Moodle’s Question Bank uses a table to represent different categories of information about questions. The columns of this table can be customized by the instructor of the course, or anyone who can access this menu. The questions can also be edited from inside the Question Bank menu. 

This article provides an overview of the Question Bank in Moodle, and links out to related articles for specific actions in the Question Bank.

Accessing the Question Bank

To access the Question Bank:

1. In the course menu at the top of the main Moodle page, select the More tab.
2. In the drop-down menu, select Question bank.

This will open the Questions page within the Question Bank.

Columns in the Questions Table

On the Question Bank Questions page, a table of questions is displayed.

The columns for this table are:

• Needs checking?
  • Indicates if a question needs reviewing based on question statistics.
• Facility index
  • Provides the average grade of all the responses ever made to the question.
• Discriminative efficiency
  • Provides a statistical estimate for how well the question assesses students.
  • For more information on Moodle’s quiz statistics, see Moodle’s “Quiz statistics report” documentation. 
• Usage
  • Shows the number of quizzes in which the question is being used.
  • In this column, selecting the number for a question's row will display the Quizzes that it is being used in.
• Actions
  • Provides a menu to different editing options for each question.
  • The most common feature inside of this menu is the option to edit the question. 
• Comments
  • Shows the number of comments that have been made on the question.
• Status
  • Allows the instructor to mark if the question is ready to be used or still in draft.
• Version
  • Shows what version the question is on based on how many times the question has been edited.
• Last Used
  • Shows when the question was last attempted by someone taking a quiz.
• Created by
  • Shows the name of whoever created the question as well as the date and time the question was created.
• Modified by
  • Shows the name of whoever most recently edited the question as well as the date and time the question was edited.
• Question
  • Shows the question title and provides the ability to edit the question title by clicking on it. Also shows the question ID number if applicable. 
• T
  • Indicates what type the question is with an icon. Examples include Essay, multiple choice, true/false, and more. 
  • For more information on question types, see Moodle’s “Question types” documentation.

Instructors also have the option to show the question text in the Questions list.

To change the Show question in question list? field, use one of the following options:

• No
• Yes, text only
• Yes, with images, media, etc.

Each option displays different information in the question's text.

Filtering Questions in the Question Bank

The default display of the Question Bank in Moodle is to display all of the questions in the Question Bank in a category selected as default. 

These filters, located just below the Question bank heading, can be used to filter questions in the Question Bank. See the "Filtering Questions in the Question Bank" article for more details on filtering questions.

• Category
  • Allows an instructor to view only the question from the category selected. 
  • For instructions on creating Question Bank categories, see the “Creating Question Bank Categories in Moodle” article. 
• Also show questions from subcategories
  • If enabled, allows the instructor to also view all the questions in any subcategories of the category.
  • For instructions on creating subcategories of a Question Bank category, see the "Organizing Question Bank Categories in Moodle" article.
• Show hidden questions
  • Allows instructors to view questions that have been deleted while still being in use by a quiz.
  • To delete questions in a category, see guidance in the "Deleting All Questions in a Question Bank Category" article.
• Tags
  • Allows the instructor to view only the questions that have a custom tag that has been created. 
  • For more information on creating and filtering with tags, see the "Tagging Questions in Moodle's Question Bank" article.

Filters can be combined by selecting the + Add condition link, which allows for an additional filter to be applied.

Editing the Layout of the Question Bank

Instructors can choose the columns that they would like to appear in the Question Bank, as well as the order they appear in. If instructors identify that there is a column that they don’t find relevant, the instructor can choose to remove the column. The width of each column can also be edited, in order to change the amount of horizontal space that each column takes up. 

Moving Columns in the Questions Table

The columns of the Questions table can either by moved by clicking and dragging the column, or by using the actions menu. 

To click and drag a column:

1. Hover over a column.
2. Click and drag the Move column icon (which looks like four arrows pointing in different directions).

To use the actions menu:

1. Find a specific column to move.
2. By the column heading, click the Actions menu icon (which looks like three vertical dots).
3. In the drop-down menu that appears, select the Move option.
4. In the Move column pop-up menu, select After the column in the list, or for the first column, select To the top of the list.

The column will be moved to the selected location.

Removing Columns from the Questions Table

The columns of the Questions table can be removed from view.

To remove a column from the table:

1. Find a specific column to remove.
2. By the column heading, click the Actions menu icon (which looks like three vertical dots).
3. In the drop-down menu, select the Remove option.

This will hide the column from view.

Restore Columns to the Questions Table

Deleted columns can be re-added to the Questions table. 

To restore a column:

1. At the top of the Questions table, click the Add columns dropdown.
2. Select a column to add.

The Question Bank table can be reset to its standard layout by clicking the Reset columns button directly above the Question Bank table.

Resizing Columns in the Questions Table

The columns of the Question Bank table can either be resized by clicking and dragging the resize icon, or by using the actions menu.

To click and drag a column:

1. Hover over a column.
2. Click and drag the Resize column icon, which looks like two arrows pointing in opposite directions.

To use the actions menu:

1. Find a specific column to resize.
2. By the column heading, click the Actions menu icon (which looks like three vertical dots).
3. Select the Resize option from the dropdown menu.
4. Type in a column width in pixels.
5. Click the Save changes button. 

Resized columns can be reset by clicking the Reset columns button below the filter controls at the top of the page.

Additional Resources

Overview of Moodle Quizzes (DELTA Knowledge Base)

Copying Moodle Quiz Questions Between Courses (DELTA Knowledge Base)

Importing Questions to Moodle's Question Bank (DELTA Knowledge Base)

For additional assistance, please contact the LearnTech Help Desk at learntech@ncsu.edu or (919) 513-7094, or via the Get Help form on the DELTA Knowledge Base.