Time Limits

Time Limits

As a recruiter, you may want to control the amount of time a candidate spends on the assessment. This article explains what time-related assessment aspects you can control.

Recap: an Equip assessment (for eg, Python Developer) is a set of tests (for eg, Test 1: Quiz; Test 2: Programming Challenge). Each test may have one or more questions (for eg, Quiz may have many multiple-choice questions and a Programming Challenge will have a single question).

If a candidate's Assessment Start and End Times have a very large gap, it is because they may have taken a long break between tests.

Assessment-level Settings

Start Time Window

You can control the time window for when candidates can start an assessment. For this, in the Settings tab of the assessment, you can modify the Timer Settings. For example, you can specify that candidates can start the assessment only between 10 AM and 10:15 AM on 14th November. If they attempt the test pre-10 AM or post-10:15 AM, Equip won't let them.

End Time

You cannot directly control the time by which an assessment must end. This is because, between tests in an assessment, we let the candidate take a break. Once an assessment starts, the end time is determined by how long the test lasts.

For example, in the case of the Python Developer assessment above, say I start Test 1 at 10 AM and finish it at 10:30 AM. I start Test 2 at 10:40 AM after a 10 minute break. If Test 2 has a maximum allotted time of 30 mins, Equip will auto-submit the test at 11:10 AM. If I had taken a break of 5 minutes instead, the test would have auto-submitted at 11:05 AM.

If you are using Equip's content, you cannot set the time at the Test or Question level. You can only set the Start Time Window. If you are using Custom Content that you are creating, you can set these as well.

Test-level Settings

Tests like Programming Challenges, CSS tests, etc have their own times. Once a candidate starts the test, they must finish the test within that interval. For example, let's say that I started Test 2 in the above example at 10:40 AM. I must finish it by 11:10 AM because the test's duration is 30 minutes.

If I don't submit it by 11:10 AM and I am still on the test window, Equip will automatically submit whatever I have written
If I close the tab at 11:00 AM and return at 11:05 AM, I will have only 5 minutes left because the test must be submitted by 11:10 AM
If I close the tab at 11:00 AM and return at 11:30 AM, I cannot take the test because the test must have been submitted by 11:10 AM

Quiz Time Settings

There are two types of quizzes on Equip: in one-by-one quizzes, the candidate can see only one question at once, like on Typeform. In an all-at-once quiz, candidates see all questions at once, like on Google Forms. If the quiz is all-at-once, you can set a time for it. So, candidates will see all the questions and must submit the quiz within the time allotted (like in the Programming example above). If your quiz is of the one-by-one type, you cannot set a timer for the overall test. You can do it per question

Question-level Settings

Tests like a one-by-one quiz and video responses allow you to set a timer per question. In this case, the candidate gets a fixed time to answer that question. For example, let's say I attempt a one-by-one quiz. I am on Question 5 and it has been allotted 90 seconds. I must answer the question in 90 seconds, else I cannot answer that question anymore. I can only navigate to the next question.

If I close the tab and open it again (or reload the test) 30 seconds after I saw Question 5, I cannot attempt it again even though 90 seconds weren't used up. I can only attempt the next question. So, unlike Programming Tests and all-at-once Quizzes, I cannot resume a question. I can only move on to the next question.

Updated on: 05/09/2024