---
title: Give a Student Additional Time on an Atomic Assessment
description: How to give students additional time during an attempt.
---

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# Give a Student Additional Time on an Atomic Assessment

## Atomic Assessments time limits are set on an override. you can give students additional time by configuring a new override or increasing the time limit during an attempt.

Atomic Assessments time limits are set on an **override** in the assignment settings. To give one student (or a group of students) more time than everyone else, you give them their own override with a longer time limit.

Which steps you follow depends on where the student is:

| Situation | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| The student has not started yet | Set a longer time limit for that student in an override. |
| The student is taking the assessment right now | Raise their time limit while the attempt is open. |
| The assessment already submitted — including when the timer ran out | Reopen the attempt and add minutes. |

### **Give a student a longer time limit**

Do this before the student starts, or any time you want a standing accommodation on an assignment.

1. Open **Atomic Assessments** in your course and select the assignment.
2. Open **Settings** for that assignment and go to the section where the assignment is assigned to students (the override rows — the same place you set **Available from**, **Until**, and **Allow late submissions**).
3. Add a new row and assign it to the student or students who need extra time. Assigning a student their own row removes them from the **Everyone** row — their row now controls their dates, attempts, and time limit.
4. Check **Time limit** and enter the number of minutes in **Time limit (in minutes)**.
5. Save the assignment.

The student's own override replaces the Everyone values for them — it is not added on top. If Everyone gets 60 minutes and the student needs time and a half, enter **90**, not 30.

Leaving **Time limit** unchecked for that student means *no* time limit for them at all.

#### Adaptive assessments use percentages instead of minutes

On an **adaptive** assessment, the time limit lives on each step of the assessment rather than on the assignment as a whole. The override row therefore shows a **Time accommodation** dropdown instead of a minutes field:

- **No accommodation** — the authored step times apply as written.
- **Time and a half (150%)**
- **Double time (200%)**
- **Unlimited time** — removes the step time limits entirely for that student.
- **Custom** — enter your own percentage. For example, 200 means double time.

### **Add time while a student is still working**

There is no "add 10 minutes" button on an attempt that is currently open. Instead, raise the time limit on that student's override using the steps above, while they are still in the assessment.

What the student sees next depends on your assignment's **Timer mode** setting:

**Timer mode: "Time runs continuously even if the student navigates away"**

The new time limit is honored automatically. Atomic Assessments re-checks the student's current time limit before it auto-submits the attempt, so raising the limit prevents the submission even if the student does nothing.

**Timer mode: "Time runs only when assessment is active"** (the default)

The timer the student is looking at was loaded when they opened the assessment and does not change on its own. Ask the student to **reload the assessment** (or close it and launch it again) once you have saved the new time limit. Their answers are saved, and the timer picks up the new limit when the assessment reopens.

**Tip:** If you are not sure the student will get the message in time, it is safe to let the attempt submit and then use the re-open steps below — their answers are kept either way.

### **Add time after the assessment has been submitted**

Use this when a student ran out of time, was interrupted, or submitted by mistake, and you want to let them keep working on the *same* attempt.

1. Open the assignment's **Summary** report.
2. Find the student and click their **Status** (for example *Completed*, *Needs grading*, or *Waiting to be scored*).
3. A window opens asking **"Set status to Started so student can continue working on this submission?"**
4. Check **Give student additional time** and enter the number of extra minutes in **Time (in minutes)**.
5. Click **Change Status**.

The student's status returns to **Started**. Their existing answers are still there, their extra minutes are added to their time limit, and the extra time does not begin counting until they re-open the assessment. The recorded score is cleared and will be recalculated when they submit again.

If the student has already been given extra time on this attempt, the window shows **"Student started using additional time at:"** with the time they resumed.

The **Give student additional time** option only appears for an assessment that has a time limit. If there is no time limit, the window simply resets the status to Started.

If the student's status is **Started** or **Paused**, clicking Status offers **Force Submit** instead. The re-open options become available once the attempt has been submitted.

### **Assessments with a continuous timer, and attempts past the Until date**

If the assessment uses the **"Time runs continuously even if the student navigates away"** timer mode, or the **Until** (lock) date has already passed, extra minutes alone will not help — the student will be stopped by the clock or the lock date before they can use them. In those cases the same window shows the student's full override settings instead, so you can extend the **Until** date (and adjust the time limit) before setting the status back to Started.

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