Question challenges: when a student reports a wrong question
Students can challenge a question they think is wrong. You get an email, review it under Courses → Challenges, fix or delete the question, and the student receives your reply by email.
On this page
In this topic 8
- Practice bank vs. exam bank: question types, including SAT-style grid-ins
- Import questions from CSV or Excel (with grid-in answers)
- Create timed exams: practice tests, trial exams and official exams
- Written-answer questions (short and essay) and manual grading
- Gradebook and grade weights: how the final grade is calculated
- Generate questions with Quiddy (syllabi, laws and math)
- Question challenges: when a student reports a wrong question
- Practice tests vs. official exams: how tests work and their settings
In this guide
- How a student challenges a question, and which reasons they can pick.
- Where you see challenges and how you're notified.
- Three ways to resolve one: resolve only, fix the question, or delete it.
- What happens to scores and what the student receives.
Example: Ava takes the SAT Math: Linear equations test and thinks question 14 has two correct answers. She challenges it with the reason Multiple correct answers. You check it, fix the options and she gets an email saying her challenge has been resolved, with your explanation.
How students challenge a question
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Find the question
Below each question's Explanation, students see a Challenge question button. It appears when they practice with questions and when they review the results of a test or an exam.
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Choose a reason
They pick one from Select a reason:
- Answer and justification do not match
- Answer too short
- Multiple correct answers
- Other: a text box opens so they can Describe the reason.
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Send it
After sending, the button changes to Challenged (or Sent) and can't be clicked again on that screen.
Who can challenge
Only students with access to the content (in a paid academy, students marked as paid) and only while the Practice bank module is on in My academy → General → Modules. With the module off, the Challenges page is hidden too.
How you're notified
Every new challenge sends an email titled New question challenge to your academy's Support email (set in My academy → Designer → Appearance → Brand identity, under Contact and home page). It includes the question ID, whether it comes from the practice bank or the exam bank, the reason and the student's text. If your academy has no support email, the challenge is still saved: you'll find it in the panel.
The teachers of the subject it's filed under also get an email, New question challenge in your subject.
Review challenges
Go to Courses → Challenges (the menu shows how many are pending). Use the Pending, Resolved and All tabs, and the Subject filter when you have several subjects. Each row shows:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Question | The question's number, with a Practice or Exam badge depending on its bank, and the date of the challenge. |
| Subject | The subject and unit the challenge was filed under when it was sent, from its question: the unit of the exam that includes it (exam bank) or the unit whose practice tests use its bank unit (practice bank). No subject if the question wasn't linked to any unit. |
| Reason | The reason the student picked, and what they wrote. |
| Student | The student's email (Deleted user if the account no longer exists). |
| Status | Pending or Resolved; resolved ones show who resolved them (Teacher or Administration) and when. |
Resolve a challenge
You have three options, depending on what you find:
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The question is fine: Resolve
Click Resolve in the list. The challenge is marked Resolved and the question is not modified. The student gets an email.
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The question needs fixing: edit it
Click Review. The page Edit challenge and question shows the challenge at the top and the full question below: wording, options, Correct answer and Justification (plus topic and unit for practice questions). Fix it and click Update question and resolve challenge. The question is saved as reviewed, the challenge is resolved and the student is emailed.
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The question is beyond repair: delete it
Delete question and resolve challenge deletes the question permanently, removes it from every exam that uses it and marks the challenge as resolved. It does not go to the Trash, so it can't be restored.
The delete button deletes the question, not the challenge
Challenges themselves can't be deleted: they stay in the list as a history. If you only want to close one, use Resolve.
Reply to the student
When a challenge is resolved, the student receives an email titled Challenge resolved: "Your challenge of question ID 14 has been successfully resolved. Thank you for your contribution."
To add a personal explanation, open the challenge, write it in Reply to the student (emailed to them and saved) (you can use bold and underline), set Status to Resolved and click Update challenge. Your reply is added below the standard message.
- The reply is only sent with Update challenge. The Update question and resolve challenge button sends the standard message without it.
- The reply is saved: it appears on the challenge as Reply sent to the student, together with who resolved it, when and how (The question was correct, Question corrected or Question deleted).
- The email goes out when the challenge is resolved, and again only if you add a new reply to a resolved one. Saving it as Pending sends nothing and reopens it.
- The student's text is shown as Student text (locked): you can read it but not change it.
What happens to scores
Resolving a challenge doesn't recalculate scores that are already saved. Fixing a question applies from then on: the next students who answer it are graded with the corrected answer. If a challenge was right and affected an official exam, tell the students affected how you'll handle it.
Tip: review weekly
Make Challenges part of your weekly routine. Three challenges on the same question usually mean a confusing wording, and fixing it improves your bank for every future student.
Frequently asked questions
Can teachers manage challenges?
Yes, those of their subjects. They see Challenges in their menu with only the challenges filed under their subjects, and they can reply, resolve and correct the question. If the question is also used in another teacher's subject, they can resolve the challenge but only the administration can correct it. Deleting questions is for the administration only. You see every challenge and who resolved it.
Can a student challenge the same question twice?
After sending, the button is disabled on that screen. If they open the question again on another visit, they can send a new challenge.
Where do deleted questions normally go?
Questions you delete from the bank go to the Trash, where you can restore them. Questions deleted from a challenge don't. See Trash: restore deleted items.
Follow this guide in your own academy
Create it free in a couple of minutes and keep your admin panel open next to this guide.
Open a ticket from Help → Support in your panel: we reply within 24–48 h depending on your plan.