Brightspace Quiz Answers: How D2L Review Settings Work

In Brightspace (D2L), you see quiz answers only through the results display your instructor sets up: by default, D2L shows learners just their attempt grade, and the instructor decides whether questions, your responses and the correct answers appear after you submit, immediately or on a later date. To review a past attempt, open Quizzes, choose Submissions from the menu next to the quiz, and click the attempt. This guide explains every setting behind that page, how attempts and retakes work, what the instructor sees in the attempt log, and how to study for D2L quizzes.

Last verified: October 12, 2026 against the official documentation linked below.

How a Brightspace quiz works

Instructors build quizzes in the Quizzes tool or from Content, following D2L's Create and configure a quiz documentation. A quiz has four groups of settings that shape what you experience:

• Questions and display. Questions can be drawn at random from a question pool, the quiz can be shuffled (Shuffle Quiz), hints can be allowed, and the instructor can hide point values or the flag and strikethrough tools.
• Availability Dates & Conditions. Start and end dates, a due date, a password, and special access for students with accommodations.
• Timing & Attempts. A time limit, what happens when it runs out (automatically submit, flag as "exceeded time limit" and let you continue, or do nothing), and the number of attempts.
• Evaluation & Feedback. Whether results publish automatically and what learners see once they do. This is the section that decides whether you ever see the correct answers.

Where the correct answers appear: Evaluation & Feedback

D2L's documentation spells out the default plainly: "By default, learners only see their attempted grades when attempts are evaluated upon submission." Anything more is opt-in. In the Evaluation & Feedback section the instructor configures:

• Auto-publish attempt results immediately upon completion. If this is off, nothing is released until the instructor publishes your attempt manually.
• When published, display to learners. A checkbox for the attempt grade and a question display drop-down that chooses which questions are shown after publishing.
• Customize Quiz Results Displays. A Primary View that appears immediately after you finish, and optional Additional Views that appear on a date and time the instructor sets. Each view can include a custom message, the attempt grade, a choice of which questions to show, and class statistics (class average and grade distribution).

In older Brightspace versions and many university help pages, these displays are called submission views. The idea is the same: one view right after submission, and possibly a second, richer view after the quiz closes for everyone.

Two consequences students often run into. First, if the quiz contains written response questions, those must be graded by hand, so the grade you see right after submitting may be incomplete. Second, a results view that appears and then disappears is usually an additional view with an end date: the instructor chose to show answers for a limited window, typically after the deadline so classmates finishing late don't see them.

How to review a past attempt

University help pages such as Villanova's Brightspace guide describe the learner side:

1. Open the course and go to Quizzes.
2. Open the drop-down next to the quiz title and select Submissions (or click the link in the Evaluation Status column).
3. Click an attempt. The report shows whatever the instructor's results display allows: the question, your answer, the correct answer, and instructor comments.
4. Check Grades as well; feedback on the quiz grade item appears there too.

If the attempt link is missing, the attempt is probably not graded or published yet. Wait for the instructor to finish grading, or ask whether a review view is planned.

Attempts, grading method and retaking incorrect questions

Under Timing & Attempts, the instructor sets how many attempts you get and can add Advanced Attempt Conditions: a minimum and maximum percentage on the previous attempt that you must score to unlock the next one. The overall quiz score is then calculated using one of the aggregation functions: highest, lowest, first, last or average attempt.

A newer option, Retake Incorrect Questions Only, changes how later attempts look. Questions you answered incorrectly are marked with an alert symbol, questions keep the same order as your first attempt, and questions you already got right show the stem without the answer options. According to D2L, your score on such an attempt never drops below your previous attempt's score.

For studying, multiple attempts are a gift: they turn the quiz into structured retrieval practice. The productive way to use them is to review the missed questions between attempts, go back to the course material for each one, and only then try again.

Settings that change how you should take the quiz

A few other options from D2L's quiz configuration are worth recognising, because they change the right strategy rather than what you see afterwards:

• Time limit behaviour. When time runs out, the quiz is either submitted automatically, flagged as "exceeded time limit" while you keep working, or nothing happens. The quiz summary tells you which; if it is automatic submission, save answers as you go and keep an eye on the timer.
• Hidden point values. Instructors can hide individual question scores. If you can't see points, don't assume every question is worth the same; budget time for longer questions.
• Hints. When Allow Hints is on, hints are part of the quiz design. Use them; they are there to help you reason through the question.
• Password and special access. A password usually means the quiz is meant to be started at a specific time or place. Special access is how D2L grants extra time or different dates to students with accommodations, so if you have one, make sure your instructor has set it up before the quiz opens.
• Synchronous timing. Some quizzes start the timer at a fixed start date for everyone. Joining late means less time, so check the calendar entry.

