Guide · Moodle

How do Moodle quizzes work? Navigation, time limits, attempts and grading

A Moodle quiz is a set of questions that you answer in one or more attempts. Your instructor decides everything that matters along the way: whether you can move freely between questions, how much time you have and what happens when it runs out, how many attempts you get and which one counts, and when you see the correct answers. Moodle saves your answers when you change pages and every few minutes in between, but the time limit runs on the server, so closing the tab does not stop it. Below we walk through each of these from a student’s point of view.

The short version

Navigation is either free or sequential. With sequential navigation you cannot go back to a previous question or skip ahead.
The time limit starts when you begin an attempt and keeps running even if you close the browser.
When time runs out, the attempt is submitted automatically by default, but your instructor can choose a different rule.
With several attempts, your final grade is the highest, the average, the first or the last grade, depending on the settings.
What you see after the quiz (marks, correct answers, feedback) depends on the review options your instructor has set.

What an attempt looks like, step by step

The quiz page usually shows the basics: when the quiz opens and closes, the time limit, the number of attempts allowed and the grading method. Read them before you start, because on a timed quiz the clock starts right away. Moodle shows a pop-up warning that time will count down from the moment you start and that you must submit before it expires. If your instructor has set a quiz password, Moodle asks for it at the start.

During the attempt you have the quiz navigation block (a slide-out drawer in newer versions of Moodle): question numbers, a marker for the ones you have answered and a timer if the quiz is timed. You can flag a question. It is just your own “come back to this” bookmark and does not affect your grade.

At the end, Moodle shows a summary page listing every question and pointing out the ones you have not answered. From there you can return to the attempt or choose “Submit all and finish.” Moodle then asks you to confirm, because you cannot change your answers after submitting.

Free vs. sequential navigation

Your instructor picks one of two navigation methods:

Free: You can move between questions in any order, go back to earlier ones and change your answers until you submit the attempt. This is the default.
Sequential: You answer in order. You cannot go back to a previous question or skip ahead to a later one, so moving on closes the previous page.

Page layout matters too. Your instructor decides how many questions go on one page: sometimes the whole quiz, sometimes a single question. The order of questions and answer options can be shuffled, so your quiz may look different from a classmate’s.

On a sequential quiz the rule is simple: do not click “Next” until you are sure about the answers on the current page. On a free quiz it pays to go through the easy questions first, flag the harder ones and come back to them at the end.

Time limits and what happens when time runs out

A quiz can have an open and close date as well as a time limit per attempt. Those are two different things: the close date sets the last moment you can start an attempt, and the time limit says how long one attempt lasts from the moment you start it. If you start right before the quiz closes, your attempt may end at the close date rather than after the full time limit.

The timer is shown in the navigation block. The server keeps the time, so closing the tab, shutting your laptop or losing your connection does not stop the clock. If you come back before the time is up, you can continue the attempt where you left off. In newer versions you can hide the timer, but it comes back when little time is left.

What happens when time runs out depends on the option your instructor chose:

Submitted automatically: The default. The open attempt is submitted with the answers that have been saved.
Grace period: Once time is up you cannot answer more questions, but you still have a short window to submit the attempt. If you do not, the attempt is not graded.
Must submit before time expires: An attempt that is not submitted before the time limit ends does not count at all. This is the strictest option.

Not sure which option applies? Ask your instructor before the quiz, and on an important test submit with time to spare instead of waiting for the last few seconds.

Attempts and grading methods

Your instructor sets how many attempts you get: one, several or unlimited. There can be a required wait between attempts, and a new attempt can “build on the last,” which means it starts with your previous answers so you only have to fix the wrong ones.

When you have more than one attempt, the grading method decides what counts:

Highest grade: Your final grade is your best result across all attempts. Another attempt cannot hurt you.
Average grade: The average of all attempts counts, so a weaker attempt pulls your grade down.
First attempt: Only your first result counts, and later attempts are for practice.
Last attempt: Your most recent attempt counts, even if it is worse than an earlier one.

Before another attempt, check the grading method on the quiz page. With highest grade, an extra attempt is pure upside; with last attempt, it can cost you points.

When you find out whether an answer is right

Moodle has several question behaviors. They decide whether you get feedback during the attempt or only after you submit it:

Deferred feedback: A classic exam: you answer everything, submit the attempt, and only then are the questions graded.
Interactive with multiple tries: After answering you click “Check.” If the answer is wrong, you can try again, often with a hint, but each extra try can cost part of the marks.
Immediate feedback: Your answer is graded as soon as you check it, but you cannot change it afterward.
Adaptive mode: You can revise your answer several times before moving on. Extra tries usually come with a penalty.
Certainty-based marking: Along with your answer, you say how sure you are. A confident wrong answer costs more than a cautious one.

