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Learner Shows "Incomplete" Despite Finishing the Course

Why a course might still show as incomplete for a learner even after they've finished all the content.

Written by Robin Janevret

It's frustrating when a learner completes everything in a course but the status stays stuck on Incomplete or In progress. πŸ˜… Here are the most common reasons this happens and how to fix each one.


Reason 1 β€” A required activity hasn't been marked complete

Even if a learner has opened every activity, some require a specific action to register as done.

Go to Studio β†’ Courses β†’ [Course name] β†’ Learners β†’ [Learner] β†’ Progress and look for any activity that isn't green.

  • Quiz: The learner may not have submitted, or may not have reached the pass score. Check the quiz result under their profile.

  • Video: If a minimum watch time is set, they may have skipped ahead. They'll need to re-watch to the required point.

  • SCORM: The file may not be reporting completion. See SCORM Troubleshooting.

  • Document/PDF: If the activity is set to require a manual Mark as complete click, the learner may have missed it.

Reason 2 β€” The completion criteria require more than you expected

Go to Studio β†’ Courses β†’ [Course name] β†’ Settings β†’ Completion criteria and review the settings.

If the criteria are set to All activities completed, every single non-optional activity must be finished. Check whether any activities are unexpectedly marked as Required when they should be Optional, and update them if needed.

Reason 3 β€” A quiz pass score is blocking completion

If Quiz passed is part of the completion criteria, the learner must reach the required score β€” simply submitting the quiz isn't enough.

Go to Studio β†’ Courses β†’ [Course name] β†’ [Quiz activity] β†’ Settings and check the pass score. If the learner's score is below it, they'll need to retake the quiz (if attempts allow) or you can adjust the pass score if it was set incorrectly.

Reason 4 β€” The learner completed the course before completion criteria were updated

If you changed the completion criteria after some learners had already progressed, their existing progress may not retroactively satisfy the new criteria. In this case, you can manually mark the course as complete for affected learners.

Go to Studio β†’ Users β†’ [Learner] β†’ Courses, find the course, and use the Mark as complete option.

Reason 5 β€” Display lag / browser cache

Occasionally the learner's view is outdated. Ask them to hard-refresh their browser (Ctrl + Shift + R on Windows, Cmd + Shift + R on Mac) and check again.


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