My project is Online Exam.On next button of jsp next question gets displayed .Issue is timer getting resert after every next button

Question

<script type="text/javascript">
function counter(secs,elem)
{
    var element=document.getElementById(elem);
    element.innerHTML="Hi"+secs+"";
    if(secs < 1)
        {
        clearTimeout(timer);
        element.innerHTML="<h2>Countdowm</h2>";

        }
    secs=secs-1;
    var timer=setTimeout('counter('+ secs +',"'+elem+'")',1000);

    }
</script>

<div id="demo"></div>
<script >counter(10,"demo");</script>

My timer getting reset after every next button of jsp. My project is online examination system on next button same jsp page displays next question but timer getting reset after every question.