How do I grade in Tests & Quizzes?

Most question types in Tests & Quizzes are automatically graded by the system. However, you will need to manually score short answer/essay questions, file uploads, and audio recordings. You may also adjust the auto-graded scores, add comments, or give partial credit.

For more information on manually grading individual student submissions or questions, see the following articles:

Note: Those in the Teaching Assistant role in a site have the ability to view and grade submissions for students in any group that also includes the TA (e.g., rosters with an assigned TA or groups the instructor creates in which they add a teaching assistant). For more details, see the FAQ below.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. My assessment grades are not displaying in the Gradebook!  How do I get them there?
    To send your assessment scores to the Gradebook so that they can be included in the course grade calculation or allow students to see an answer key or other feedback in Tests & Quizzes, see What are the Grading and Feedback options for an assessment?
  2. How do I give a grade to students with no submission?
    Tests & Quizzes will NOT automatically grade students with no submission.  If a student who did not submit an assessment should receive a grade of 0, you will need to enter a 0 for their grade.  You can either assign a zero to a specific student who did not submit, as described below: Enter score adjustment and comments, or you can give same score (e.g., 0) to all students with no submission to an assessment.
  3. I'm a teaching assistant and can't see student submissions! What's wrong?
    If someone in the Teaching Assistant role in a course site is not included in a group with the students who submitted an assessment, the TA will not find the students listed when they try to access the assessment's Scores. An instructor in the site will need to follow the steps to allow affected TAs to grade.
  4. I accidentally gave a student a grade for a quiz they should not have taken.  How do I fix it?
    Once a grade has been saved for a student in Tests & Quizzes, you cannot delete the grade to remove it from the student's course grade in the Gradebook.  If you inadvertently assign a score to a student who should not have received one for an assessment, and the assessment score is being sent to the Gradebook, you will need to remove the assessment score from the student's final grade by excusing the grade.

How do I view and adjust scores?

Video Guide

Step-by-Step Instructions

Go to Tests & Quizzes.

Select Tests & Quizzes from the tool menu in your site.

Select the Published Copies tab.

Select the Published Copies tab to view the assessments that have been released to students in your site.

Go to the assessment submissions.

  1. Select the Actions menu for the assessment.
  2. Select Scores.
  3. Alternatively, you may select the number of student submissions in the Submitted column to view the submissions.

View Total Scores and additional information.

Once students have submitted an assessment, the Total Scores page displays:

  1. Columns with the student's Name and User ID (UVA computing ID or non-UVA email address), or a column with an anonymous Submission ID number if the Anonymous Grading option was enabled in the assessment's settings.
  2. The Role of the person who submitted (e.g., Student in a course site or Member in a collaboration site).
  3. The Submit Date. This column indicates the timestamp of submission if the student submitted the assessment by selecting the Submit for Grading button, or the assessment was automatically submitted when the timer expired on an assessment with a time limit.  However, if there is a marker under this date that indicates AUTO-SUBMIT in red, the Submit Date is the last time the student saved work in the assessment.  For more information, see How does Automatic Submission work in Tests & Quizzes?
  4. The amount of Time spent on the assessment if the assessment had a time limit.
  5. The initial score each student received for auto-graded questions (such as multiple choice and true false).

You will need to manually score other question types such as short answer/essay questions, file uploads, and audio recordings.  After grading these questions, the scoring changes will be reflected on the Total Scores screen.

For more information on manually grading individual student submissions or questions, see the following articles:

Note: If you are a Teaching Assistant in the course, and no submission information appears on the Total Scores page, an instructor in the site will need to follow the steps to allow you to grade.

Display multiple submissions for student(s) (Optional).

By default, the submission that displays for each student will be based on your assessment's Recorded Score setting.  For example, if you accept the highest score, the highest scoring submission will display.  If you accept the average score, the average point value of all the student's submissions will display.

If your assessment allows multiple submissions, or if a student has submitted a retake, you can view all student submissions by selecting All Submissions from the View drop-down menu.

Enter score adjustment and comments.

Screenshot example of entering 5 bonus points for a score adjustment and a comment. Graphic link opens modal with larger image. Press Escape to exit modal.

To make a grade adjustment to the overall assessment score:

  1. Enter a positive or negative score into the Adjustment column to add or subtract points from the student's overall score.  The Final Score column will display the adjusted score after you save your changes.  For a student who did not submit, but should receive a score of 0, enter a 0 in the Adjustment column.
  2. If desired, you can use the Comments for Student column to provide additional feedback.
  3. You also have the option of attaching file(s) with feedback.  To upload a file, select Add Attachments.

Tip: If you have recently saved comments in Tests & Quizzes, Gradebook, or Discussions, type a few letters from one of your comments and an auto-fill option will appear to select and reuse it. To make a newly-entered comment appear in the auto-fill list, scroll to the bottom of the page and select Update after entering it.

Note:

  • For students to access any comments or attachments you add, Grader's Comments will need to be selected in the Feedback Settings.
  • Comments cannot be added within the Tests & Quizzes tool for students with no submission and they do not have access to feedback for assessments they did not submit.  To provide comments to a student with no submission, you might upload a file with comments to their folder in File Drop.   To print an answer key to provide to students who did not submit, see How do I print an assessment (i.e. test or quiz)?

Save your changes.

Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page and select Save.