How to make a practice quiz in Canvas that doesn’t count toward the grade

First: which quiz tool are you using?

Canvas has two: Classic Quizzes and New Quizzes. If your school has both turned on, Canvas asks which one you want when you click +Quiz. Some schools have moved to New Quizzes only. If you are not sure which you have, open an existing quiz: a New Quiz has a Build button, and a classic quiz has Details and Questions tabs.

Classic Quizzes: the Practice Quiz type

1. In Course Navigation, click Quizzes, then +Quiz. If Canvas asks, choose Classic Quizzes.
2. On the Details tab, set Quiz Type to Practice Quiz.
3. If you want students to retake it, tick Allow Multiple Attempts.
4. Add your questions on the Questions tab, then Save. Publish it when you are ready.

A practice quiz gives students their score but no grade. Canvas leaves it out of the Gradebook, the Syllabus and the Calendar, so put it in a module where students will find it.

New Quizzes: zero points or “don’t count”

1. In Course Navigation, click Quizzes, then +Quiz, and choose New Quizzes.
2. On the details page, either set Points to 0, or tick Do not count this assignment towards the final grade.
3. Save, then click Build to add your questions.

Either way, the quiz still shows up in the Gradebook and on students’ grades page. It just doesn’t change the final grade. If it would confuse students, say so in the quiz instructions: “Practice only, not graded.”

With Course++, in one sentence

Course++ is a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox (and Edge, from the Chrome Web Store). You open your Canvas course, open Course++ beside it, and type what you want in plain words. It works inside the Canvas tab you already have open, using your own Canvas account, so it can only do what you can do, and its changes show up in Canvas as yours.

Course++ writes the questions and creates the quiz in your course. It makes a Classic Quiz unless you ask for a New Quiz by name, so if your school uses New Quizzes, say “New Quiz” in your request.

• Check the grade setting yourself before you publish. Open the quiz and look at how it counts: the Quiz Type should be Practice Quiz in Classic Quizzes, or, in New Quizzes, 0 points or Do not count this assignment towards the final grade. If it isn’t, change it there using the steps above.
• It builds it unpublished unless you ask otherwise.
• It can’t undo quiz changes. Course++ keeps a History with undo for most of its changes, but not for quizzes, so review the quiz before you publish it.