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Unsubmit a Student's Assessment

Unsubmit an assessment that a student has turned in so that it is reopened for the student.

Monica Burke avatar
Written by Monica Burke
Updated over 8 months ago

There are a few cases in which you may want to return (unsubmit) an assessment to a student, for example:

  • The student accidentally submitted the assessment.

  • You want to offer the student a chance to change their answers.

  • The student submitted the assessment with unanswered questions.


Simple and Advanced Assessments

General Information

  • The student's work and answers are saved in the assessment; unsubmitting does not remove previous work and answers.

  • Any auto or manual scoring will be removed from both the student's assessment and the gradebook and are not recoverable.

  • When the assessment is resubmitted, autoscoring will take place, just as it did for the original submission

  • Statuses of Excluded, Excused, or Missing remain; unsubmitting does not change these statuses.

  • Submission time stamps are removed, including On Time and Late statuses.

  • Assessments marked Graded or Turned In change to In Progress.

    • If it is a Simple Assessment, you are given the option to reset the timer for that student. Otherwise the student will have any time still unused on the timer to finish their assessment.

    • If it is an Advanced Assessment, you do not have the option to reset the timer. You will need to extend the time limit in the assessment settings.

  • If using availability windows, there needs to be at least one availability window open in order to unsubmit the assessment. You will not be able to unsubmit if the last availability window has passed. See the Availability Windows section below for more details.

  • If you used the "randomize questions" setting when assigning the assessment originally, the questions will remain in the same order they were during their first attempt at the assessment.

How to Unsubmit a Simple or Advanced Assessment

❗ The process outlined below applies to Simple and Advanced Assessments only.

  • Step 1: Navigate to your Assessments module.

  • Step 2: Select Assigned.

  • Step 3: Select the correct class.

  • Step 4: Select the assessment.

  • Step 5: Locate the student. Then select the ellipsis.

  • Step 6: Select Unsubmit.

  • Step 7 (Simple Assessments Only): If using a time limit, determine whether or not you'd like the timer to reset when the student begins the assessment again. If not using a time limit, disregard this step.

  • Step 8: Confirm by selecting Unsubmit.

What if the unsubmit button is not available (greyed out)?

The unsubmit button will only be available if the assessment has been submitted from within the student's account. If the assessment was never submitted (for example, the teacher graded the assessment before the assessment was submitted), the unsubmit button will not activate. The assessment must be submitted in order for the unsubmit button to activate.


Unsubmitting and Availability Windows

This section only applies to assessments that utilize availability windows. If you are not using availability windows, you can disregard this section.

Availability windows play a vital role in the ability to unsubmit an assessment. If you'd like to learn more about availability windows, check out this resource.

What You Need To Know

  • Assessments will auto-submit at the conclusion of the last availability window. under the following circumstances:

    • If a student is actively in the assessment when the window ends, their assessment will auto-submit submit immediately.

    • If a student is not actively in the assessment when the window ends, their assessment will auto-submit at the top of the hour.

  • If you no longer have any open availability windows for the assessment, the unsubmit option will be unavailable:

➡️ To unsubmit an assessment that was submitted due to the closing of the last availability window, you'll need to add another availability window. Here's how:

  • Step 1: Navigate to the assessment on your Assigned Assessments page and select the ellipsis.

  • Step 2: Select Edit.

  • Step 3: Add an additional availability window. Do not delete or edit the original window. Make sure you click "Apply" for both the start and end selections!

  • Step 4: Select Save.

You will now be able to unsubmit that assessment.

❗ If the assessment was an Advanced Assessment and the student never started the assessment, the unsubmit option will not be available. Instead, the assessment will need to be unassigned and reassigned to that student, using ManageAssignees.


Rubric Assessments

Do you need to unsubmit a Rubric assessment? This process looks a bit different than Simple and Advanced assessments. Additionally, the steps you will take to unsubmit will be different depending on whether or not the assessment includes attachments.

If the assessment includes student attachments of any kind:

  • Step 1: Navigate to the assigned assessment, select the ellipsis, and choose Edit.

