Change the number of attempts for activities

Updated 19 Feb 2024

In some cases, you may want to change the number of attempts students have to complete a single activity. In other cases, you may want to change the number of attempts for all activities of a particular type at once.

  1. Go to the Assignment Calendar page.
  2. Locate and point to the asset for which you want to change the number of attempts.
  3. Select Edit from the options menu.
  4. Go to the Preferences page.
  5. In the General section, change the number in the box to the right of Specify number of attempts.
  6. Click Save and Return.
  1. Click Preferences in the top-right corner of any page.
  2. Click Activities in the Instructor column.
  3. In the Customize Activity Types section, click Edit in the Preferences column to the right of type of activity for which you want to change the number of attempts.
  4. Leave General selected in the left column of the window that opens.
  5. Change the number in the box to the right of Specify number of attempts.
  6. Click Apply to all.
  7. Click OK to confirm the change.
  8. Click Save Preferences.

What counts as an “attempt” in MyLab Languages?

Each time a student opens an activity, no matter what the student does after that point, it counts as an attempt. If the student closes the activity without submitting it, it is still considered an attempt.

Students receive a warning when they open an activity for the last attempt. After a student uses all of the allowed attempts, the student can no longer open and view the activity.

Please keep this behavior in mind if you are going to limit the number of attempts for activities to a low number. Make sure your students understand how attempts are counted by the system.

What is the default number of attempts?

For all the activity types (except Test), the default number of attempts is automatically set to 100. The Test activity type is set by default to 1 attempt.