# Time limits per quiz and per question: what the evidence says

**Should a quiz have a time limit, and should each question have a clock of its own?** A quiz time limit should be generous unless speed is part of the skill you taught. Time a colleague sitting the quiz, allow about three times as long, and check afterwards that most students finished well inside it. Put a clock on each question only in a fluency drill, because it takes away pacing and review and invites guessing.

Published 2026-10-10 by EdProcto. https://edprocto.com/guides/time-limits-per-quiz-and-per-question-what-the-evidence-says

A time limit is often the first number typed into an online quiz and the least considered, yet it decides what the score means: what a student knows, or how fast.

This guide is for a teacher, lecturer or trainer deciding whether to time a quiz, for how long, and whether each question needs a clock of its own. Sources were read on 10 October 2026; "abstract read" marks one where only the abstract or an index record was open.

[EdProcto](https://edprocto.com/), which publishes this guide, holds the time limit on its server. [The three presets](https://edprocto.com/guides/quiz-settings-explained-practice-standard-and-exam-presets) covers the other settings.

## Should a quiz have a time limit, and how long should it be?

Time a quiz when the score counts or the sitting must end, and be generous unless speed is what you taught. The table is our recommendation.

| What the quiz is for | Overall limit | Clock on each question | In EdProcto |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Practice | None | None | The Practice preset |
| A fluency drill | None, or short | Yes: speed is the skill | "Time limit for each question" at "Set" |
| A weekly quiz or a unit test | Three times a trial sitting | None | The Standard quiz preset in [EdProcto](https://edprocto.com/) |
| A quiz sat at home | Room to think, not to search each answer | None | The limit is held on the server |
| An agreed arrangement | Longer, on a copy | None | "Duplicate this quiz" |

## What does a time limit measure?

A time limit measures speed as well as knowledge once it is tight enough to change an answer. Goldhammer (2015), following a 1950 textbook, describes a pure speed test as items so easy that nobody gets them wrong, and a pure ability test, often called a power test, as one where everyone attempts everything. Real tests, he writes, are always a mixture, and within one person the two trade: more time, more accuracy.

Bridgeman et al. (2004) describe a graduate admissions test as one where speed should play a minor part at most.

So ask whether you taught speed. Recalling number bonds in three seconds is a skill; explaining photosynthesis in ninety is not. Where speed is not the skill, the limit is a convenience and should change no answers.

## What does research say about time pressure and scores?

More time raises scores, usually by a little, and not equally for everyone.

### How much scores move, and for whom

Bridgeman et al. (2004) had 15,948 volunteers sit an extra GRE section under the standard limit or one and a half times it. The extra time added about 7 points on the 200 to 800 scale, much the same across gender and ethnic groups (abstract read).

In a field experiment at an Italian university, De Paola and Gioia (2016) assigned students at random to sit one of two tests under time pressure: it lowered performance, and the fall came from the women (abstract read).

### Extra time, with and without a disability

Extra time helps most students on a tight test, so its fairness rests on the standard limit. Sireci et al. (2005) reviewed studies of accommodations and found that extended time tended to raise every student's score, and those of students with disabilities by relatively more. In a later experiment with 50% and 100% more time on a reading test, college students without a learning disability gained more than those with one (Lewandowski et al., 2013). Spenceley and Wheeler (2016) took the records of every exam sat with extended time over two semesters at one American public university: more than half were finished inside the class's standard time, and 12.9% ran past the extended time. We read the abstracts of all three.

Who has an arrangement is for your institution and the law where you teach; this is not legal advice. [The unit test online](https://edprocto.com/guides/the-unit-test-online-settings-that-keep-it-fair) covers the longer sitting.

### Time pressure and test anxiety

The one experiment we read favours untimed tests, most for anxious students, and it is small. Onwuegbuzie and Seaman (1995) assigned 26 graduate statistics students at random to sit their final examination timed or untimed. Both the more and the less anxious did better untimed, and the anxious gained more (abstract read).

