Quizzes can include bonus/extra-credit questions. Bonus questions are questions that will not hurt the learner’s overall score if they do not answer them correctly, but can improve the learner’s overall score if answered correctly.
Questions randomly drawn from a question pool cannot be set as bonus questions.
Points for questions that are ‘bonus’ will not calculate into the total points for the quiz but are added on top of the overall points. For example, you have 11 questions in a quiz and each question is worth 1 point. One of the eleven questions in the quiz is a bonus question. The total point value for the quiz will be 10 points and not 11 points. This is because learners would be able to get 1 extra credit point for the bonus question if they answered it correctly and are not penalized if they skip or do not answer the bonus question correctly. In my example, a learner who answered all eleven questions correctly would have an overall score of 11/10. While a leaner who answers the 10 non-bonus questions correctly but skips or does not answer the bonus question correctly would have an overall score of 10/10.
Quizzes clearly mark bonus questions with the word "Bonus" so that learners understand that the question is a bonus question.
When should you use "Can Exceed" for a grade item or grade category?
If your goal is to have the Bonus question replace a missed question in the quiz (in other words, the highest score that can be earned on the quiz is 100%), then you do not have to do anything else in your Grade Book for the overall score to calculate correctly. This assumes you have created a grade item in your Grade Book and have associated the quiz with the grade item already.
If learners can earn higher than 100% on the quiz, then you have to make sure your grade item in the Grade Book is configured to be able to receive a score greater than 100%. The same holds true for the category if the quiz’s grade item is in a category and the category can be greater than 100%.
Let’s assume for the example above, you want the learners to earn higher than 100% for the quiz and the quiz’s grade item is in a category in the Grade Book. When setting up the corresponding Grade Item in the Grade Book, you would enter 10 as the maximum points for the quiz and also check the “Can Exceed” checkbox for the grade item, because it is possible for a learner to earn more than 10 points on this quiz.
If your grade item is a category in the gradebook and you want any bonus points to replace missed points in that category (in other words, if the max score students can earn for that category is 100%), then you do not have to do anything else for the overall score in the category to calculate correctly. If you want students who earn higher than a 100% in that category to bump up their final grade, then you must edit the category and check the “Allow category grade to exceed category weight” checkbox for the category. Doing so will allow the category to exceed 100%.
Important:
Having ALL the questions in a quiz marked as a bonus creates a problem when the system calculates the overall score for the quiz. Therefore, if you have a quiz where the entire quiz will count as extra credit (i.e., all questions are bonus questions), then DO NOT set ANY of the questions as bonus in the quiz itself. Instead, you should identify the associated Grade Item in the Grade Book as a bonus grade item. When you set the quiz up with all the questions as non-bonus questions and the associated grade item in the Grade Book as a bonus, the system will calculate the overall score for the extra credit quiz correctly.
Follow these steps to do it.
To create bonus questions in a quiz:
- Select Activities and Quizzes from the NavBar.
- Edit the quiz you want to create bonus questions.
- Select the extra-credit (bonus) question(s).
- Click More Actions and select Toggle Bonus from the dropdown menu. The text “BONUS” appears under the point value of the question (far right).
- De-select the question(s) when done.
- Click Save.
Note: If you no longer want the question to be a bonus question, repeat steps 3-5 to remove the bonus setting. By clicking the Toggle Bonus option, you can add or remove the bonus setting.
Want More Information?
About Brightspace Quizzes
Manage Quiz Questions
How do I change a quiz question to a bonus question?
Demystifying Bonus Items in a Weighted Grade Book
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Image credits: bonus by DegenerSumon from pngtree and image by Pixaline from Pixabay