Many instructors use question pools to quickly build assessments. Pools randomly draw from an entire question bank (check out How to Use Pools for more information).
There are a few reasons you as an instructor might want more control over which questions appear in an assessment. For example, if you've hidden certain content in your course (such as a video on the Receivables Turnover Ratio within the Income Ratios chapter), you may not want students to be assessed on that topic — but a question pool can still randomly draw a question on it if one exists in the bank. Similarly, you may want to tailor the style of an assessment, such as focusing exclusively on calculation-based questions and leaving out theory questions, or vice versa.
Below are five ways to control the questions that appear in assessments:
Removing a question pool from the assessment.
Adding & removing individual questions in an assessment.
Excluding questions from a pool.
Removing questions from a pool.
Copying or moving questions between question banks.
Getting Started
All of the five sections listed above begin the same way. To open the quiz builder:
Open your Control Center.
Open the Quizzes tab from the menu on the left-hand side.
Search for the quiz or exam you want to edit and click the 3 dots on the far right.
From the menu, select Build.
Each section below will refer back to these steps.
1. Removing a Question Pool from the Assessment
A question pool automatically draws a set number of questions from a bank. To guarantee that certain concepts are not assessed, you can remove the pool and manually select questions that will be included in the assessment.
Follow steps 1–4 from Getting Started, then:
Scroll down to the question pool you want to remove and click the bin icon on the far right.
Select Remove to confirm. Once removed, the assessment will no longer draw questions from the bank.
Note: Removing the pool means that students will no longer receive the questions from that chapter. This method preserves all questions in your bank so you can re-add any of them later if you wish.
2. Adding & Removing Individual Questions in an Assessment
Once a question pool has been removed, you can manually select which questions appear in the assessment. You can also remove individual questions that were previously added this way.
Follow steps 1–4 from Getting Started, then:
2.1 To Add Individual Questions
Use the Add from Question Bank button to select questions individually from your bank. Detailed instructions for adding individual questions are in the article “A Guide to Creating Quizzes” — see section 2.3.1 Adding Individual Questions.
Note: Removing the pool and adding individual questions means that all students receive the same set of questions (though dynamic variables will still produce different numerical values where applicable).
2.2 To Remove Individual Questions
Scroll down to the question you want to remove and click the bin icon on the far right. Once removed, the question will not appear for the students.
Note: This only removes the question from the assessment — it remains in the question bank and can be re-added at any time.
3. Excluding Questions from a Pool
Excluding questions ensures they remain in your underlying banks, but are never drawn into question pools in assessments.
Follow steps 1–4 from Getting Started, then:
3.1 To Exclude a Single Question
Scroll down to the question pool where you want to exclude a question.
Click on the white box with the name of the question bank shown under the name of the pool.
Scroll through the questions and click the link icon with the slash to exclude a question.
Once the question is excluded, a tag will appear indicating its exclusion.
3.2 To Exclude Multiple Questions at Once
Select the checkbox next to each question you want to exclude.
Once your selections are made, click the Exclude from Pools button at the bottom to exclude all checked questions at once.
Note: Excluded questions remain in your bank and can be re-included at any time by clicking the link icon again.
3.3 Excluding Questions When Not Using a Pool
If you are not using a pool, removing a question from the assessment still keeps it in the question bank, meaning it could be drawn into a pool if one is added later. Excluding the question ensures it will never be pulled into any pool.
However, in this case since the question is added individually, the bank name displayed in blue on the question will not directly take you to the question bank. You will need to locate the question bank or question manually.
Follow steps 1–4 from Getting Started, then:
Click the Add from Question Bank button at the bottom of the assessment.
Search for the name of the question bank you are looking for. Once inside the bank, follow the same steps as 3.1 or 3.2 above to exclude the question.
Alternatively, you can search for the question directly using the search bar to locate it without needing to navigate to the bank.
4. Removing questions from a pool
Removing a question deletes it from the question bank entirely. Use this option only if you no longer need the question in any assessment.
Follow steps 1–4 from Getting Started, then:
Scroll down to the question pool where you want to exclude a question
Click on the white box with the name of the question bank shown under the name of the pool
Select the checkbox next to each question you want to remove.
Once your selections are made, click the Remove button at the bottom to delete all checked questions from the bank.
Note: Removing a question permanently deletes it from the question bank. This action cannot be undone. If you want to keep the question available for future use, consider excluding it instead.
5. Copying or Moving Questions Between Question Banks
You can copy or move questions from one question bank to another. This is useful when:
Reusing a question across assessments — for example, copying a question from a chapter quiz bank into a midterm bank without removing it from the original.
Reorganizing content — moving questions between banks when restructuring how chapters or topics are assessed.
Building a custom exam bank — consolidating questions from multiple chapter banks into a single bank for a final or cumulative assessment.
Note: Copying a question duplicates it into another bank while keeping the original in place. Moving a question transfers it to another bank and removes it from the source bank.
Follow steps 1–4 from Getting Started, then:
Scroll down to the question pool where you want to exclude a question
Click on the white box with the name of the question bank shown under the name of the pool
Click the copy/move icon next to the question. This icon appears inline with each question and displays the "Copy or move to another bank" on hover.
A Copy/Move Question dialog will appear with two options under Destination:
Existing question bank — select this to move the question into a bank that already exists.
Use the Select a question bank dropdown to search for and select your destination bank.
You can either move the question to the target bank or copy it by checking Keep a copy in this bank.
New question bank — select this to create a new bank.
Enter a name for the new bank.
You can either move the question to the new bank or copy it by checking Keep a copy in this bank.
Click Move Question or Copy Question to confirm.
You can also copy or move multiple questions at once by selecting the checkbox next to each question you want to copy or move, then clicking the Copy/Move button at the bottom of the page and following the same steps above.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
If I remove a question pool, will the questions in the bank be deleted?
No. Removing a pool only removes the mechanism that draws questions into the assessment. All questions remain in the underlying question bank and can be re-added at any time.
If I manually add individual questions, will all students see the same questions?
Yes. Unlike a question pool, which randomly draws questions, individually added questions are the same for every student. Dynamic variables within questions will still produce different numerical values, but the questions themselves will be consistent across all attempts.
Can I undo an exclusion if I change my mind?
Yes. Excluded questions remain in the question bank and can be re-included at any time by clicking the link icon with a slash next to the question again.
Can I recover a question after it has been removed from the question bank?
No. Removing a question from a bank permanently deletes it from that question bank and cannot be undone. If there is any chance you may need the question again, use the exclude option instead.
What is the difference between copying and moving a question to another bank?
Copying duplicates the question into the destination bank while keeping the original in its current bank. Moving transfers the question to the destination bank and removes it from the source bank.