Choose questions for assignments

Updated 28 Nov 2023

Add questions or media to an assignment on step 2 of the assignment creation wizard. (See Writing assignments for details on choosing these questions.)

  1. Choose a chapter, section, and objective (if applicable) from the dropdown lists. For standards-based courses, choose a standard and benchmark.

    For Book, optionally select Change to add questions from a different textbook.

  2. Under Availability, optionally select filters to show only accessible questions, questions that are or are not in the student's Study Plan, or questions used for tests that generate personalized homework.
  3. Under Question Source, select the questions to display:
    • Show publisher questions - questions from your Pearson textbook.
    • Show GeoGebra questions - interactive questions for geometry, algebra, spreadsheets, graphing, statistics, and calculus.
    • Show additional test bank questions - multiple-choice questions converted from the retired TestGen application.
    • Show custom questions (+) for this book - custom questions you created and associated with the textbook and the selected content.
    • Show other custom questions - custom questions you created for other textbooks or with no textbook association. Select Refine Selection to display only the questions that meet your specified criteria.
    • Show Dynamic Study Modules questions - homework questions that adjust to each student's needs for independent study.
    • Show sample homework questions - homework questions for some accounting courses.
    • Create my own questions - open the Custom Question Manager where you create and manage your own questions.
  4. Above the Available Questions list, choose whether to display questions or media (homework assignments only).

    the questions and media options above the available questions list

    If you select Media, the Question Source section becomes the Media Type section.

  5. In the Available Questions list, you can:
    • Select a question to see a preview.
    • See icons representing difficulty, accessibility, graphical content, and other information. Hover over an icon to see its meaning.
  6. Choose how to add questions:
    • Select a question to preview it and select Add to add it.

      From preview mode, you also can work the problem as a student, require students to show their work, add an instructor tip, and edit the question. See Preview and edit questions for details.

    • Select the box next to the question and select Add to move the selected questions to the My Selections list.
    • Select the box next to two or more questions and select Pool to group the selected questions as one question in the My Selections list.

    When you create personalized homework, the available questions from the prerequisite test or quiz are already entered in the My Selections list.

  7. Optionally modify your selections in the My Selections list:
    • For tests or quizzes, select Pooling options to increase the variability of questions by using question pools. See Use question pools in tests and quizzes for details.
      Shows Pooling Options button and pop-up window.
    • Select View question details to see all the questions in the assignment and edit their settings. See Change settings for multiple questions in an assignment.
    • Edit the number of points the question is worth.

      The number of points equals Points Possible in some learning management system (LMS) gradebooks. If you sync your LMS and MyLab gradebooks, enter the Points Possible value for the assignment.

      For multipart questions with partial credit, the points for each correct part are adjusted when you change the overall point value. For example, if points for a two-part question are changed from 10 to 7, each part is worth 3.5 points.

    • Select one or more questions and use the sort arrows to change their order in the assignment. Select Sort All to list questions by ID.
    • Select a question and choose Remove or the trash can icon to delete it from the assignment. Select Preview & Remove to view the question in the player.
  8. Optionally select View student test/homework to preview the assignment in the player.
  9. Select Next to choose assignment settings on step 3.

You can add media to homework and optionally append questions.

Media types include animations, audio, business simulations, data files, eTextbooks, html files, PDFs, images, maps, PowerPoints, simulations, videos, websites, and so on. The media must be hosted on an external site, for example: YouTube, Google Drive, your faculty website, or your campus learning management system

  1. Above the Available Questions list, select Media.
  2. Under Media Type, choose the media from the list.
  3. Optionally select (+) Add my own media under Media Type on the top right. Enter the title, URL, and section or objective. URLs must begin with https://.
  4. Optionally select Questions above the Available Questions list to add follow-up questions.

    On step 3 of the wizard, you can require students to view the media before answering the questions.

For some interactive media (for example, Mini Sims), you can customize or initialize the media after completing step 3 of the wizard.

In some courses, if you add gradable simulations or multiplayer games, you can select only one media type.

When a homework assignment includes media, some courses use the new integrated assignments player experience. This combines MyLab player questions with media (such as video, readings, or activities) in a continuous experience. Instructions to do integrated assignments are available in the Student Help.

  1. Select Change after the textbook name to add up to 20 questions from another textbook.
  2. In the Select Book window, choose the alternative textbook using the filters, if needed, and Select Book.
  3. Add questions from the alternative textbook to your My Selections list.

    These questions show with an asterisk (*) next to the question ID. Hover over the question ID to see its source.

  4. Open the Select Book window and select Return to Course Book to restore questions from your course textbook.

When you import questions from another textbook:

  • Some types of question help are not imported.
  • Media associated with a question is not imported.
  • Custom questions associated with the other textbook are not included.
  • Imported questions are not marked as mastered in personalized homework, regardless of whether the student mastered the questions on the test used to generate personalized homework.

Select Next to choose settings on step 3.