Set Timing Options for a Quiz

The timing options offer instructors a lot of flexibility when conducting assessments online. Instructors can allow students from five minutes, all the way up to ten days, twelve hours, and fifty five minutes to take a quiz.

Instructors can choose between a Recommended Time Limit, or Enforced Time Limit, along with the number of minutes, and the option to show a clock. The timing settings will display for students when they first click to start the quiz. The countdown clock will start when the student first enters the quiz, and will continue to count down until time runs out, no matter what, even if the student is no longer online.

The Recommended Time Limit serves as a guide for students on when they should complete their quiz. There is no penalty for students who exceed the recommended time limit. The Enforced Time Limit will require you to also set a grace period. You must also choose from the list of late behavior options to specify what penalty, if any, occurs when students exceed the time limit. If a quiz has an enforced time limit and the student uses more than the allotted time, the quiz is marked as ‘exceeded time limit’.

  1. On the navbar, click the Activities menu, then select Quizzes.
    Quizzes on the Nav Bar
  2. On the Manage Quizzes page, from the context menu of the quiz, click Edit.
    Quiz Edit Quiz
  3. Select the title on the Timing & Display panel to expand these options and set your preferences.
    Quiz Timing and Display
  4. In the Timing area, click Manage Timing. Options include:
    Quiz Manage Timing 

    • (Default) No Time Limit – this option is great for reducing test anxiety for students
      Quiz No Time Limit
    • Recommended Time Limit – With this option, instructors can set the recommended time in minutes students should expect to take for the quiz, and an option to show a clock.
      Quiz Recommended Time Limit
    • Enforced Time Limit – If you are using an Enforced Time Limit, you are required to set a Grace Period and choose an Exceeded Time Limit Behavior.
      Quiz Enforced Time Limit 

      • Grace Period – The grace period is an additional amount of time students may be granted to work on a quiz that is not shown on the timer. Instructors can set the grace period for a quiz to 0 minutes, in place of the default grace period setting of 5 minutes. Despite it being possible to set a grace period of 0, it is not recommended. Setting a grace period can support student accessibility requirements and other situations, such as slow internet connections when completing quizzes.Entering a 0 minute grace period flags the quiz attempt as exceeded immediately when the quiz time limit is reached by the learner. Quiz attempt logs display when the student attempt exceeds the regular time limit, grace period time limit or any extended time limit. Grace period of 0 minutes can be set for quizzes with special access restrictions as well.  Despite it being possible to set a grace period of 0, it is not recommended. Setting a grace period can support student accessibility requirements and other situations, such as slow internet connections when completing quizzes.
      • Exceeded Time Limit Behavior – If the student has not submitted the quiz after the Enforced Time Limit and the Grace Period have expired, the quiz attempt will be flagged as “exceeding the time limit.”  There are three options for determining the behavior of the quiz at this point
        • Allow the student to continue working: The student may keep working as long as needed, with no restriction on completion.
        • (Most commonly used) Prevent the student from making further changes: The student is no longer able to make any changes to their answers, and they must submit the quiz.
        • Allow the student to continue working, but automatically score the attempt as zero after an extended deadline: Choosing this option opens an Extended Deadline time selection, with a minimum time of one minute after the grace period ends. Once the time limit, the grace period, and the extended deadline limit have all been exceeded, the quiz will automatically be assigned a grade of zero upon submission.
  5. Click Save and Close.
    Save and Close