Extra Credit for Individual Quiz Questions

Canvas doesn't allow extra credit questions for individual quiz questions by default, but you can use this work around to achieve the desired result.

1

Create the quiz

Make sure to assign each question with the necessary amount of points.

Quiz with Extra Credit question example.

 
2

Have your students take the exam

 
3

In the exam, click Edit

Arrow pointing at edit button in quiz example.

 
4

Navigate to the Questions tab

Arrow pointing at Questions tab.

 
5

Locate the question you would like to make extra credit and click edit

For the pencil icon to appear, you have to hover over the question with your mouse.

Arrow pointing at pencil icon in question item.

 
6

Change the point value of the extra credit question(s) to 0

This will reduce the number of points possible on the exam.

Note: If you copy the course and use the same quiz, you'll have to change the point value back to the original number of points possible before students take the quiz in the future semester. Also, you could adjust any questions to a point value of zero and get the same result; so if editing the first few questions is more straightforward than editing the specific questions, that will work.

Arrow pointing at 0 point value in question item.

 
7

Scroll down and click Update Question

Arrow pointing at Update Question button.

 
8

Scroll to the bottom and click Save

After you change the values of the questions to 0 points and save the quiz, Canvas will require that you re-grade the quiz. At this point you could go to the SpeedGrader and click the Update Score button for every student, but we have found that the method described below is much quicker, especially for large classes.

Arrow pointing at Save button in questions.

 
9

Navigate to Grades

Arrow pointing at Canvas course grades.

 
10

Export the gradebook

  1. Expand the Export dropdown
  2. Select Export Entire Gradebook

asdf

 
11

Locate the quiz in the gradebook and click the 3 dots next to the name of the quiz and select Hide Grades

Hide Grades option highlighted in a column in the gradebook.

 
12

Click Hide

This will prevent students from receiving any notifications while you adjust the scores.

Arrow pointing at Hide button in popout.

 
13

Click the 3 dots next to the name of the quiz again and select Set Default Grade

  1. Set the grade to 0
  2. Check the Overwrite already-entered grades box
  3. Click Set Default Grade

This will make make Canvas recognize the scores as "re-graded" when you re-import the scores from the .csv file you download earlier.

(1) Input with 0. (2) Box checked. (3) Set Default Grade button.

 
14

Import the gradebook that you exported in step 5

  1. Click Import.
  2. Click Choose File.
  3. Select the .csv file from your computer downloads (or wherever you saved it) and click Open.
  4. Click the Upload Data button.
  5. Click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page after you see the confirmation page that shows the quiz column scores changing from 0 to the original score. 

Import Gradebook preview.

 
15

Click the 3 dots next to the name of the quiz, select Post Grades, then click Post

Gradebook column dropdown with Post Grades highlighted with popout.


New Quizzes

There currently is not a feature or workaround that is available for adding extra credit questions to New Quizzes. More information can be found on Instructure's Community Forum