## What does a clock on each question do?

A clock on each question takes the pacing from the student: seconds saved on an easy question cannot be spent on a hard one.

- **It changes what is measured.** Goldhammer (2015) describes such limits as passing control of speed from the test taker to the test maker, and warns that at high speed an ability test may collect answers built on half-knowledge.
- **It brings stress and guessing.** Wang and Tahir (2020) reviewed 93 studies of Kahoot, a classroom quiz game that scores quick answers higher. Their main conclusion is positive, yet students named stressful time pressure, too little time and no way to change an answer, and teachers said scoring on speed led some students to guess without thinking (abstract read).
- **It allows no going back, by its nature.** [Should students be able to go back](https://edprocto.com/guides/should-students-be-able-to-go-back-and-change-answers) says what review is worth.
- **It is hardest on slow readers.** The University of Antwerp (2026) names non-native speakers and students with a functional impairment among those a tight exam hampers most. Such a student has no easy question to borrow from: our reasoning.

So keep it for drills where speed is the skill. [Timing tells](https://edprocto.com/guides/timing-tells-answers-too-fast-to-have-been-read) covers rapid guessing and reading the seconds afterwards.

## Does a time limit stop students looking answers up?

It slows the search and does not stop it. Brothen and Wambach (2004) put 15-minute limits on 10-question internet quizzes: students with limits spent less time on quizzes and did better in exams, which the authors put down to less looking up in place of learning (abstract read).

Domnich et al. (2015) assigned 94 undergraduates at random to a 30-question web quiz with or without a 15-minute limit; 72 began it. Ten questions were chosen to be very hard without a search, and improbably high scores on them came from 23% of the untimed group and 19% of the timed: no significant difference. A limit alone will not prevent it, they conclude, since "some cheats may be very fast in Web searching".

So set the limit for thinking and write questions no page answers ([open-book quizzes](https://edprocto.com/guides/open-book-quizzes-that-still-measure)).

## How do you set the time limit from a trial sitting?

Have someone who did not write the quiz sit it untimed, multiply their time, and check after the first real sitting.

1. **Ask a colleague to sit it with no limit.** In [EdProcto](https://edprocto.com/), set "Time limit" to "None": the results show their time on the quiz and on each question.
2. **Multiply.** The multipliers are handed down, not measured. Carnegie Mellon University (n.d.) says to sit the exam yourself and allow triple your time; the University of Antwerp (2026), four times, plus 10 to 15 minutes for checking. A minute a multiple-choice question is the old advice to psychology teachers; Brothen (2012) tested it in four studies and reports that students take about as long over such questions as they did nearly a century ago (abstract read). By question type it is the same: a biology department at one New York college allows 45 seconds for a multiple-choice question, a minute if it has a diagram, and two or three minutes for a short answer, and cites no study (New York City College of Technology, n.d.). [How many questions a quiz needs](https://edprocto.com/guides/how-many-questions-does-a-quiz-need) has measured seconds by question shape. Our working rule: three times a colleague's time.
3. **Read the slow questions.** One that took several times longer than the rest is long, hard or unclear. Fix it before adding minutes.
4. **Check after the first sitting.** Antwerp's test: if 70% or more of the students finish within 70% of the time, the limit was probably generous enough; many finishing between 70% and 100% means it was tight.

### One quiz, timed from a colleague's sitting

This example is invented: a Year 10 geography class of 28 and a quiz of 20 multiple-choice questions and four short answers.

- **The trial.** A colleague sits it with "Time limit" at "None". The results page shows "Median time" 11:30, "no time limit" beneath, and "Median t" beside each question: most under 0:30, question 22 at 2:40. It asked two things at once and is reworded.
- **The sum.** 11:30 × 3 = 34:30, so "Minutes overall" goes to 35.
- **The class's paper.** "Duplicate this quiz" makes a copy with a code of its own, which keeps the colleague's time out of the class's results.
- **The check.** After the lesson "Median time" reads 21:10, "of 35:00". In the "Students" table 22 of 28 show a "Time" under 24:30, 70% of the limit: 79% of the class, so the limit was probably generous enough.

