Block option, and then click GO.

Step 2:  You will go to the Add/Modify Random Block page. This shows a list of all the Pools in this course account. Next to the name of each Pool is a number indicating the total number of questions within that Pool.

Step 3:  Click on a Pool and wait a moment. Blackboard tells you how many questions of each type are in that Pool.

Step 4: Select the question types you want to include in this Random Block, type a number of questions, type the points per question, and then click Import. You will return to the Test Canvas, where you can choose where this random block of questions will appear in the Test. But you cannot choose which questions will appear. Click the OK button and you will return to Test Manager, where you will see your new Test listed. All you have to do to use the Test is "deploy" it to a content area and make it available.

In this example, each time the Test is taken, 15 multiple-choice questions will be presented to a student, with each question worth 5 points. Each student sees a different set of 15 questions, drawn at random from the 41 multiple-choice questions in this Pool. The 6 essay questions will never be presented to any student as part of this random block.

Note: You can include a random block of questions on a Test that includes other questions, whether created manually or selected from a Pool. For example, you might want to use a random block to deter unauthorized collaboration between students on multiple-choice questions, but also want every student in the class to answer the same essay question.

Making a Test Available Creating a Test | Adding a Random Block of Questions | Back to Top

The steps to making Test available are the same, however you add questions. They are repeated here so you can stay on this page as you complete this exercise. To jump to the next exercise (Creating an Anonymous Survey), click here.

Step 1: Select a Content Area to deploy the Test (e.g., Assignments; your list of content areas depends on how you set up your course menu in Lesson 2).

 Step 2: Click on the Test button.

Step 3: On the Add Test page, you have the option to create a new Test or select an existing Test. For this exercise, select an existing Test from the Test menu, and then click Submit.

You will receive an acknowledgement that the Test is deployed. Click OK to go to the Modify Test page.

Step 4:  This Test is not available to students yet. To make it available, click Modify the test options.

Step 5: On the Test Options page under Test Information, you will see the Name and Description that you typed when you created the Test. If you would like the Test to launch in a new window, you can select that option here.

Note: If you decide that you want the Test to launch in a new window, let your students know in the Description. New browser windows can confuse students who are using screen reader software to "listen" to a web page.

Step 6: Modify options under Test Availability. You can choose to make the Test link visible to students, allow multiple Test attempts, force Test completion in one try, time the Test, set dates during which the Test can be taken, and/or set a password for Test access.

Note about multiple attempts: If you decide to allow multiple attempts, you can decide to allow unlimited attempts or a specific number of attempts. In the Gradebook, you can decide how Blackboard should calculate the score for this Test. The options are grade of last attempt, grade of first attempt, highest grade, lowest grade, and average of all grades.

Step 7: Select Self-assessment Options. The default setting is for a Test score to be included in the overall Gradebook score. You can turn off this default, which means the score will appear in the Gradebook but will not be included in the total score or total points possible. You can also make the Test a true self-assessment, which means that the score will be visible only to the student.

Step 8: Select feedback options under Test Feedback. The four options can be set independently of the others. For example, you could choose to display the question feedback without displaying the correct answer.

Step 9: Select Test Presentation options.

Step 10:  Click Submit. You will receive an acknowledgement that the Test has been modified.

Step 11:  Return to the course by clicking on your course name in the breadcrumb navigation bar at the top of the page, and navigate to the content area where you deployed your Test.
Note: If you don't see the Test icon, go back to the Test Options page and make sure that you select Yes for the Make the link available option in the Test Availability area.

Congratulations! You just created a Test from a Pool using a random block of questions! Now on Surveys.