Change grading method only for some students

Change grading method only for some students

by Brian Evans -
Number of replies: 2

I am using moodle 2.7.1.  Here's my situation:

    • Give a quiz with only one attempt
    • Grading method defaults to "Highest Grade" - can't change that
    • Add a user override giving some students another attempt (total of 2 attempts each)

I want to average the grades of students given the override instead of giving them the highest grade.  However, since the quiz settings only allow 1 attempt, I am stuck with "Highest Grade" as my only option.

Is there any way to do this automatically or do I have to average the grades myself and enter them manually in the gradebook?

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In reply to Brian Evans

Re: Change grading method only for some students

by Tim Hunt -
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I think this approach works:

  1. In the quiz settings, set it to let all students have 2 attempts, and Grading method Average grade.
  2. Click Save.
  3. Edit the quiz settings, and change it back to only allow 1 attempt.
  4. Save.

I think in that case it will remember the Average grade setting.


However, I fully accept that this situation is stupid.

However, the disabling rules were added with the best intentions. The quiz for is complex, and they help to make the dependencies between settings clear, so I don't want to remove them. The rules are good for usability.

This is basically the same as MDL-37998 which related to the "Each attempt builds on last" setting.

And, as I wrote this post, the solution occurred to me: rather than removing the rules, we need to make them more intelligent, so they take into account any dependencies. I have done a patch.

Average of ratings: Useful (1)
In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: Change grading method only for some students

by Brian Evans -

Thanks Tim,

That does appear to work.  I thought I had tried your solution already but I must not have saved the quiz between changing the number of attempts/grading method and then changing the number of attempts again.  So, what worked for me was:


  1. Edit quiz settings
  2. Change number of attempts to 2 (or more)
  3. Change grading method to "average grade"
  4. Save
  5. Edit quiz settings again
  6. Change number of attempts back to 1
  7. Save again

Grading method stays set as "average grade", just like I want it to.

Thanks again.

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