Create a Canvas quiz shell

An exam shell is a placeholder for your final exam in Canvas. It includes the name of the exam, due date, point value and any other settings for the exam. 

An exam shell is needed for support teams to provide required accessibility accommodations for students, and for setting up proctoring in AI-invigilated exams. 

1. Select Quizzes from the navigation menu. 
2. Select +Quiz. 
3. Enter the title of your exam using the following convention: Final exam – [Subject ID] – [Session Year].  
   • For example: Final exam – 70103 Ethics Law and Justice – Spring 2025. 
4. Add exam instructions for students. 
   • Your instructions will only be visible to students at the start of the exam’s availability window. 
   • Use this template for Online exam instructions to include mandatory statements on academic integrity and exam conduct, which should not be edited. 
5. For Quiz Type, select Graded quiz. 
6. Assign to the relevant Assignment Group. 
7. (Optional) If you have multiple choice questions in your exam, select ‘Shuffle answers’ to shuffle the order of how your answer options are presented to students. Leave unchecked if your answer options contain answers like ‘All of the above’. 
8. For Time Limit, enter the duration allowed for your exam in minutes. 
9. Set Multiple Attempts as appropriate: 
   • For AI invigilated exams, do not allow multiple attempts. 
   • For Timed LMS exams, 1 or more attempts may be allowed, at the subject coordinator’s discretion. 
10. Do not allow students to see their quiz responses. 
11. (Optional) Show one question at time, if it is suitable for your exam design. 
    • Deselect ‘Lock questions after answering’ unless required. 
12. Enter the due date/time to match the end of your availability window, as per exam schedule. 
13. Enter the dates/times of your exam’s availability window, as per exam schedule. 
14. For AI-invigilated exams, you need to complete the following steps to ensure your exam can be configured for proctoring: 
    • Select “Require an access code” and enter a password for your exam. 
    • Ensure the due time and availability window ends in :00, :15, :30, or :45. 
    • Ensure you have added in the time limit. 
15. Select ‘Save & Publish’ (if you are ready) or ‘Save’ (if you’re not ready). 

Important

• There are mandatory exam instructions that must be included unedited in your Canvas quiz. 
• You must publish your exam shells in Canvas as soon as they’re ready. 
• Exam shells must be published so exam provisions can be added and, for AI-invigilated exams, proctoring to be enabled. 
• As long as you have the exam availability window set correctly, students won’t see the exam instructions or questions until the day of the exam. 

Check that results are hidden from students

In Gradebook, check that the relevant exam name column is set to ‘Manual’. It is recommended that marks are not posted immediately and only released after the scheduled release of results found in the UTS calendar. This allows adequate time for marking and grade ratification etc.