Canvas: New Quiz Settings for Multiple Dates and Time Limits
Canvas New Quiz Settings for Multiple Dates and Time Limits
At this time, the CTL recommends that you select Classic Quizzes. Although New Quizzes offers some new features, it also lacks features of Classic Quizzes upon which many instructors depend. Please see Canvas: New Quizzes vs. Classic Quizzes to learn more.
The instructions on this page are for Canvas quizzes using the New Quizzes engine. For similar instructions pertaining to Canvas Classic Quizzes, see Canvas: Classic Quiz Settings for Multiple Dates and Time Limits.
Instructors may have students in their course who need to take a Canvas quiz at a different date or time, or with a longer time limit than the main cohort of students. You will need to add these exceptions to the quiz settings. This involves 3 important steps:
- Assign a different or extended quiz availability window for individual students
- Extend the time limit for individual students
- Double check that your settings are correct
Assigning a Different Availability Window
Create your online quiz as you normally would as follows:
- As the instructor in your course, in the courses menu, click Quizzes.
- In the Quizzes page, at the top right, click +Quiz.
- In the quiz engine pop-up that appears, select New Quizzes, and then click Submit.
- In the form page that opens enter a name for the quiz and the number of points the quiz will be worth.
- Scroll down to Assign to and in the respective fields under “Everyone", enter the due date and time for the quiz to be submitted, the date and time the quiz becomes accessible to students, and the date and time after the due date when the quiz can no longer be accessed.
Note: you can change other quiz settings for your specific use of the quiz.
- When finished, scroll down and click Save, then build your quiz questions as you normally would. (See Canvas: Creating a Quiz with New Quizzes)
When you find out the dates and times for the student exceptions, add their dates and times as follows:
- In the Quizzes page, click the 3 dots to the far right of the quiz name.
- In the drop-down menu that appears, click Edit.
- In the quiz settings page, scroll to the bottom below Assign to Everyone and click +Add.
- In the new Assign to box that appears, type the names of the students who will take the quiz at a new date and time. Names of students in your course will appear as you type.
- Below the newly entered student names, enter the Due, Available from, and Until dates and times, ensuring you are taking into account any extended time allocations. Note that the duration between the available date and the Until/Due dates MUST allow for each student’s full time allocation, including their time extension. Note: in the first Assign to box, “Everyone” will change to “Everyone Else” after you save.
- If you have more students who will take the quiz at another date or time, repeat steps 9 to 11.
- When finished adding settings and questions, scroll down and click Save.
Creating and Extending the Time Limit
Create the time limit for the main cohort of students as follows:
- In the Quizzes page, click the quiz name. This will launch New Quizzes and take you to the Build page.
- At the top of the page, click the Settings tab.
- Click the Time Limit option so that it displays a green checkmark.
- Enter the time limit for the main cohort of students in hours and minutes.
Note: you can also change other quiz settings for your specific use of the quiz.
Extend the time limit for individual students as follows:
- At the top of the page, click the Moderate tab.

- In the Moderate page that opens, find the name of the student that you would like to assign more time to for the duration of the quiz attempt. You have two options:
Option 1 - Increasing time limit for all New Quizzes. If you would like to give this student the same time limit increase for all
New Quizzes in your Canvas course, then do as follows:
- Click on the pencil icon to the right of their name.
- In the pop-up window, in the drop-down menu, select Time limit multiplier.
- Enter the number by which you want to multiply the original time limit.
- Click Save.
Option 2 - Increasing time limit for this quiz only. If you would like to give this student a time limit increase only for this quiz, then do as follows:
- Click the Moderate button to the right of their name.
- In the panel that appears, in the drop-down menu below Time adjustments, select Give additional time.
- Input the number of hours and minutes by which you want to increase the time limit.
- Click the x at the top left of the panel to close and save.
- You should now see to the right of the student's name under the Accommodations heading that the student has their time limit increased. Repeat this for all students affected.
- When finished, click Return at top right to save your changes and return to the Quizzes page.
Note: Use this Moderate tab during the quiz to track submissions and add more time as needed.
Check Your Quiz Settings
It is a good idea to ensure that your quiz settings are set up properly. Compare your settings with those below to ensure they are correct.
Incorrect:
If you have students who require extra time, and your Assign to box looks like this (with the term Everyone), then you have not provided sufficient time for the students who are allocated extra time.
Correct:
You need an extra Assign to box for the students who are allocated extra time, with a large enough “time window” to allow for their individual time extensions. BUT, this isn’t the last step! You also need to add extra time in the Moderate tab (see below).
You also need to go to the Moderate tab in your quiz and add extra time for each student with extra time accommodations. Here, these students are allocated the original 90 minutes (through Quiz Settings Tab), but both have + 45 minutes extra (Quiz Moderate tab). The first option has had the time limit increased be a factor of 1.5 (1.5 x 90 = 135 mins), while the second option has had the time limit increased by directly adding 45 mins (90 + 45 = 135 mins).
To learn more about Canvas Quiz settings, contact ctl.helpdesk@ubc.ca.
Updated March 2021