Lesson Timers and Retry Controls
Set time limits and decide whether students can reset their answers.
Who this is for
Teachers deciding how much freedom students have while working in a lesson.
What this page answers
- How do time limits work?
- What happens when time runs out?
- When should students be allowed to reset answers?
Prerequisites
- a lesson with settings access
Time limits
Use a time limit when the lesson should stop accepting student interaction after a fixed amount of work time.
When the limit is reached, the lesson becomes read-only for the student and their current answers stay in place.
How the exam clock actually runs
For a timed exam, the countdown runs on the platform's own timing rather than in the student's browser. It starts the moment the student opens the exam and runs from there.
That has one consequence worth telling students before their first exam:
Closing the tab, losing the connection, or leaving the browser in the background does not pause or stop the timer. The exam keeps running until its deadline.
The grace window
There is a 15-second grace window after the deadline. A final save or a submit made while the on-screen grace countdown is still visible still lands, so a student who presses finish as the clock hits zero does not lose that last answer.
Automatic submission
A timed exam left unsubmitted is submitted automatically shortly after its deadline — including one the student simply closed the tab on. An automatic submission is graded exactly like a manual finish, and it unlocks the next lesson in an After previous learning path in the same way.
Pressing finish twice, or pressing it just as the automatic submission fires, is harmless. A second finish will not overwrite an already graded document or downgrade a result a teacher has verified.
Giving a student more time
Once a student has opened a timed exam, their deadline is fixed. Changing the lesson's time limit afterwards will not move it, so raising the limit does not give that student more time.
To grant more time, open the student's assignment on the Homework page, open the actions menu (three dots) on their row, and choose Reset Time. Resetting the student's time spent gives them a fresh timer and lifts the lockdown, so they can work and save again. See Homework Management for the full list of per-assignment actions.
Reset answers
The Allow Reset Answers setting controls whether students can clear their work and try again. This is usually more permissive for class and exercise lessons than for homework.
Teachers also have a separate Clear answers tool in the editor. Use it when preparing or reviewing a lesson:
- click Clear answers in the main toolbar to reset answers and activity state across the document after confirmation
- select part of the lesson as text, then click Clear answers in the floating toolbar to reset only the selected widgets or answer fields
This is useful after testing generated exercises, recording demos, or cleaning a lesson before it is assigned. It does not change the configured correct answers.
Clear teacher test answers before assigning the lesson. If answers remain in the lesson document, the assigned student copy can include those visible answers.
Defer answer reveal
The Defer answer reveal setting hides correctness feedback while the student is still working. Their answers still save, but they do not see green/red states or correct-answer hints until they submit the lesson or the timer expires.
Use it when you want a test-like first attempt without creating a full exam module.
When to use which setup
| Goal | Recommended setup |
|---|---|
| open practice | no time limit, reset allowed |
| structured exercise | optional time limit, reset allowed |
| assessment-style homework | time limit if needed, reset usually off, defer answer reveal on |
| full exam simulation | exam mode, time limit, reset off, defer answer reveal on |