> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.goguardian.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# What You Can Change After Students Start an Assessment
> A reference guide to which assignment settings, roster changes, and assessment edits are possible once students have begun working.
Once a student opens an assessment and submits at least 1 response, that assignment is considered started. From that point forward, some settings remain editable and others do not. This article describes exactly what you can and cannot change, and explains the data consequences of removing or resetting individual students.
## What You Can Still Change
The following settings can be updated after students have started the assessment.
| Setting | Editable after start? | Notes |
| --------------------- | --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Due date | Yes | Extend or shorten the due date at any time from the assignment settings. |
| Open and close status | Yes | You can close the assessment to block new submissions, or reopen it to allow more work. |
| Password | Limited | You can add or change a password only if no student has submitted yet. Once any student submits, the password field is locked. |
| Score release | Yes | Release or withhold scores at any time, before or after grading. |
| Redirect (re-attempt) | Yes | Use Redirect to send selected students back into the assessment for another attempt. This does not delete existing responses. |
| Manual score entries | Yes | Enter or edit manually graded scores at any time during the **In Grading** phase. |
| Marking as Absent | Yes | You can mark a student as absent to block home access even after the assessment has opened. This does not remove the student from the assignment. |
## What You Cannot Change
The following changes are blocked once any student has started the assessment.
| Action | Blocked after start? | Why |
| ------------------------------------------ | -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Add, remove, or reorder test sections | Yes | Changing the assessment structure after students have started creates inconsistent data across responses. The structure is locked at the first student submission. |
| Add, remove, or reorder questions | Yes | Same reason as sections. Response data is indexed to question position. |
| Change a question's item type | Yes | Changing from multiple choice to essay, for example, would make existing responses unscoreable. |
| Change point values on submitted questions | Partially | You can adjust point values, but doing so triggers a regrade. Review responses carefully before changing values on a live assessment. |
| Reset all student attempts at once | Yes | There is no bulk reset. You must reset individual students one at a time from the Live Class Board. See [Reset or Remove Individual Students](#reset-or-remove-individual-students). |
| Add a password after any student submits | Yes | The password field locks permanently once any submission is recorded. |
If you need to restructure the assessment after students have started, clone it, make your edits, and assign the revised version to students who have not yet started. Do not reassign to students who have already submitted.
## Reset or Remove Individual Students
Two separate actions affect individual students: unassigning and resetting.
### Unassign a Student
Unassigning removes a student from the assignment entirely. All of their responses are permanently deleted.
Use this when a student was assigned the wrong assessment and you need to remove them before any data appears in a gradebook or report.
1. Click **Assignments** in the navigation menu.
2. Click the assignment name.
3. Click **Live Class Board**.
4. Select the checkbox next to the student's name.
5. Click **More** and select **Unassign Students**.
6. Type **Remove** to confirm, then click **Yes, Remove**.
Unassigning a student deletes all of their responses permanently. This action cannot be undone. If the student needs to retake the assessment, assign it to them again as a new attempt.
### Reset a Student's Attempt
Resetting returns a student's status to **Not Started** without removing them from the assignment. Their previous responses are deleted, but the student remains enrolled. Use this when a student started the wrong assessment or encountered a technical issue mid-attempt.
1. Click **Assignments** in the navigation menu.
2. Click the assignment name.
3. Click **Live Class Board**.
4. Select the checkbox next to the student's name.
5. Click **More** and select **Reset**.
6. Confirm the reset.
After reset, the student can re-enter the assessment and start fresh. Their original responses are not recoverable.
### Choosing Between Unassign and Reset
| Situation | Action |
| ---------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| Student took the wrong assessment entirely | Unassign, then assign the correct one |
| Student had a technical issue mid-attempt | Reset |
| Student needs to improve their score | Use Redirect instead (preserves original attempt data) |
| Student should not take this assessment at all | Unassign |
## Students Who Haven't Started Yet
Students with a **Not Started** status can still be managed without the restrictions described above.
You can do the following for not-started students even after others have begun:
* Add a password, but only if no student has submitted yet
* Unassign them without any data consequence, because no responses exist to delete
* Mark them as absent to block access from outside the classroom
* Redirect them to a different version of the assessment
You cannot restructure the assessment itself (add or reorder questions) even for not-started students once any other student has begun, because the assessment structure is shared across all students in the assignment.
## How Not-Started Students Affect Class Averages
Pear Assessment excludes students with a **Not Started** status from class average calculations by default. Only students who have submitted at least 1 response are included.
This means:
* If 20 students are assigned but only 14 have submitted, the class average reflects those 14 students only.
* The not-started count is shown separately in the assignment summary so you can see how many students are pending.
* Once a not-started student submits, they are automatically added to the average. The class average updates without any manual action.
This exclusion is intentional. Including students with no responses would produce a misleading average and skew standards mastery data. If you see a class average that looks higher or lower than expected, check the not-started count in the assignment summary before drawing conclusions.
If a large portion of the class has not started, wait until most students have submitted before reviewing class-level averages or sharing results with instructional leadership.