Answer first: use a per-question timer for a short answer window, host-paced delivery when everyone must discuss the same item together, participant-paced delivery when readers need independent navigation, and a deadline only when the session must stop accepting work at a known wall-clock time. Never treat “has a timer” as evidence that all four behaviors exist.
Key findings, verified 11 October 2026
- Mentimeter Quiz Competition slides run live in Presentation mode. Each question can have its own response time and either time-based or fixed scoring; when the countdown ends—or everyone has voted—the answer and results appear.
- Mentimeter Survey mode is participant-paced and has no time limit, but Quiz Competition slides cannot run in that mode. Participation remains open until the presenter closes it.
- Kahoot! standard live scoring normally uses response time. Live Accuracy mode removes speed from the points decision, while assigned kahoots can disable the question timer entirely.
- Wayground separates Teacher-Led sessions from Student-Paced modes. Its live Classic mode allows independent progress without question-level time pressure, while the session still has a host-set duration.
- Socrative Pro now supports a per-participant quiz time limit for Instant Feedback and Open Navigation: the default is 15 minutes, the maximum is 120 minutes, and Teacher Paced quizzes do not support that timer.
What is quiz pacing?
Quiz pacing is the rule that determines when a participant may see, answer, revisit, and leave a question or session. The visible countdown is only one layer. A reproducible comparison must also record the timed unit, the person or system that advances the activity, the effect of expiry, the scoring rule, and any separate availability window.
A deadline is a wall-clock boundary such as “submissions close Friday at 5 p.m.” A 20-minute timer that starts when each learner joins is not the same thing: two learners can receive different expiry times. Likewise, an untimed self-paced session can still be closed manually by its owner.
Timing-control matrix
| Control | What it governs | Evidence to record | Common mistaken inference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per-question timer | Answer window for one item | Duration, start event, expiry behavior, score effect | “The entire quiz closes then” |
| Whole-quiz timer | Elapsed time available to one participant | Join trigger, pause, reconnect, auto-submit, attempt rules | “Everyone has the same deadline” |
| Host pace | When the room advances | Advance authority, reveal order, pause behavior | “Each participant controls reading time” |
| Participant pace | Individual navigation | Backtracking, resume, feedback timing, session duration | “There is no time boundary” |
| Speed scoring | How response time changes points | Formula, correctness-only alternative, mode dependency | “The timer is only visual” |
| Deadline or closure | When new work stops being accepted | Timestamp, timezone, manual versus automatic close, late-submit result | “It is the same as time allowed after joining” |
Platform pacing matrix
| Workflow | Pace authority | Documented timer | Score effect | Deadline boundary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mentimeter Quiz Competition | Presenter advances a real-time Presentation-mode quiz | Per-question “Time to respond” countdown | Time-based awards 1,000–500 for correct answers; fixed gives every correct answer 1,000 | Not an asynchronous deadline workflow |
| Mentimeter Survey mode | Participant moves through supported question slides independently | No time limit | Quiz Competition scoring is unavailable because those slides cannot run in Survey mode | Voting stays open until participation is turned off |
| Kahoot! live or assigned | Live host or independently completed assignment | Live questions use timers; assigned sessions can disable the question timer | Standard live points are speed-sensitive; Accuracy mode is correctness-only | The cited scoring source does not establish one universal due-date rule |
| Wayground live session | Teacher-Led or Student-Paced | Classic is described without question time constraints; students remain within the session duration | Mode-specific; Team mode aggregates individually submitted performance | Async homework timing requires a separate assignment check |
| Socrative quiz | Instant Feedback, Open Navigation, or Teacher Paced | Pro whole-quiz timer for the first two modes; 15-minute default, up to 120 minutes | The timer governs completion, not a documented speed-points formula | Each learner's timer starts on join; it is not a shared wall-clock deadline |
Sources: Mentimeter Quiz Competition setup, Mentimeter live hosting, Mentimeter Survey mode, Kahoot! points and timer behavior, Wayground live modes, Socrative timers, and Socrative delivery methods.
When does a timer affect the score?
Mentimeter makes this a question-level authoring choice. Time-based scoring awards fewer points as a correct response takes longer, while Fixed points gives every correct response the same 1,000 points. Incorrect or missing answers receive zero in either setting. The response window still closes when the countdown ends, so fixed scoring removes the speed component from points without removing the timer.
