How to Make a Quiz on Moodle (Question Bank + Quiz Activity)

TL;DR. Moodle separates question authoring (the Question Bank) from quiz assembly (the Quiz activity), which makes it more flexible than most LMS quiz tools but also more steps to get a quiz live. Draft your questions outside Moodle first, then import or type them into the Question Bank.

Step 1 — Add a Quiz activity

Step 2 — Build questions in the Question Bank

Moodle stores questions separately from the quiz itself, organized into categories you control. This means one question bank can feed multiple quizzes.

Moodle's Cloze format lets you embed multiple question types inline in a single passage — useful for fill-in-the-blank sets, but it uses its own syntax and has a learning curve.

Step 3 — Add questions to the quiz

Step 4 — Configure grading and attempts

Under quiz settings, set the grading method (highest, average, first, or last attempt), number of allowed attempts, and whether to shuffle question and answer order. Moodle auto-grades objective question types instantly; Essay and some short-answer variants need manual grading.

Step 5 — Preview and publish

Use the Preview tab to take the quiz as a student would before releasing it. Once satisfied, make sure the quiz is visible to students (not hidden) and confirm the open date.

The faster path: draft questions before you touch Moodle

The Question Bank is powerful but slow for writing questions from scratch — there's no way to paste a lecture or textbook chapter and get questions out. Paste your source material into SimpleQuizMaker's AI quiz generator instead, review the generated multiple-choice and short-answer items, then re-type or import them into Moodle's Question Bank. It turns a 45-minute authoring session into a 5-minute copy job.

GIFT format: importing questions in bulk

Moodle supports bulk question import via the GIFT format (a plain-text syntax) under Question bank → Import. If you're generating many questions elsewhere, formatting them as GIFT text and importing in one pass is faster than typing each one through the UI individually.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Moodle generate quiz questions automatically from my notes?

No — Moodle's Question Bank requires manual entry or a bulk import file (GIFT, Aiken, or XML format). Use an AI quiz generator to draft the content first.

What's the difference between the Question Bank and the Quiz activity?

The Question Bank stores reusable questions organized by category. The Quiz activity is the actual assessment students take — it pulls questions from the bank, either fixed or randomized.

Does Moodle support randomized quizzes per student?

Yes — use "add a random question" from a category so each student gets a different subset, reducing the value of shared answers.

Can I import questions in bulk into Moodle?

Yes, via GIFT, Aiken, Moodle XML, or other supported formats under Question bank → Import.

Related reading

Generate your quiz questions in seconds, then import into Moodle →