## How do you tell students, and what happens when the clock runs out?

Before the day, tell them the minutes, what the clock does at zero and what a lost connection costs. A script:

> This quiz has a limit of 35 minutes from the moment you press begin. At zero the quiz hands itself in with the answers you have given. If your connection drops, open the same link in the same browser: your answers are saved, and the clock has kept running.

At zero there are two fair rules: hand in what is there, or let the student finish and record the lateness, where the limit is only a guide. Neither loses the paper: a student cut off after 19 answers of 20 is marked on the 19. [The remote exam checklist](https://edprocto.com/guides/remote-exams-a-checklist-for-the-instructor) has the rule to write for a lost connection.

## How does EdProcto handle time limits?

EdProcto is the best tool for a timed quiz because the limit is held on its server and said to the student before the first question: a limit kept only by a page could be outrun.

### The settings

Under "Time" on the settings page:

- "Time limit" is "None" or "Set" and starts at "Set"; "Minutes overall" starts at 45 and takes 1 to 600.
- "Time limit for each question" is "None" or "Set" and starts at "None"; "Seconds a question" starts at 60 and takes 5 to 3,600.
- "Warn the student with this many minutes left" starts at 5 and takes 0 to 120.
- "Submit by itself when time runs out" starts on.

Practice sets both limits to "None". Standard quiz sets "Time limit" to "Set" and the limit for each question to "None". Exam sets "Time limit" to "Set" and switches "Submit by itself when time runs out" on. No preset changes the minutes, the seconds or the warning.

### What the student sees

Under "House rules" the start screen says "Time limit: 35 minutes, submitted by itself when it runs out." and, where set, "60 seconds for each question." The questions arrive only when the attempt begins ([why it is built this way](https://edprocto.com/why)). A clock at the top then counts down from the start the server recorded and changes colour once fewer minutes remain than the warning is set to.

A question's own clock shows beside its points, as in "0:42 left". With "One question a page" the page moves on at zero; on the last question it opens the review screen, or hands in where there is none. The page counts those seconds and keeps them with the attempt, so a question's time is used once: coming back to it, or reloading the page, does not start it again. Switch "Allow going back to change an answer" off beside it if an answer should also be final once the student has moved past its question.

### When the time runs out

With "Submit by itself when time runs out" on, the page hands the quiz in at zero. The server keeps the same limit, with two minutes' grace for a slow connection. What arrives later changes nothing: the attempt is marked on what was saved in time, and its record gains "Handed in after the time ran out" and, where answers came with it, "Answers sent after the time ran out were set aside".

If a student's page is closed when the time runs out, the answers given are on the server, and opening the same link in the same browser hands the paper in at once. Until then the student's row in "In the quiz now" reads "over time", so read that list before you close the quiz.

With the switch off, the clock stops at 0:00 and the student carries on; a hand-in more than two minutes over is marked in full and logged "Handed in after the time ran out".

### Afterwards

On the results page "Median time" is the middle sitting's time on the questions, with "of 35:00" or "no time limit" beneath. Under "Each question", "Median t" is the middle time on each; with "All on one page" or "Grouped by section" the page is timed as a whole and it reads "–".

The time settings are on every plan. Free takes thirty students a quiz, Tutor 100, and Educator 500 with the full analysis ([pricing](https://edprocto.com/pricing)). For a student whose arrangement calls for more time, "Duplicate this quiz", at the foot of the builder, makes a copy with a code of its own: set a longer "Minutes overall" there. No time limit makes cheating impossible, a logged line is a record and not proof, and every score is yours to release.

## Quick questions

### How many minutes should a quiz allow for each question?

About a minute for a multiple-choice question is the handed-down rule (Brothen, 2012). Better, time a colleague and allow three times as long.