Kahoot! separates the decisions differently. Its standard formula divides response time by the question timer and reduces the available points accordingly. Accuracy mode provides a correctness-only live alternative. For assigned kahoots, the timer itself can be switched off, removing the associated speed deduction. Record the live or assigned mode along with the scoring setting; “Kahoot! quiz” is not enough to reproduce the result.
What is the difference between host-paced and participant-paced?
Host-paced delivery keeps a room on the same item. Mentimeter's Quiz Competition is presented in real time, Wayground Teacher-Led keeps students together, and Socrative Teacher Paced lets the teacher send one question at a time, revisit items, and observe responses as they happen.
Participant-paced delivery gives each person more navigation control, but the details still differ. Mentimeter Survey mode stays open without a time limit until participation is disabled. Wayground Student-Paced sessions let learners move independently within the configured session duration. Socrative Open Navigation permits skipping, editing, and backtracking, while an optional Pro timer can still end and submit the attempt.
What happens when a Socrative timer expires?
Socrative's current timer documentation is unusually specific. Each participant's timer begins when that participant joins. At expiry, the quiz ends automatically; an answer being edited at that moment is not submitted. Pausing the activity pauses all participant timers. With One Attempt off, rejoining starts a fresh timer; with One Attempt on, the timer continues even after the participant leaves.
Those rules show why a countdown value alone is inadequate evidence. A fair rehearsal must test join time, pause, exit, reconnect, attempt settings, and an answer left open at expiry.
Worked example: compliance refresher
A ten-question compliance refresher contains dense safety language. The organizer chooses participant-paced delivery, disables speed-sensitive scoring, and records the completion window separately from any elapsed-time limit. A live host-led recap is treated as a different session.
- Use a synthetic learner to confirm whether the timer begins on assignment release or on first join.
- Leave one answer open at expiry and record whether it saves, submits, or disappears.
- Disconnect and rejoin with both single-attempt and repeat-attempt settings.
- Pause the activity and verify what happens to every active timer.
- Check the displayed timezone and closure message for the separate deadline.
If the platform cannot document an automatic deadline, the organizer should not describe a timer or manual close as one.
Eight-field timing audit
- Delivery mode: record live, assigned, survey, assessment, team, or presentation mode.
- Timed unit: identify question, whole attempt, session duration, or availability window.
- Start trigger: record host start, slide reveal, participant join, or fixed timestamp.
- Advance authority: identify host, participant, or automatic progression.
- Expiry behavior: test save, auto-submit, skipped item, lockout, reveal, and retry.
- Score effect: record whether time changes access, points, both, or neither.
- Recovery: test pause, disconnect, rejoin, resume, and attempt limits.
- Closure: record an automatic deadline or manual close separately, including timezone and late-submit behavior.
Common timer and pacing mistakes
- Copying a live question timer into an asynchronous assignment plan.
- Calling a participant-specific elapsed timer a shared deadline.
- Describing an asynchronous survey as a competitive quiz.
- Leaving speed-sensitive scoring enabled when careful comprehension matters more than reaction time.
- Assuming pause, disconnect, or rejoin preserves the remaining time without testing it.
- Publishing a deadline without its timezone or the participant-visible expiry result.
- Assuming an accommodation or plan-gated control applies across every delivery mode.
Method and limitations
We compared delivery mode, timed unit, start trigger, advance authority, expiry, score effect, recovery, and closure using current first-party documentation rechecked on 11 October 2026. A cautious matrix cell means the cited source did not establish a broader deadline or cross-mode claim.
We did not purchase subscriptions, execute authenticated cross-plan comparisons, run learning or fairness studies, test accommodation effectiveness, validate timezone edge cases, benchmark devices or latency, inspect backend logs, or perform an accessibility-conformance audit. Product settings can vary by plan, account type, workspace policy, mode, and release.
Practical next step
Choose the pace before choosing the platform, then run the eight-field audit with a synthetic participant. Pair it with the question-type matrix when the timer may change the evidence, the accessible live-quiz checklist when time pressure affects access, the failure-recovery checklist for pause and reconnect behavior, and the leaderboard matrix when response speed changes rankings.
Correction path: report a changed timer, pacing mode, score rule, expiry behavior, assignment window, or deadline through the corrections process with the exact claim and current first-party source. Verification date: 11 October 2026.