As an instructor, you can add a time limit to quizzes to increase the academic challenge, helping students demonstrate mastery of content by recalling what they have learned in a shorter timeframe. However, timed quizzes will not solve all of your quiz security concerns. Read the article below to see how a timed quiz works for students from starting to submitting.
Article Contents
- Timed Quiz Behaviors
- Quiz Auto-Submit
- Browser Messages and Canvas Quiz Autosave
- Resuming a Quiz with Time Remaining
- After a Canvas Quiz Auto-Submits
- Known Glitches with Auto-Submit and Quiz Time
Important Notes
- Canvas quizzes are not suitable for exams that require strict and controlled proctoring. If you require a more secure testing environment for your online course, please reach out to your Program Manager, who can share your testing needs with Online Learning.
- The time limit cannot be exceeded unless the instructor gives a student more time based on an established accommodation received from Student Services prior to the course start date.
- Students can exit a quiz at any time during a timed quiz. There is no way to enforce students staying in a quiz for its entire duration.
- Students are not required to submit their quiz themselves. If students do not submit their quiz using the Submit Quiz button, the quiz will automatically be submitted when the allotted time runs out.
- Extended Studies has no way to change how quizzes work, but you can submit a feature request using the Help feature in Canvas. In the Canvas global navigation (left side of Canvas), just click Help > Report a Problem or Request Help and state your issue and feature request, and it will be forwarded to our Canvas rep.
Timed Quiz Behaviors
When a time limit is set on a Canvas quiz, the following quiz behaviors are true:
1. Time begins counting down once a student clicks the Take the Quiz button.
2. Once a timed quiz has been started, the time is displayed at the top of a quiz (example of a quiz with 1 minute time limit shown below).
The countdown timer is also shown in either the top-right corner or at the bottom of a quiz page, depending on how the student has sized their browser window (time shown in top-right of quiz in screenshot below).
3. The timer cannot be overridden by any student action: time continues to count down regardless of what the student does on their computer before they click Submit or before the quiz time expires and the quiz is submitted automatically.
Countdown Behavior Summary
Time counts down after a quiz is started even if that student...
- navigates to another area of Canvas.
- closes the tab the quiz is in.
- leaves the tab idle and visible on screen (without any other computer-based activity).
- leaves the tab idle by opening and viewing other tabs or applications on their computer.
- shuts down their computer or loses power to their computer.
- loses wi-fi signal or internet connectivity.
In short, nothing a student does will stop the timer once a quiz has been started. The time runs on the Canvas-side server.
4. Timed quizzes are designed so that either the student submits the quiz when they are ready or the quiz auto-submits at the end of the allotted time, provided the student still has an active browser open.
End-of-time limit Behavior Summary
A quiz will automatically submit student answers when the time limit expires and the student has an active browser window, even if the student...
- navigates to another area of Canvas.
- leaves the tab idle and visible on screen (without any other computer-based activity).
- leaves the tab idle by opening and viewing other tabs or applications on their computer.
And a student can submit their attempt at any time during the allotted time, thus ending their attempt.
When a Student Takes More Time than Allowed
You may encounter a student whose quiz time exceeded the allotted time. However, even though it appears that the student has exceeded the time, it is not true. Students are never able to take more quiz time than allotted.
Canvas requires an active browser session to automatically submit student quizzes; therefore, if a student...
- closes the tab the quiz is in,
- shuts down their computer or loses power to their computer, or
- loses wi-fi signal or internet connectivity
...then you may see that a student's quiz time has exceeded the time limit you set.
When the student next attempts to access the quiz, and the time limit has run out, they will be unable to access the quiz and that attempt will be closed.
You can view the student's quiz log to ensure that no activity took place beyond the time limit you have set.
Quiz Auto-Submit
5. When the time on a timed quiz runs out, Canvas will display a warning that answers will be submitted in 10 seconds. After these additional 10 seconds expire, any answers entered on that attempt will be made final; no further changes can be made to that specific attempt.
A student may click Ok, fine or simply wait for the time to expire, and that specific attempt at the quiz will be submitted. If the student is viewing the tab as Canvas auto-submits, they will be taken to the quiz results page immediately.
Note: These messages are only visible in the tab that a quiz is shown in. If a student leaves their computer or is viewing other content on their computer, Canvas quizzes have no way of alerting or interrupting a student who is not actively viewing the tab. If a student is not viewing their quiz, it will auto-submit. If a student has closed their browser or shut off their computer, when the time runs out, their quiz will be auto-saved.
6. When a student clicks Submit Quiz at the bottom of a quiz before time expires, the answers will be submitted for scoring, and no further attempts can be made unless the instructor has allowed multiple attempts.
Submitting with Blank Answers
If the student has any blank questions, the Submit Quiz button will be gray.
When Submit Quiz is clicked when there are blank answers, Canvas will warn users they have blank questions. Students may click OK to submit an incomplete quiz or click Cancel to continue working on the quiz, as long as time remains.
Submitting a Completed Quiz
If the student has answered all questions, the Submit Quiz button will turn blue, and there will be no warning upon click.
Then, the student will be taken directly to the results page, where they will see a green "Quiz Submitted" banner, indicating that quiz attempt is finished.
⚠️ However, a student does not need to click Submit for the quiz to be submitted!
7. Students who navigate from an active quiz to another area of Canvas during a timed quiz will see the following warning from Canvas:
Again, the quiz time will continue to count down even if a student navigates away.
Browser Messages and Canvas Quiz Autosave
8. If a student has answered some questions during an attempt, and they close their web browser but do not click submit and the allotted quiz time has not run out, the browser will warn them that their changes have not been saved. Canvas autosaves quiz answers approximately every 15 seconds, so while the browser may be incorrect about unsaved changes, the browser can sense that the student was in progress on that page.
If a student tries to close their browser while taking a quiz, but has not yet made any answer choices or typed any short-answer responses, browsers will not show such a message.
Autosave Status for Students
Students may look at the bottom of the quiz near the Submit Quiz button to see the status of Canvas' autosave feature.
Data Not Saved
Data Saved with Time Stamp
Resuming a Quiz with Time Remaining
If a student exits a quiz before time is up, they can resume working on the quiz by clicking Resume Quiz. There is no way to prevent a student from exiting and resuming any type of Canvas quiz.
After a Canvas Quiz Auto-Submits
If a student begins a quiz but does not click Submit Quiz, forcing Canvas to auto-submit, the next time a student views the quiz, they will see their attempt summary and any answers or feedback that the instructor has enabled.
The time a student took to answer the quiz is shown below the attempt history (see green arrow in screenshot below).