Use Respondus for quiz and survey authoring | Teaching and Learning Knowledge Base

Respondus is a powerful Windows tool that allows instructors to create and manage quizzes and surveys offline. You can create up to 10 versions of an exam and print the assessments to paper or export them to myCourses. Fifteen question types are available. Tables, bulleted lists, font changes and enhanced formatting (bold, italics) are also available. Benefits include easy to use editors, simple import of multimedia in your questions and many others. Respondus can be used to import your existing questions from Word format or from your textbook publisher's test banks.

Please note: Respondus 4 will be decommissioned on July 31, 2026 and will no longer be available to McGill instructors. Moving forward, quizzes and exams should be created directly in myCourses. Follow these instructions to transfer any quizzes in Respondus to myCourses before July 31.
Note: Respondus LockDown Browser is unaffected by this change and will remain available.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Click on the question to display the answer.

Who can use it?

McGill faculty and staff.

How to request & access the service?

Download the Windows version of Respondus (you will be prompted to sign in with your McGill Username and Password)

Use the activation key provided with the download package.
Mac users can run Respondus using Windows emulation software such as Microsoft's Virtual PC.
Individual users are responsible for performing regular updates.
In Respondus, McGill users select "Brightspace" as the Current Personality option. See complete instructions for publishing a quiz from Respondus to myCourses.

Is there a cost?

There is no cost associated with this service.

Is it available online or on desktop?

After downloading and installing Respondus, the application is always available from your computer.

What are the system requirements for using Respondus?

Operating System: Windows 10, 8, 7
32 MB RAM minimum
10 MB of free hard disk space for program files
Minimum Screen resolution of: 1024x768 or 1280x720
The file size is approximately 10 MB, which should take less than 2 minutes to download with a standard Internet connection.
Respondus 4.x is compatible with myCourses (D2L - BrightSpace)

After creating a quiz or survey with Respondus, how do I publish it in myCourses?

See the instructions for publishing a quiz in Respondus

Can I use Respondus to print multiple versions of an exam?

Once you have created a bank of questions within Respondus, you can print up to 10 different exam versions with or without the answer key.

Do I have to re-type all my questions in Respondus if I have a Word file with existing questions?

After applying standard formatting to your Word file with your questions, you can import the questions into Respondus.

Best practices & policies

With Respondus you can:

Create your own test banks for easy publishing to paper or to myCourses.
Use the word processor type interface for adding tables, bulleted lists and font changes.
Embed graphics, audio and video.
Print exams and surveys or save files to MS Word or Rich Text Format.

Training & documentation

Self-serve resources:

Respondus documentation:

Support

Contact the IT Service Desk.

Quick links

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