Setting up a question bank
Content authoringUpdated September 19, 2026
A question bank is the pool of questions an assessment draws from. Build the bank first, then attach it to whichever quiz or exam units need it — the same bank can feed several assessments across different courses.
Before you start
You need the Instructor or Admin role and the content authoring permissions for the course (or a standalone bank not tied to a single course, if your tenant allows shared banks).
Create a bank
- From the course editor, open the test builder for the assessment unit, or go to a standalone question bank manager if you're building a reusable bank.
- Click New question and choose a type — multiple choice, true/false, match, short answer, or essay.
- Fill in the prompt, options or pairs, and the correct answer (skip this for essay questions, which are always manually graded).
- Repeat until the bank has enough questions to draw from. Assessments can pull a random subset per attempt if the bank has more questions than the assessment needs.
Each bank shows how many questions it holds and which assessments currently draw from it.Mixing auto- and manually-graded questions
A single bank can hold a mix of question types. An assessment built from a mixed bank will grade the auto-gradable portion instantly and queue the rest into the Grading Hub once a learner submits.
The type column in the builder makes it easy to see the auto/manual mix before you publish.Notes
If a bank is tied to a skill, passing an assessment drawn from it can automatically grant that skill to the learner — see the linked article below.
What next?
#question-bank#assessments#authoring#quizzes#exams