What the instructor sees: the attempt log

D2L's documentation describes the Attempt Logs page as giving instructors detailed information about events during a quiz attempt, including quiz entry and re-entry times and quiz completion. Where possible, the IP address is logged for each event, and when a configuration variable is enabled, a Session ID column shows whether a learner used multiple sessions within one attempt. Instructors can also export event logs for a whole quiz.

D2L itself cautions instructors against concluding that misconduct occurred based only on multiple IP addresses or sessions, because there are valid reasons for both (switching from Wi-Fi to mobile data, for example). If your connection drops mid-quiz, tell your instructor right away; it makes the log easy to explain.

Brightspace also integrates third-party tools. D2L lists Respondus, Proctorio and Integrity Advocate as integrations that add lockdown browser, proctoring and academic-integrity features, and its documentation covers applying Respondus LockDown Browser to a quiz. When a quiz requires one of these tools, the quiz instructions say so, and the tool's own rules apply for the whole attempt.

For a fuller tour of the student side of D2L, see our Brightspace D2L student guide.

How to study for Brightspace quizzes

1. Read the quiz summary before you start. It lists the time limit, the number of attempts and any password or special conditions. Knowing whether the highest or last attempt counts changes how you should use attempt one.
2. Plan for "Prevent going back". D2L lets instructors stop you from returning to earlier pages. On those quizzes, answer each page fully before moving on, and flag nothing for later.
3. Mine the results display. If missed questions are shown, copy each one into your notes with the correct answer and a one-line explanation in your own words.
4. Expect pools. Because questions are often drawn from pools, a retake may show different questions on the same objective. Study the concept, not the exact wording.
5. Use course content and discussions. Quiz questions usually map to the module they sit in. Discussion threads where the instructor clarifies a concept are particularly useful.
6. Check D2L Lumi or practice quizzes if your course has them. Some institutions use D2L's own AI features, and many instructors publish ungraded practice quizzes with full answer review.

Using an AI study assistant while you practise

On practice quizzes, self-assessments and review attempts, an AI study assistant can do what the results display often cannot: explain why an answer is correct. QuizAce is a Chrome extension that reads the question on the Brightspace page, including images and questions loaded inside D2L's nested frames, and gives an explanation you can compare with your own reasoning. Used this way, it turns a list of missed questions into an understanding of the underlying concept.

On graded quizzes, the rules are your instructor's and your institution's. Read the quiz instructions and the academic-integrity policy in your syllabus before using any outside resource, and do not use other tools on quizzes that require a lockdown browser or proctoring. The same review-first approach works on Moodle quizzes and Google Forms quizzes.

Sources

• D2L Brightspace Documentation: Create and configure a quiz (Evaluation & Feedback, Timing & Attempts, attempt logs, academic integrity)
• D2L Brightspace Documentation: Retake incorrect quiz questions in subsequent attempts
• D2L Brightspace Documentation: Evaluate quizzes
• D2L Brightspace Documentation: Release of the new quiz evaluation experience
• D2L Brightspace Documentation: Applying Respondus LockDown Browser to a quiz
• Villanova University: Brightspace, review quiz grades and feedback

FAQ

How do I see my quiz answers on Brightspace?

Go to Quizzes, open the menu next to the quiz, choose Submissions and click your attempt. You will see the questions, your answers and the correct answers only if your instructor enabled them in the quiz's results display.

Why does D2L only show my grade and not the questions?

That is Brightspace's default. Learners see only their attempt grade unless the instructor customizes the results display. Some instructors add a second view with the answers after the due date.

Why did my Brightspace quiz review disappear?

The instructor probably set an additional results view with a time window. Once it ends, the review returns to the more limited view. Ask your instructor if you need to go over the questions again.

What can my instructor see in the Brightspace quiz log?

The attempt log shows quiz entry, re-entry and completion times, the IP address for each event where possible, and (if enabled) session IDs. The instructor also sees every response and score. Tools such as Respondus or Proctorio add their own records when a quiz requires them.

Does a retake in D2L show the same questions?

Not necessarily. If questions come from a pool, a retake can draw different ones. With "Retake Incorrect Questions Only", you re-answer just the questions you missed, in the same order as before.