Blackboard Tests: Randomize Question/Answer Order or Display Random Questions

bb Blackboard instructor randomize random questions Test exam order pool set answer block

To learn more about randomization in Blackboard Ultra courses, please see our Knowledge Base article, Blackboard Ultra Tests, Pools and Surveys for Instructors.

Overview

By default, exam questions and answers appear to students in the same order that they were created or added to a test. If you would like the questions/answers to appear in a different, random order for each student or attempt, Blackboard offers a few options:

Random Blocks - Produce a random set of questions to be presented to each student every time they take the test. Random blocks allow you to randomize specific sections, while displaying the rest of the exam in order (if desired). Instructors may specify a total number of questions to be pulled from larger pre-created sets called Pools, along with the question type (like multiple choice or true/false). Then these questions are randomized, so students see their questions in a different order. If you select a pool with many questions, but only include some of them in the test, the students may also receive questions that are unique from their peers'. Optional: instructors may set the number of questions shown to match the number of questions in a pool. This will cause all of the pool's items to be included, but they will appear in a random order.
Question Sets - Similar to Random Blocks, they produce a random, unique set of questions to be displayed for each test attempt. Question Sets are different in that they allow you pull from other tests in addition to Pools, have a metadata search function, and allow you to delete questions without removing them from the source material first.
Randomize Answer Order - A flexible option that allows you to specify random ordering of answers, and can be enabled/disabled on a per-question basis. See the 'How to Randomize Answer Order' section below for instructions.
Randomize Question Order - A setting in the Test Options that makes every test unique by randomizing the order in which all of its questions appear. See the 'How to Randomize Question Order' section below for instructions.

How to Randomize Answer Order

Please follow the steps below to randomize the order in which answers appear for individual/selected questions in a test. After you select this option in the Test Canvas, a checkbox will appear when you create or edit each question. This second checkbox must be selected for any question that should have randomly-ordered answers. Having two steps allows you to apply the randomization option to certain questions without affecting other questions in the same test.

Locate the desired assessment in any Course Content Area, click the its drop-down menu, and select Edit. This will open the Test Canvas page, where you can edit specific questions. Alternatively, you may access the same menu via: Control Panel > Course Tools > Tests, Surveys, and Pools > Tests > Edit.
On the Test Canvas page, select Question Settings.
On the Test Question Settings page, make sure that the 'Specify random ordering of answers' option is selected, then click Submit to save your changes.
Note: This will not randomize questions on its own, but it will enable the option inside of each question's set-up page, accessible from the main Test Canvas page.
Back on the main Test Canvas page: Select any question that you would like to have random-ordered answers, click its drop-down menu, and select Edit.
On the question's Edit page, check the box next to the option to 'Show Answers in Random Order', then click Submit to save and and return to the main Test Canvas.
Repeat steps 4 and 5 for all questions that should have randomized answers.

How to Randomize Question Order

Please follow these steps to randomize the order in which all of the questions in a test appear to students. Please note: If any of the test's questions refer to other questions by their number, this setting is not recommended, because it will cause the numbers/order to be different every time.

Locate the desired assessment in any Course Content Area, click its drop-down menu, and select Edit the Test Options.
On the Test Options page, scroll down to the bottom, check the box next to Randomize Questions, and click Submit to save your changes.
Now, each instance of the test will have questions that appear in a random, unique order.