Time Limits – Star Help

Although scores are not based on how quickly students answer questions, there is a time limit for answering each test question.

These are the standard and extended time limits:

Star Reading Progress Monitoring test (25 questions)

Grade	Question Type	Standard Time Limit (seconds/item)	Extended Time Limit (seconds/item)
K–2	Practice	60	180
K–2	Test, questions 1–25^a	60	180
3–12	Practice	60	180
3–12	Test, questions 1–20^a	45	135
3–12	Test, questions 21–25^b	90	270

a. Vocabulary-in-context items.
b. Authentic text/passage comprehension items.

Star Reading Enterprise test (34 questions)

Grade	Question Type	Standard Time Limit (seconds/item)	Extended Time Limit (seconds/item)
K–2	Practice	60	180
K–2	Test Section A, questions 1–10^a	120	360
K–2	Test Section B, questions 11–34^b	180	405
3–12	Practice	60	180
3–12	Test Section A, questions 1–10^a	105	315
3–12	Test Section B, questions 11–34^b	150	450

a. Vocabulary-in-context items.
b. Items from 5 domains in 5 blocks, including some vocabulary-in-context.

Fifteen seconds before the time limit is up for a question, the program will flash a picture of a clock on the screen. When this happens, the student should make his or her best guess as soon as possible. If the student does not enter an answer before time runs out, the question will disappear, and the program will notify the student that time has run out. Then, the next question will appear. Items that time out are counted as incorrect unless the student has already selected the correct answer.

These time limits can be extended using the Extended Question Time Limit Preference. If you extend the time limit, remember that Star Reading norms, as well as other technical data such as reliability and validity, are based on test administration using the standard time limits. When you print reports that include tests taken with the extended time limit, a footnote will appear on the report to remind you that the extended time limit was used.

For students taking the Indiana Star Reading Assessment, the time limits for some of the questions are different:

Indiana practice questions have a time limit of 60 seconds each.
Indiana test questions have a time limit of 3 minutes each; using the Extended Question Time Limit Preference will increase that to 5 minutes each.

The "Allocated Time" section of the Accommodations Preference can be used to give students with special needs even more time: 900 seconds (15 minutes) for both practice and test questions.