Use It with Google Classroom

Form Timer has no direct link to Google Classroom yet. You post the live link in Classroom like any other link, and you read the scores from your live form responses. This guide walks through a setup that works well for a class, and what to check before the first real test.

What you set up once, and what per quiz

Most of the setup is per form, so it helps to know which steps you will never repeat.

Once per Google account

• Install Form Timer from the Google Workspace Marketplace.
• Connect Google account at skyfield.cloud, the first time you open the sidebar. See Getting started.
• Your licence. It covers every form your account owns.
• Drive access, the first time you turn on Copy responses to Google Sheets.

For every quiz

Everything in Live form settings belongs to that one form: the time limit, who can respond, the schedule, the quiz results and the Google Sheet copy. A new form starts from the defaults, so go through the checklist below each time.

Checklist for a class quiz

1. Build the quiz in Google Forms. Switch on Make this a quiz and set the answer key and points there, as usual. See Quiz mode for which question types are graded.
2. Timer tab. Turn on Limit time to respond and set the Time limit. Leave When time runs out on Submit the answers so far, so a student who runs out of time still hands in what they have.
3. Respondents tab. Set Collect email addresses to Verified. Students sign in with their school Google account, every score has a name next to it, and each student gets one attempt.
4. Respondents tab. Fill in Restrict to email domains with your school's student domain, or paste the class list into Restrict to an email list. Anyone else who opens the link is turned away.
5. Schedule tab. Optional. Set an open and close time to get an exam window: the form opens at 9:00, closes at 10:00, and each student has their own 20 minutes from the moment they press Start.
6. Quiz tab. Decide what students see after they submit. See the advice below before you turn on Show correct answers.
7. Connect to sheet tab. Turn on Copy responses to Google Sheets if you want the scores in a spreadsheet.
8. Close the original Google Form when the add-on asks. Answers sent through the original link are not timed.

Post it in Classroom

1. In the sidebar, click Share link and copy the live link
2. In Classroom, open Classwork, click Create and pick Assignment
3. Click Link, paste the live link, and set the points to the quiz total
4. Assign it

Post the live link, not the Google Form. If you attach the Form itself with Classroom's Forms button, students open the untimed original and Classroom waits for grades that never arrive.

Get the scores into your gradebook

Classroom's Import grades button only reads quizzes that were answered in Google Forms itself, so it does not work here. Instead:

1. Click Responses in the sidebar. Each response shows the student's Score, and a needs review marker where a question has to be graded by hand
2. Click Export CSV, or open the connected Google Sheet. Both carry Score, Out of and Needs review
3. Enter the grades in the Classroom assignment and return them

Students do not click Mark as done automatically when they submit the live form. Tell them to do it, or go by your responses rather than Classroom's turned-in count.

Best practices

• Take the quiz yourself first. Open the live link in a private window, sign in and press Start. You see the Start screen, the countdown and your own score exactly as a student will.
• Try one student account before the first real test. Some schools block students from signing in to apps the administrator has not approved. If a student account cannot sign in on the live form, ask your Google Workspace administrator to allow Skyfield.
• Tell students not to refresh. The clock keeps running on a refresh, but answers typed so far are not kept.
• Use the instructions on the Start screen. Instructions before the timer starts is the place for the rules: how long they have, that the clock cannot be paused, and what is allowed on their desk.
• Keep the answer key hidden until everyone is done. With Show correct answers on, every student who submits can read the key. Leave it off while the quiz is open, then turn it on afterwards if you want students to review.
• Give a little slack on the window. If each student has 20 minutes, close the schedule a few minutes after the last expected start, not exactly 20 minutes after it opens.
• Read the focus record as a signal. Left the page shows which responses deserve a second look. It is not proof of anything on its own. See The focus record.
• Have a plan for a crashed laptop. On the Timer tab, enter the student's address under Allow another attempt and click Reset. It takes a few seconds, so you can do it during the lesson.
• One class, one form. Settings and responses are per form. For a second class, make a copy of the Google Form, open Form Timer on the copy and go through the checklist again. That keeps each class's scores and access list apart.

What is planned

A Connect to Classroom option is planned: it would create the assignment for you and send each score to Classroom as a draft grade. Until then, the steps above are the way to do it.