diff --git a/frontend/src/store/modules/submission-notes.ts b/frontend/src/store/modules/submission-notes.ts
index b34a6d71024c4e4b30d592d346d27301f7c4c624..87f35f37b5d7da9841af4e58cffc94eb8a86d8b7 100644
--- a/frontend/src/store/modules/submission-notes.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/store/modules/submission-notes.ts
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ async function submitFeedback ({ state }: BareActionContext<SubmissionNotesState
 
   if (Object.keys(state.updatedFeedback.feedbackLines || {}).length > 0) {
     feedback.feedbackLines = state.updatedFeedback.feedbackLines
-  } else if (feedback.score! < SubmissionNotes.submissionType.fullScore!) {
+  } else if (feedback.score! < SubmissionNotes.submissionType.fullScore! && !state.hasOrigFeedback) {
     throw new Error('You need to add or change a comment when setting a non full score.')
   }
   // delete those comments that have been marked for deletion
diff --git a/grady/settings/default.py b/grady/settings/default.py
index c5ca4ee36aafda97dab7eab30bc3185f555893be..a147a3d85ea8b09bfbffc01eb2e9cde76fa84e1f 100644
--- a/grady/settings/default.py
+++ b/grady/settings/default.py
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ JSON_CAMEL_CASE = {
 }
 
 JWT_AUTH = {
-    'JWT_EXPIRATION_DELTA': datetime.timedelta(seconds=3600),
+    'JWT_EXPIRATION_DELTA': datetime.timedelta(seconds=18000),
     'JWT_ALLOW_REFRESH': True,
 }