How To Set Up Timed Assessment

Timed Assessments are used when you need to limit how long a respondent can spend completing an assessment. They are commonly used for exams, tests, or any scenario where time control and timing insights are important.

A Timed Assessment is built the same way as any other assessment. The only difference is that you enable and configure timing settings.

What changes in a Timed Assessment

Timed Assessments behave the same as standard assessments, with these additions:

• A countdown timer is shown to respondents while completing the assessment.
• You can control whether respondents can revisit previous sections.
• You can control how time behaves if a respondent leaves and re-enters.
• Section-level timing data is captured for reporting.

Configure timing settings

Timing is configured from Assessment Settings. (see Option Tab in Assessment Settings for more detail)

Enable timed assessment

• Select Is Timed Assessment. Once selected, timing-related fields will appear.
  
  

Assessment-level timing options

• Time Limit
  Set the total allowed time (hours, minutes, seconds). Once time expires, answers can no longer be saved.
• Timer Restarts at Last Save
  Controls what happens if a respondent leaves and re-enters:
  • Enabled: Time pauses when the respondent exits and resumes from the last saved point. Useful if interruptions are expected.
  • Disabled: Time continues to run even while the respondent is out of the assessment.

You can also apply timers at the section level. If you only want section-level timing, you do not need to set an assessment-level timer.

Respondent and administrator experience

Respondent experience

• The countdown timer is visible while the respondent is completing the assessment.
• Navigation (such as the Previous button) behaves according to the assessment settings.
• If time expires, responses can no longer be saved.

Administrator experience

• The timer is not shown when viewing a response as an administrator or assessment manager.
• In Response Settings, you can:
  • View the remaining time (based on the last saved state).
  • Adjust the remaining time if required.
• Timing details (start, finish, duration, session number) are visible from the section menu when viewing a response.

Important: If you are testing a timed assessment while logged in as an administrator or manager, the timer will not run and the response will not appear in timing reports.

Timing reports

Timed Assessments include additional reporting options.

• A spreadsheet report is available that shows:

  • Section start time
  • Section finish time
  • Duration per section
  • Session number

  for all responses to an assessment.

• Administrators can access this report from the Report Manager.