diff --git a/src/components/admin/TestManager.jsx b/src/components/admin/TestManager.jsx
index b6ba18b..d4619ee 100644
--- a/src/components/admin/TestManager.jsx
+++ b/src/components/admin/TestManager.jsx
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ const TestManager = () => {
     loadData();
   }, [selectedTopic]);
 
-  const handleGenerate = async (topic, count = 10) => {
+  const handleGenerate = async (topic, count = 5) => {
     setLoadingTopicId(topic.id);
     setError(null);
     try {
@@ -97,8 +97,8 @@ const TestManager = () => {
           {questions.length === 0 ? (
             <Card className="text-center py-12 text-fg-muted border-dashed border-2">
               <p>No questions generated for this topic yet.</p>
-              <Button className="mt-4" onClick={() => handleGenerate(selectedTopic, 10)} disabled={loadingTopicId === selectedTopic.id}>
-                Generate 10 Questions
+              <Button className="mt-4" onClick={() => handleGenerate(selectedTopic, 5)} disabled={loadingTopicId === selectedTopic.id}>
+                Generate 5 Questions
               </Button>
             </Card>
           ) : (
diff --git a/src/lib/testService.js b/src/lib/testService.js
index b6daa36..1329e98 100644
--- a/src/lib/testService.js
+++ b/src/lib/testService.js
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ const QUIZ_SYSTEM = `You are a quiz generator for Respellion, an internal IT com
 You generate multiple-choice questions to test employee knowledge on specific topics.
 Always write in clear, professional English.
 
-Emit questions through the emit_quiz_questions tool. Each question has exactly four options; correctIndex is 0-based; mix difficulty roughly 4 easy / 4 medium / 2 hard.`;
+Emit questions through the emit_quiz_questions tool. Each question has exactly four options; correctIndex is 0-based. For a typical 5-question batch, mix difficulty roughly 2 easy / 2 medium / 1 hard; scale the ratio proportionally for larger batches.`;
 
 const cachedSystem = (text) => [{ type: 'text', text, cache_control: { type: 'ephemeral' } }];
 
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ export async function getCachedQuiz(userId, weekNumber) {
   return db.getCachedQuiz(userId, weekNumber);
 }
 
-export async function forceGenerateTopicQuestions(topic, count = 10) {
+export async function forceGenerateTopicQuestions(topic, count = 5) {
   let bank = await db.getQuizBank(topic.id);
 
   const prompt = `Generate exactly ${count} multiple-choice quiz questions for this knowledge topic and emit them via the emit_quiz_questions tool:
@@ -105,7 +105,9 @@ async function getOrGenerateTopicQuestions(topic, count) {
   let bank = await db.getQuizBank(topic.id);
 
   if (bank.length < count) {
-    await forceGenerateTopicQuestions(topic, 10);
+    // Seed an empty/low bank with a small initial batch; admins can grow it
+    // explicitly via TestManager when they want more depth per topic.
+    await forceGenerateTopicQuestions(topic, 5);
     bank = await db.getQuizBank(topic.id);
   }