Evaluations and final exam

In modular content, passing is measured by the module’s final exam: questions answered within the flow of the content. Each question can be in one of these formats: Multiple choice, True or false, Fill in the blank, Matching, Ordering or Image hotspot. To bring in many questions at once (CSV, Moodle XML, GIFT or Aiken), see Importing and exporting questions.

In a True or false question, the two choices (True and False) are fixed, always in that order, and are not shuffled: you only mark which one is correct. This format cannot be used when the exam allows marking more than one choice. When the set has several questions of this type, the editor warns how many participants could pass just by guessing, given the minimum score set.

How the exam works

• The minimum passing score is set on the exam question itself, in the editor - once you publish the module, it takes effect automatically.
• The exam has a time limit per attempt (in minutes, set in the editor) - left blank means no limit.
• The participant can try more than once; across multiple attempts, the best score counts, not the last one.

Who calculates the score

The score is calculated by the server, against the published answer key, and not by the participant’s browser. When you review a participant’s attempts, an attempt graded this way appears as Graded by the server: that is the official score, and there is no other score to compare it against.

There are two situations in which the server does not re-grade an attempt, and neither of them indicates a problem on its own:

• the content was republished after the attempt, or the evaluation has questions the server does not grade automatically (older content, without question identifiers);
• the evaluation shuffles or limits its questions and the attempt did not record which ones were shown - the case for attempts older than that record.

When the participant’s connection fails at submission time, they may see the score marked as unconfirmed, or a notice that their answers were not recorded. See Exams and evaluations for what to tell them to do.

Feedback for the participant at the end of the exam

When they finish the exam, the participant does not just see the score. What they see is defined by you, in the modular content editor, when you select the final exam in the content tree.

On every attempt, they see the guidance you wrote plus how many questions they got wrong on that attempt. There are two fields, and it is worth writing both, because each one speaks to a different person:

• Message for those who pass
• Message for those who do not pass

Each field accepts up to 1000 characters. Going over that shows an error below the field, but it does not block saving: the text above the limit is not stored, and text that was already saved can be erased with no warning even while it stays visible on screen. Stay within the limit - if the error appears, fix it before saving.

The question-by-question review (what they got wrong, your explanation of each question and, where you enabled it, the correct answer) only appears when no future attempt could benefit from it: when the participant passes, or when they use up every attempt. While an attempt is still available, the message “The question-by-question review becomes available when you pass or use up every attempt” appears in its place.

This wait is deliberate. Handing over the exact list of mistakes with the correct answers right before retaking the exam turns the second attempt into copying.

If your exam is formative, and the goal is precisely for the person to learn from the mistake and try again, check Show the answer review on every attempt on the final exam. The editor shows a warning next to the option, for the same reason as the paragraph above.

Note

The explanation for each question is written on the question itself, in the feedback field. Where you do not write anything, the participant sees a default text asking them to review the topic in the content. The explanations also travel through the CSV export and import of questions, so an export-then-reimport cycle does not erase what you wrote.

Class certification types

Each class sets, on the Configuration tab (Certification Type field), how passing and the certificate behave. There are four options - the help icon next to the field summarizes each one:

• Approval - requires the minimum score on the final exam; once approved, the participant receives the certificate.
• Approval without certificate - requires the same minimum score, but the class does not issue a certificate: the class’s Certification tab shows only the status and the score (with no download button), and nothing appears on the profile’s Certificates tab (or My development, once the institution enables the feature). Use it when the score matters (mandatory evaluation, internal audit) but the certificate must not exist.
• Participation - no score requirement; completing the content issues the certificate.
• None - no score requirement and no certificate; the Certification tab does not even appear on the class.

Changing a class to Participation or None automatically certifies anyone who already had 100% progress - this happens in the background and can take a few moments to show up. Changing to Approval without certificate does not automatically certify anyone - the score requirement still applies.

“Why wasn’t this participant certified?”

The classic support investigation checklist:

1. Did progress reach 100%? Certification requires the content fully completed - see How progress is calculated.
2. Was the minimum score reached? Check the participant’s best score against the class’s requirement.
3. Review the attempts: the administrator can see, per participant, every attempt at the exam - which questions were drawn, the choice marked and whether it was correct - with a summary at the top (total attempts, how many were submitted, how many were graded by the server) and the most recent ones first; past 10, the rest sit behind Show every attempt. It is the objective evidence for disputed cases.

Resetting an exam

When it makes sense to give a new chance, the administrator has two options: Reset final exam clears the attempts, the score and the certification date, keeping the rest of the progress; Reset enrollment clears everything - visited content, attempts, score, certificate and ranking points - and restarts the enrollment date as if it were a new enrollment.

Tip

Set the attempt’s time with room for comfortable reading - tight limits generate disputes and do not measure knowledge. And communicate the best-score rule: it encourages the participant to try again without fear of losing what they already achieved.

See also

• Modular content
• Pre-test and post-test
• Certificate customization and issuance