Course communication with LMS, network traffic

My question is about course communication with SumTotal LMS 7.2.

Looking to create a WBT that is a test. In the LMS, I control the # of attempts a user has to pass the test. The idea is that the learner will only have 3 attempts to pass the test (passing score = 80.) Once you start the test (see the first question) you cannot exit early else the remaining unanswered questions will be scored as incorrect and your final score will reflect that. If you exit before viewing the first question, a status of "incomplete" is sent to the LMS and you have not used up an attempt.

What happens if a learner experiences some high network traffic while in the middle of the test? By displaying a "loading..." message we don't know how long a person may actually wait. If you're taking a test and this message pops up, I won't be surprised if you start clicking around thinking that will fix it. You may inadertantly exit, causing a "Fail" completion status. This is what I want to avoid.

So here's my question: Have you incorporated any special logic in your WBT so that the learner does not get a never-ending "loading..." message? One idea is having a 20sec. timer within the "loading..." message. Once the timer expires, you allow the learner to exit early without being penalized ("incomplete" is sent to the LMS.) Any other ideas for handling this scenario?

Thanks,

Bernardo