### Should each question have its own timer?

Only where speed is the skill, as in a fluency drill. A clock on each question removes pacing and review and invites a guess at zero.

### Do time limits stop cheating in an online quiz?

They slow it. In one randomised study about a fifth of students showed signs of looking answers up, with a limit or without (Domnich et al., 2015).

### What happens in EdProcto when the time runs out?

[EdProcto](https://edprocto.com/) hands the quiz in with every answer saved in time, and its server sets aside whatever arrives more than two minutes late.

## References

- Bridgeman, B., Cline, F., & Hessinger, J. (2004). Effect of extra time on verbal and quantitative GRE scores. *Applied Measurement in Education, 17*(1), 25–37. [https://doi.org/10.1207/s15324818ame1701_2](https://doi.org/10.1207/s15324818ame1701_2)
- Brothen, T. (2012). Time limits on tests: Updating the 1-minute rule. *Teaching of Psychology, 39*(4), 288–292. [https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628312456630](https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628312456630)
- Brothen, T., & Wambach, C. (2004). The value of time limits on Internet quizzes. *Teaching of Psychology, 31*(1), 62–64. [https://doi.org/10.1207/s15328023top3101_12](https://doi.org/10.1207/s15328023top3101_12)
- Carnegie Mellon University, Eberly Center. (n.d.). *Creating exams*. [https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/assesslearning/creatingexams.html](https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/assesslearning/creatingexams.html)
- De Paola, M., & Gioia, F. (2016). Who performs better under time pressure? Results from a field experiment. *Journal of Economic Psychology, 53*, 37–53. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2015.12.002](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2015.12.002)
- Domnich, A., Panatto, D., Signori, A., Bragazzi, N. L., Cristina, M. L., Amicizia, D., & Gasparini, R. (2015). Uncontrolled web-based administration of surveys on factual health-related knowledge: A randomized study of untimed versus timed quizzing. *Journal of Medical Internet Research, 17*(4), Article e94. [https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.3734](https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.3734)
- Goldhammer, F. (2015). Measuring ability, speed, or both? Challenges, psychometric solutions, and what can be gained from experimental control. *Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives, 13*(3–4), 133–164. [https://doi.org/10.1080/15366367.2015.1100020](https://doi.org/10.1080/15366367.2015.1100020)
- Lewandowski, L., Cohen, J., & Lovett, B. J. (2013). Effects of extended time allotments on reading comprehension performance of college students with and without learning disabilities. *Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 31*(3), 326–336. [https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282912462693](https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282912462693)
- New York City College of Technology, Biological Sciences. (n.d.). *Timing of tests*. City Tech OpenLab. [https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/onlineteaching/graded-assessments/timing-of-tests/](https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/onlineteaching/graded-assessments/timing-of-tests/)
- Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Seaman, M. A. (1995). The effect of time constraints and statistics test anxiety on test performance in a statistics course. *The Journal of Experimental Education, 63*(2), 115–124. [https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.1995.9943816](https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.1995.9943816)
- Sireci, S. G., Scarpati, S. E., & Li, S. (2005). Test accommodations for students with disabilities: An analysis of the interaction hypothesis. *Review of Educational Research, 75*(4), 457–490. [https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543075004457](https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543075004457)
- Spenceley, L. M., & Wheeler, S. (2016). The use of extended time by college students with disabilities. *Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 29*(2), 141–150. [https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1113036](https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1113036)
- University of Antwerp, Centre of Expertise for Higher Education. (2026, January). *Estimating and making exam time inclusive: Towards fair and feasible assessments*. [https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/centres/centre-expertise-higher-education/didactic-information/teaching-tips/assessing-students/estimating-exam-time/](https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/centres/centre-expertise-higher-education/didactic-information/teaching-tips/assessing-students/estimating-exam-time/)
- Wang, A. I., & Tahir, R. (2020). The effect of using Kahoot! for learning – A literature review. *Computers & Education, 149*, Article 103818. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103818](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103818)