---
title: "Quiz Leaderboard"
source: "https://docs.nexcess.com/software/learndash/quiz-leaderboard/"
description: "The LearnDash Quiz Leaderboard feature allows quiz scores to be displayed publicly, so students can see how they rank among others. This friendly competition ca…"
vertical: "Software"
area: "LearnDash"
date: "2019-05-22"
last_modified: "2026-07-02"
---

# Quiz Leaderboard

The **LearnDash Quiz Leaderboard** feature allows quiz scores to be displayed publicly, so students can see how they rank among others. This friendly competition can help boost engagement and motivation to improve performance.

## Before You Begin

- The leaderboard is enabled **individually per quiz**
- To protect against spam, enabling **CAPTCHA** is recommended (see below)

## How to Enable the Leaderboard

To activate the leaderboard for a specific quiz:

1. Navigate to **LearnDash LMS > Quizzes**
2. Click on a quiz to edit
3. Select the **Settings** tab
4. Scroll to the **Administrative and Data Handling Settings** section
5. Toggle on the **Leaderboard** option

## Leaderboard Settings

Once the leaderboard is enabled, several customization options become available.

### Who Can Apply?

Choose which users can appear on the leaderboard:

- **All Users** – Anyone who completes the quiz
- **Registered Users Only** – Only logged-in users are included
- **Anonymous Users Only** – For open-access quizzes ⚠️ Anonymous users must enter a name and email to appear on the leaderboard.

### Multiple Applications Per User

Allow students to submit multiple scores:

- Enable this option only if **Number of Retries Allowed** is greater than one
- Set a **waiting period (in minutes)** between leaderboard submissions

### Automatic User Entry

- Enable to submit scores automatically after quiz completion
- Disable to require students to **click a button** to submit their score

### Number of Displayed Entries

- Set how many leaderboard entries are visible (e.g., top 5, top 10, etc.)

### Sort List By

Choose how leaderboard entries are sorted:

- **Best User (Top Score)**
- **Newest Entry**
- **Oldest Entry**

### Display on Quiz Results Page

Choose how the leaderboard appears after the quiz is completed:

- **Below the Result Text** – Automatically displayed beneath the results
- **In a Button** – A “Show Leaderboard” button is shown; students click to reveal it

## Adding the Leaderboard to a Page or Post

To show the leaderboard outside the quiz results page:

1. Navigate to **LearnDash LMS > Quizzes**
2. Locate the quiz and copy the shortcode from the **Shortcode** column 
    - Example: `[LDAdvQuiz_toplist 27]`
3. Paste the shortcode into the content area of any WordPress page or post

## Preventing Spam with CAPTCHA

To protect leaderboard submissions, LearnDash supports CAPTCHA verification.

### How to Enable CAPTCHA

1. Install the **Really Simple CAPTCHA** plugin (available in the WordPress plugin directory)
2. Once installed, CAPTCHA will appear on the leaderboard submission form
3. This ensures that only real users can submit scores

**Note:** CAPTCHA is especially useful when anonymous submissions are allowed.

## What the Student Sees

After completing a quiz:

- Students will either see the leaderboard immediately or have the option to **click a button** to view it, depending on settings
- Anonymous users will be prompted to enter a name and email (if allowed)

![LearnDash quiz leaderboard, frontend example](https://docs.nexcess.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/learndash-quiz-leaderboard-frontend-example.jpg)## Including Admins in the Leaderboard

By default, users with the **Administrator** role are excluded from quiz reporting and leaderboard rankings.

To include administrators:

1. Navigate to **LearnDash LMS > Settings**
2. On the **General** tab, scroll to **Admin User Settings**
3. Toggle on the **Include in Reports** option

![Admin user settings on LearnDash back end](https://docs.nexcess.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/admin-user-settings_1.jpg)## Next Steps

Ready to boost learner engagement with a competitive edge? After enabling the leaderboard:

- Review [Quiz Display and Content Settings](https://docs.nexcess.com/software/learndash/quiz-display/) to fine-tune grading, retries, and result displays
- Explore [Using Question Categories](https://docs.nexcess.com/software/learndash/quiz-questions/#question-categories) to diversify and randomize quiz content
- Want to highlight top performers elsewhere? Use the shortcode to display the leaderboard on a course homepage or sidebar

Leaderboards are a great way to gamify learning and recognize high achievers, just be sure to set the right privacy and entry rules for your audience.