Question types in a Moodle quiz

Moodle has more than a dozen standard question types. The ones you will see most often:

multiple choice with one or several correct answers; when several are correct, wrong selections can take points away,
true/false,
matching, where you pair items from two lists,
short answer, where you type a word or phrase that is compared with your instructor’s accepted answers, so spelling matters,
numerical questions, sometimes with an accepted margin of error, and calculated questions, where everyone may get different numbers,
select missing words and drag-and-drop questions into text or onto an image,
embedded answers (Cloze), a passage with gaps of different types, and ordering questions,
essay, a longer written answer that your instructor grades by hand.

Your instructor grades essays manually, so a quiz with an essay question may show an incomplete grade right after you submit. You will see the final grade once it has been marked.

What you see after you submit

Review options decide what the attempt review shows. Your instructor sets them separately for four moments: during the attempt (only with behaviors that give feedback as you go), immediately after the attempt (within two minutes), later while the quiz is still open, and after the quiz closes.

For each of these moments they can show or hide your answers, whether they are correct, your marks, feedback on each question, the right answer and overall feedback based on your score. That is why you may see only your score right after the quiz, while the correct answers appear only once the quiz has closed for everyone.

In the review, correct answers are usually marked in green, wrong ones in red and partially correct ones in orange. If the review is available, take notes from it. It is the best material for studying before your next exam.

Common problems: session timeouts and lost connections

Moodle saves your answers every time you move to another page of the quiz. On top of that, autosave runs every two minutes by default, although your school’s administrator can set a different interval. Changes from the last moments before something goes wrong may therefore not be saved yet.

If autosave fails because your connection dropped, Moodle shows a warning that the connection was lost. Write down any answers you entered in the last few minutes and try to reconnect. Once the connection is back, your answers should be saved and the message will disappear. The timer keeps running the whole time.

The other common case is an expired login session. If you stay on one page for a long time, for example while writing a long essay, and your school uses a short session timeout, Moodle may ask you to log in again when you click “Next.” Answers that were not saved yet can be lost, so with a longer text, select it and copy it to the clipboard every now and then.

If your browser freezes or you close it by mistake, open the quiz again and continue your attempt. Moodle remembers the page you were on and your saved answers. If something is still lost or your attempt was not counted, write to your instructor right away and explain what happened. They can look at how your attempt went and give you an extra attempt if needed.

How to prepare for a Moodle quiz

Read the quiz page: close date, time limit, number of attempts and grading method.
Start with time to spare, not a few minutes before the quiz closes, because your attempt may then be shorter.
Make sure you have a stable connection and a charged device, and log in again right before the quiz so your session is fresh.
Do not use your browser’s Back and Forward buttons, and do not open the same attempt in two tabs. Moodle may then report that data was entered outside the normal sequence.
Do not click anything while a quiz page is still loading.
On a timed quiz, keep an eye on the timer and leave yourself a moment for the summary page.
Check the quiz description to see whether wrong selections in multiple-choice questions cost points.
Before you click “Submit all and finish,” go through the summary and any unanswered questions.

Quizonator on Moodle

Quizonator is a Chrome extension and a mobile app that recognize the question in a Moodle quiz and show a suggested answer with a short explanation next to the question or in a panel on the same page. You do not retype questions into a chat or look for answers in another window.

Choosing the answer and submitting the attempt are always up to you: Quizonator never clicks “Submit all and finish.” AI can be wrong, especially on questions based on your course materials, so read the explanation. Your instructor sets the rules on which aids are allowed, so check them before a graded quiz.

Quizonator on Moodle: how it works

Sources

This guide is based on the official Moodle documentation (as of September 24, 2026). Schools run different Moodle versions and can change the defaults, so the layout and button names may differ slightly.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Moodle quiz timer keep running if I close the browser?

Yes. The time limit starts when you begin the attempt and runs on the server, whether or not the page is open. If you come back before it ends, you can continue the attempt.

What happens when time runs out on a Moodle quiz?

It depends on your instructor’s settings. By default, the open attempt is submitted automatically. There can also be a grace period just for submitting, or a rule that an attempt not submitted in time does not count at all.

Can I go back to a previous question?

With free navigation, yes, until you submit the attempt. With sequential navigation, no: you answer in order and cannot return to earlier pages.

Which attempt counts if I have several?

That depends on the grading method: highest grade, average of all attempts, first attempt or last attempt. You will find it on the quiz page.

Why can’t I see the correct answers after the quiz?

Your instructor decides in the review options what you can see and when. Correct answers often appear only after the quiz closes, and sometimes not at all.

What should I do if my internet drops during the quiz?

Do not close the page. Write down the answers from the last few minutes, restore your connection and check that the lost-connection warning has disappeared. The timer keeps running. If your attempt was lost, write to your instructor right away.

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