Assessments & Quizzes

Test what people can do, not only what they recall

Course quizzes for checks along the way, a full exam builder for results that matter, and question types that let people write code, mark an image or answer out loud.

At a glance

  • 13 question types
  • Central question bank
  • Coding questions
  • Negative marking
  • Answer keys stay on the server

Multiple choice is fine for checking that someone read the policy. It tells you very little about whether a support agent can explain a fix out loud, a technician can spot the right valve on a diagram, or a developer can write a function that passes tests.

LMS Advisor has two assessment tools. Quizzes sit inside a course as a lesson and cover knowledge checks with ten question types. The Exams module runs standalone, timed assessments with a candidate portal, a central question bank, negative marking and proctoring, and adds essay, file upload and coding questions for thirteen types in total. In both, the answer key is removed on the server before the page reaches the learner’s browser.

The problem

Where assessments fall short

Skills that multiple choice cannot see

Speaking, coding and visual identification need a way to answer that is more than picking option B.

The same question in twenty places

Copy a question into every exam that needs it and you will be fixing the same typo twenty times.

Answers sitting in the page source

Some quiz tools send the correct option to the browser. Anyone who opens developer tools gets full marks.

Guessing that costs nothing

On a high-stakes exam, a candidate who guesses every item can scrape a pass unless wrong answers carry a penalty.

Capabilities

Two tools, one approach

Use quizzes for checks during learning and exams when the result feeds a decision. Objective items are scored by the platform, and answers that need judgment wait on the attempt screen for a person.

13 question types

Single and multiple choice, true/false, fill in the blank, short answer, ordering, matching, image hotspot, audio answer, video answer, essay, file upload and coding.

Central question bank

Exam questions are stored once and referenced by every exam that uses them. Filter by category, subject, year, tags and difficulty.

Coding questions

Candidates choose from the languages you allow, and their code runs against your test drivers on Judge0 or Piston, hosted or self-hosted.

Negative marking

Set a default penalty per exam or override it per question. Only wrong answers lose marks, so skipped questions cost nothing.

Answer keys stay on the server

Correct options, accepted answers, explanations and hotspot regions are stripped before questions are sent to the page.

AI question tools

Draft questions on a topic, audit the bank for wrong answers, duplicates and typos, and fill in missing tags. Nothing is saved until you accept it.

In depth

Building and scoring an assessment

Quiz or exam?

A quiz is a lesson inside a course. You set a pass percentage, maximum attempts, a time limit, how many questions appear per page, whether questions and options are shuffled, and whether learners see the correct answers after submitting. Quizzes support ten types: single and multiple choice, true/false, fill in the blank, short answer, ordering, matching, image hotspot, and recorded audio or video answers.

An exam lives in the Exams module and does not need a course enrollment. It adds essay, file upload and coding questions, an availability window, a random subset (“questions to show”) drawn from the questions attached, screening questions that always come first, and questions that must be answered before submission. Proctoring, invitations and certificates are set on the same screen. Our rule of thumb: if the result feeds a certificate, a hiring decision or an audit, build it as an exam.

The question bank

Exam questions are stored centrally and attached to exams rather than copied into them, so a correction in the bank shows up in every exam that uses the question. Each item can carry a category, subject, year, tags and a difficulty level. The bank imports and exports CSV, XLSX and JSON. Spreadsheet import covers single choice, multiple choice, true/false and short answer. The other types are built in the editor, where hotspot regions are drawn on the image and coding questions take test drivers and a list of allowed languages.

How scoring works

Objective types are marked automatically. With negative marking on, you set a default penalty and can apply that scheme to every question in one step. A blank answer is never penalized, so a candidate who runs out of time is not punished for questions they never reached. Coding answers run against your drivers. If no runner is configured, the code is still saved and an assessor scores it by hand. Audio and video answers are scored by a reviewer, with optional transcription through OpenAI Whisper. Essay and file upload questions work as screening items: answers are kept for review (a written statement, a resume) and do not count toward the score.

Who can sit, and what they see after

Access can be open to anyone with the link, or conditional on rules such as passing another exam, scoring at least a set percentage on one, completing a course, belonging to a group, holding a role, or a date window, combined with ALL or ANY. Before you send invitations, an audience preview lists exactly who qualifies. Afterwards, each exam shows candidates as much as you choose: nothing yet, score only, pass or fail, or a full review.

See Assessments & Quizzes in a live demo

We will show it with your own scenario, answer the security questions and send a written quote after the call.

Book a demo
Workflow

From question bank to results

Fill the bank

Import a spreadsheet, generate drafts with AI, or write questions in the editor, tagging them as you go.

Assemble the assessment

Add a quiz lesson to a course, or create an exam and attach questions from the bank.

Set the rules

Choose the pass mark, attempts, time limit, shuffling, negative marking, result visibility and who is allowed to sit.

Deliver and review

Objective items score themselves. Recordings, screening answers and code without a runner wait on the attempt screen for a reviewer.

Act on results

Export exam results, issue certificates above the score you set, and email selected candidates straight from the attempts list.

Use cases

Who assesses this way

Technical certification

Mix coding questions with multiple choice in a timed, proctored exam, and issue a certificate above your chosen score.

Language and customer-facing roles

Ask candidates to answer out loud or on camera, then score the recording with a transcript alongside it.

Field and equipment training

Use image hotspot questions so a technician marks the correct part on a real photo or wiring diagram.

Hiring assessments

Collect a resume through a file upload screening question, add a short written statement, and review both with AI help before shortlisting.

Benefits

What improves for assessors

  • Practical skills assessed in the format that fits them
  • Fix a question once and every exam picks up the change
  • Scores that are harder to game
  • Reviewers spend time only on answers that need judgment
  • Candidates see exactly as much of their result as you decide
FAQ

Assessment questions

How many question types are there?
Thirteen in exams: single choice, multiple choice, true/false, short answer, fill in the blank, ordering, matching, image hotspot, audio answer, video answer, file upload, essay and coding. Course quizzes support ten of them, everything except essay, file upload and coding.
Can I import questions from a spreadsheet?
Yes. The question bank imports and exports CSV, XLSX and JSON. Spreadsheet rows can be single choice, multiple choice, true/false or short answer, and the header row maps columns such as category, tags and difficulty.
Can learners find the answers in their browser?
No. Correct options, accepted answers, explanations, ordering keys and hotspot regions are removed on the server before questions are sent to the page.
Which languages do coding questions support?
Whatever your runner supports. You choose Judge0 (through RapidAPI, Sulu or your own server) or a self-hosted Piston instance, then pick the languages each question allows, such as Python, JavaScript, Java or C++. Without a runner, code is stored and scored by hand.
Does negative marking penalize skipped questions?
No. Only a wrong answer loses marks. A question left blank scores zero with no penalty.
Can course quizzes draw from the question bank?
The bank feeds exams. Course quizzes keep their own questions, built in the quiz editor. If you need reuse across assessments or a random subset per candidate, build it as an exam.
Are essay answers scored?
Not automatically, and not toward the total. Essay and file upload questions are screening items whose answers are stored for a reviewer. For graded written work, use an assignment lesson, where AI can suggest a mark against your rubric for the instructor to approve.
Can we control who is allowed to take an exam?
Yes. Make the exam conditional and add rules such as completing a course, passing or scoring a percentage on another exam, group membership, role, or a date window. The audience preview shows who qualifies before you invite anyone.

See LMS Advisor with your own use case

A product specialist walks you through authoring, a proctored exam, certificates and the AI tools, using the programs you actually run.