How to Make a Quiz in Google Forms (Self-Marking)

Quizzes are one of the most fun things you can build with Google Forms. Teachers use them for homework, trainers for checking understanding, and businesses for lead magnets like "What's your marketing style?" Google Forms turns any form into a self-marking quiz with a couple of switches. Here's how to set one up, add answer keys and points, and control what people see when they finish.

Turn a form into a quiz

1. Go to g.co/createaquiz for a new quiz, or open an existing form.
2. Click Settings at the top.
3. Turn on Make this a quiz.
4. Optional: under Responses, turn on Collect email addresses if you want to send individual results.

Add questions with an answer key

1. Click Add question and choose a question type, such as multiple choice.
2. Type the question and the possible answers.
3. At the bottom left of the question, click Answer key.
4. Select the correct answer, or answers.
5. At the top right of the question, set how many points it's worth.
6. Click Add answer feedback to explain the answer, with text or a YouTube video.

Want every question worth the same? Google says you can set a default point value for all questions in Settings under Global Quiz Defaults. It saves setting points one by one.

Choose what people see afterwards

Under Settings, Google lets you decide whether respondents can see missed questions, correct answers and point values. Showing correct answers is great for learning. Hiding them is better if you'll reuse the quiz and don't want answers shared around.

Release grades now or later

Option	Best for
Immediately after each submission	Self-marking quizzes and fun lead magnets
Later, after manual review	Quizzes with written answers you mark yourself

Google says grades release immediately by default and email addresses aren't collected by default. If you want to review answers first, choose the later option. To send results after reviewing, go to Responses, then Individual, click Release score, tick the people to email and send.

Marking written answers

Multiple choice and checkbox questions mark themselves. For short answer or paragraph questions, you'll often need to award points yourself. If you collect email addresses, Google lets you open each response under Responses and Individual, enter the points earned, add feedback and save.

Use the automatic insights

Here's the bit I love. Google automatically summarises quiz responses, showing frequently missed questions, graphs marked with the correct answers, and the average, median and range of scores. If most people get one question wrong, either the question is confusing or you've found a gap in what you taught. Both are useful to know, and both are easy to fix once you've spotted them in the summary. Reword the question or add a line of feedback explaining the answer, then watch whether the score improves next time.

Share your quiz

Publish the quiz and share the link, or click Send to email it. Google notes you can include the quiz inside the email for a smoother experience, unless it has a file upload question, in which case send the link.

Quiz ideas for small businesses

• A personality-style quiz as a fun lead magnet for your email list.
• A knowledge check after a training session or webinar.
• A product finder that points people to the right service.
• A short onboarding quiz to check new clients understand how you work.

For a lead magnet, keep it to five to eight questions, make it useful to the person taking it, and follow up with an email that gives them something valuable based on their result.

Make your quiz look the part

A quiz that looks like your brand feels more trustworthy and more fun. Click the palette icon to change the theme, header image, colours and font, just as you would for any form. Add sections if your quiz is long, so people see a few questions at a time, and write a friendly confirmation message that tells them what happens next, such as an email with their result.

Test it before you share

Take your own quiz in Preview, answering some questions wrongly on purpose. Check the scoring, the feedback and the results screen all behave as you expect. It's far better to catch a wrong answer key yourself than to have a respondent point it out.

Common quiz mistakes

• Forgetting to set an answer key, so nothing is marked.
• Making every question worth the same when some are much harder.
• Showing correct answers on a quiz you plan to reuse.
• Not collecting email addresses when you want to send individual results.

If you're using quizzes to grow your audience, my persona builder template helps you design results that match your customers, and my guide to seeing responses shows how to dig into the answers.

My verdict

Turn on Make this a quiz in Settings, add questions, then use Answer key to mark correct answers and set points. Decide whether people see answers and when grades release, and use Google's automatic summaries to spot the questions everyone gets wrong. Start at g.co/createaquiz for the fastest route.

Frequently asked questions

How do I make a quiz in Google Forms?

Open a form, click Settings, turn on Make this a quiz, then add questions and set answer keys and points.

How do I add correct answers in Google Forms?

Click Answer key at the bottom of a question, select the correct answer and set the points.

Can Google Forms grade quizzes automatically?

Yes. Objective questions such as multiple choice are marked automatically. Written answers may need manual marking.

How do I send quiz results to students or respondents?

Collect email addresses, then in Responses, Individual, click Release score and send emails.

What's the quickest way to start a Google Forms quiz?

Google says go to g.co/createaquiz.