Log into your Blackboard course, and go to the content area that you would like to add the test to.  At the top of the page, click on Assessment and select Test.

On the next page, labeled Create Test, under Section 1: Add Test, click on the Create button next to Create a New Test

You will now see a screen labeled Test information:

1. Name: Enter the name for the test here.
2. Description: Enter a description of the test for students here
3. Instructions: Enter instructions for the students here
4. When finished, click the Submit button at the bottom of the page.

The next screen is the Test Canvas, which shows all the questions in the test, and allows instructors to add questions to the test.  To add a question, click on Create Question at the top of the screen and select the type of question to create.  The step below outlines the creation of an essay question, so select Essay from the list.

You will now see a screen labeled Create/Edit Essay Question.  Section 1: Question and Section 2: Answer will allow you to enter the essay question you wish to ask students.

1. Title: Enter a title here.
2. Question Text: Enter the desired question text in the text box provided.  
3. Answer: Enter a sample answer that would be displayed to students after they take the test.  

The section labeled Rubrics allows you to attach a rubric for grading the students's responses.  To add a rubric, click the Add Rubric button and choose to add an existing rubric, to create a new rubric, or to create a new rubric from an existing rubric.

Categories and Keywords allows instructors to provide additional metadata tags to the question to allow questions to be easily searchable.

1. Categories: Click Add to enter category tags for the question.
2. Topics: Click Add to enter tags based on topics that are covered in the course for the question.
3. Levels of Difficulty: Click Add to enter tags based of the level of difficulty of the question.
4. Keywords: Click Add to enter keywords for the question.
5. Instructor Notes allows instructors to enter notes regarding the question.  These notes are not visible to students.
6. When finished, click the Submit and Create Another button to create another question of the same question type, or click the Submit button to return to the Test Canvas.

After clicking the Submit button, you will be returned to the Test Canvas.  The Test Canvas will allow you to create a new question, rearrange, edit, and delete questions, as well as allowing individuals to change the point value of each question.