Add the option to restart an activity

Hi Alex,

I understand how frustrating it can be to have to retake an entire practice set or unit test because of one or a few mistakes, and how useful a restart button might seem to alleviate this.

This is something that we have debated internally since it was initially brought up and with a wide range of team members, and we have decided against implementing a restart button. We want to encourage growth mindset and learning on our platform, and a “Restart Button” would not encourage that.

We want to encourage all learners to see that getting problems wrong or not getting 100% on the first try is one of the most important parts of learning--even if that error was a simple calculation mistake, it teaches us to be more diligent.

In order to master something, you will first have to practice with material that you don't quite know. The current system is intended to identify the sections in which you need the most help by analyzing your initial answers and adjusting your practice to fit your specific needs.

The team is working on some alternative features in the future to make practice less punitive, and to make practice different from assessments on Khan Academy. In these instances, we have discussed free hints and the option of not counting practice against the learner - until the learner is ready to “prove” what they know.

I know this is not the answer you may have been looking for, but we do believe this is the best path forward.

I apologize that I cannot be of more help to you in this situation, but please do let us know if you have any other questions or if there is anything else I can do for you.

As part of our Support Community improvement project, we’re preserving inactive posts that have historical or community value and closing them to new comments. This is one of them!

If this post covers a topic that you’re interested in discussing with the community or requests a feature you’d like to see on Khan Academy, you can try to find an active post about it and add your thoughts (or feel free or create a new post if it doesn’t yet exist in the forum).

Hi,

I have some great news to share with you!

Based on the feedback you and many others shared, Khan Academy has launched a new feature that allows learners to start over an activity without needing to fully complete it first— it’s called the “Start Over” link! 

We hope you will enjoy this new feature, and welcome any feedback you have about it. Passion from the Khan Academy community helped bring this feature to life, and we truly thank you for sharing your thoughts about it. You helped make Khan Academy a better learning resource for everyone!

For more information about the “Start Over” link, please check out our Community announcement.

Thanks again, and happy learning!

Kind regards,