  • Step 2: Make sure Allow Multiple Attempts is turned ON (the box is checked).

  • Step 3: Grade the assessment (don't worry, this grade will reset when you grade the students next submission).❗Please note that a grade must be assigned before the student can reopen the assessment for another attempt.

  • Step 4: The assessment will now be available for the student to reopen, and any attachments they added will still be on the assessment.

If the assessment does NOT include student attachments of any kind:

  • Step 1: Navigate to the assigned assessment, select the ellipsis, and choose Manage Assignees.

  • Step 2: Locate the assessment across the top of the page.

  • Step 3: Uncheck the box for the student you'd like to unsubmit that assessment for.

  • Step 4: Recheck that same box - this will reassign the assessment to the student, and it will now be available for the student to reopen. This method does not preserve student attachments. If you want the student attachments to remain, please see the above section.

❗ Complete this process with caution, as you don't want to reset the assessment for the wrong student!


Otus Live Video

Click to see a video from our Otus Live series on how to unsubmit a student's assessment.


FAQ and Troubleshooting

Click to see FAQ and troubleshooting details.

What happens on the student end when an assessment is unsubmitted?

In their Assessments module, the student will see the assessment status change from Turned In or Graded to In Progress (or in certain cases, Not Started). At that point, they will be able to click on the assessment and reopen it.

When an assessment is unsubmitted, are the student's previous responses saved?

Yes, all student work is saved. When the student reenters the assessment, they can change their previous responses or add additional responses as needed, before resubmitting.

What happens if scores had already been added to the assessment before it was unsubmitted?

Any previously entered auto or manual scoring will be removed. If the assessment utilizes autoscoring, it will be rescored when it is resubmitted. Any manual grading will need to be redone after the assessment is resubmitted.

Why is the unsubmit button unavailable (greyed out)?

Try hovering your mouse over the unsubmit option. You will see a message that gives you information about why the unsubmit option is unavailable.

  • Unsubmit is unavailable. The availability window for this assessment has passed.

If you see this message, you will need to add an additional availability window in order to unsubmit the assessment. You will be able to unsubmit if there is a current or future availability window. For additional instructions, see the section on availability windows in the article above.

  • Unsubmit is unavailable. This assessment has not been submitted.

If you see this message, either the assessment was graded without being submitted from the student's account, or it is an advanced assessment that was never started by the student and was auto-submitted due to the ending of the final availability window. In these cases, the assessment cannot be unsubmitted. If the student does not have answers that need to be saved, it can be unassigned and reassigned for the individual student, using Manage Assignees.

How do I return or reopen an assignment that was turned in on accident?

The process is different for Simple and Advanced Assessments than it is for Rubric Assessments:

  • For Simple or Advanced: Unsubmit it! Go to Assessments, select Assigned, choose the class, and click on the assessment name. When viewing the list of students, click on the action menu (the ellipsis on the right) and choose Unsubmit.

    • Note: if the assessment had an Availability Window, you may need to add a new window before you can unsubmit.

    • If the assessment was not started, the student may already be able to open it! If the student cannot open the assessment and you cannot unsubmit it, please send us the class name and assessment name, and we can take a look!

  • For Rubric Assessments, there is no unsubmit button. The workflow is different if students have attachments or not:

    • If students have attachments on their Rubric Assessment:

      • Go to Assigned Assessments and locate the assessment.

      • Select the action menu (ellipsis button) and choose Edit.

      • Make sure the assessment has Allow Multiple Attempts ON.

      • Grade the student’s assessment.

      • Then the student can retake the assessment, and their attachments will remain

    • If students have not attached anything to their Rubric Assessment:

      • Go to Assigned Assessments and locate the assessment.

      • Select the action menu (ellipsis button) and choose Manage Assignees

      • Uncheck the that corresponds to the correct student and assessment. This will unassign that one Rubric Assessment from that one student, and erase their original attempt.

      • Recheck that same box - this will reassign the assessment to the student, and it will now be available for the student to start again.

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