How to Make a Quiz on Canvas LMS (Classic and New Quizzes)

TL;DR. Canvas has two quiz engines — Classic Quizzes (being phased out) and New Quizzes (the current default for most institutions). Both let you build graded, auto-scored quizzes with a gradebook connection. The slow part isn't the Canvas interface — it's writing the questions. Generate those first, then paste them in.

Step 1 — Check which quiz engine your course uses

Open your course, click Quizzes in the left navigation. If you see a green + Quiz button and options for "Graded Quiz," "Practice Quiz," and "Graded Survey," you're on Classic Quizzes. If the button says + New Quiz, your institution has migrated to New Quizzes — Canvas's current default and the one Instructure is actively developing.

Step 2 — Create the quiz shell

Step 3 — Add questions

Classic Quizzes supports multiple choice, true/false, fill-in-the-blank, matching, multiple answers, essay, and file upload. New Quizzes adds categorization, hot spot, ordering, and formula question types on top of that.

For each question:

This is the step that eats time — typing 20 multiple-choice questions with plausible wrong answers by hand takes 30-60 minutes for most instructors.

Step 4 — Set availability and due dates

Under Options, set the "Available from / until" window and the due date. Canvas quizzes can be scheduled to open automatically and lock at a deadline without any manual intervention.

Step 5 — Publish and review results

Click Publish. Once students complete the quiz, Canvas auto-grades objective question types (multiple choice, true/false, matching) and posts scores to the gradebook. Essay and file-upload questions need manual grading in SpeedGrader.

The faster path: generate the questions first

Canvas builds the quiz shell well, but it does not generate questions from your material. If you're turning a lecture, a textbook chapter, or your own notes into a quiz, paste that material into SimpleQuizMaker's AI quiz generator first — it drafts multiple-choice, true/false, and short-answer questions with plausible distractors in seconds. Copy the generated questions into Canvas's quiz builder, or share the SimpleQuizMaker link directly if you don't need gradebook integration.

Classic Quizzes vs. New Quizzes — which to use

- Classic Quizzes: Familiar, slightly faster to build simple multiple-choice quizzes, but Instructure has stopped adding features and is sunsetting it on most Canvas instances.

- New Quizzes: More question types (categorization, ordering, hot spot), better item analytics, and the direction Canvas is actively investing in. Use New Quizzes if your institution has migrated.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Canvas auto-generate quiz questions from my course material?

No. Canvas builds and grades the quiz, but every question has to be typed manually. Use an AI quiz generator to draft the questions first, then paste them in.

Does Canvas support randomized question order?

Yes — both Classic and New Quizzes let you shuffle question and answer order per student to reduce copying.

Can students retake a Canvas quiz?

Yes, if you set "Allowed Attempts" to more than 1. You can also choose which attempt (highest, latest, or average) counts toward the grade.

Is there a mobile app for taking Canvas quizzes?

Yes, the Canvas Student app supports quiz-taking on iOS and Android, though some question types (like hot spot) render better on desktop.

Related reading

Generate your quiz questions in seconds, then paste them into Canvas →