Test settings, availability, and allowing exceptions

When you deploy a test or survey in a content area, you set the options for feedback, due date, restrict by location, timer, multiple attempts, and presentation.

The options in this topic apply to both tests and surveys.

Test or Survey Options page

Open a test or survey's menu and select Edit the Test Options or Edit the Survey Options.

On the Test or Survey Options page, you can add instructions or a description that appears to students in the content area.

You also manage the test or survey's availability.

Unavailable and deleted tests and surveys differ in these ways:

• Unavailable tests and surveys deployed in a content area don't appear to students. When Edit Mode is ON, instructors and course builders can see unavailable tests.
• You can limit availability to a specific time period. Display dates don't affect a test or survey's availability, only when it appears.
• If you delete a test or survey from a content area, it's removed from that location. You can deploy the test or survey again as needed—in one location only.
• If you delete a test or survey from the Tests or Surveys page, it's permanently deleted from your course. The action is irreversible.

Multiple attempts

You can allow students to take a test or survey multiple times. The status of multiple attempts appears to students at the top of the test or survey.

Select Allow Unlimited Attempts to allow students to take the test or survey as many times as they want. Or, select Number of Attempts and type a number.

With multiple attempts for a test, you can also select which attempt's score to use in the Grade Center from the Score attempts using menu.

Force completion, timer, and password

The options in this section apply to both tests and surveys.

Some test settings let you control the amount of time that students can access a test. You can also set a password for more secure online testing.

Force completion

If you turn on Force Completion, students must complete the test when they launch it. Students may only access the test ONE TIME. The Save function is available for students to save the questions as they work through them, but they may not exit and re-enter the test. In the instructions, Force Completion is noted and explained to students. If you don't turn on Force Completion, students may save their progress, navigate away, and return to complete the test.

If students accidentally close their browsers, leave the test page, or lose power or their internet connections, they can't continue. They must contact you and ask for a new attempt.

You may want to reserve the Force Completion option. Instead, you can require students to take a test on campus, connected to an Ethernet cable instead of Wi-Fi, and with a proctor. If issues occur, the proctor can reset the test.

Example: Force completion with timer

Students must finish the test after they begin. They can't exit the test and return, even though time is left. If students have connectivity issues, they must contact you to reset a test with Force Completion.

Example: No force completion with timer only

A student may lose internet connection for 10 minutes on a timed test. After the connection restores, the student can access the test and continue to work. With Auto-Submit, this student will miss out on some work time. Without Auto-Submit, the student can continue to work and you can check the student’s completion time after submission.

Set timer

You can set a timer to limit students’ completion time. You can set the timer to auto-submit the test when the timer ends or allow students to continue working and manually submit. You can view students’ completion times in their submissions.

Select the Set Timer option and type the amount of time in the Minutes box. The maximum time you can add is 420 minutes.

During a timed test, the time elapsed is displayed to students. Timer warnings appear at set increments when half the time remains down to 30 seconds.

If students save and exit the test, the timer continues. Students can return to work on the test until they submit or the timer auto-submits, whichever comes first.

Check out the student view of timed tests—use your browser's back button to return to this topic

Auto-Submit

If you set the timer, you can turn on Auto-Submit. Tests are automatically saved and submitted when the time expires.

If you don't turn on Auto-Submit, students have the option to continue when the time expires even beyond the 420-minute maximum timer length. Those tests appear with the Needs Grading icon in the Grade Center to alert you students used more time. The tests also appear with an OVER TIME label in the Test Informationarea. The system doesn't apply an automatic penalty for completion times that are over the limit. On a student's submission page, you can adjust the grade based on the completion time.

Example:

On Tuesday, a student begins a test with a time limit of 60 minutes without Auto-Submit. The student exits the test with half of the questions left. The timer doesn't stop when the student exits. On Wednesday, the student returns to finish the test and submits it. The time elapsed is 16 hours and 19 minutes.

View completion time

To view the completion time, open a student's submission from the Grade Center and expand the Test Information section.

Watch a video about timed tests: The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.

Video: Timed tests shows how to add a timer to tests in the Original Course View.

Password

You can set a password for students to use to open a test or survey. Passwords have a limit of 15 characters and are case sensitive.

Test availability exceptions

For existing availability settings, you can make exceptions for individual students or groups. You might use exceptions to provide an accommodation to a student who is disabled or for technology and language differences.

If you've made an adaptive release membership rule that delivers the test to only certain students or groups, only those students can access the test. If you add different students or groups to the Test Availability Exceptions section, they won't be able to access the test.

Example:

For a test with one attempt, you can allow more attempts for a student who is blind and wants to use screen reader technology for the first time.

If the settings exist for a test or survey, you can create these exceptions:

Number of attempts

Timer

Availability: Date and time the test is available to the student or group

Force completion

Restrict location

You can set a date and time in only one of these areas: adaptive release or test exceptions. If you set a date and time in one area and then set a date and time in the other area, the first setting is overwritten.

Extend availability

With test availability exceptions, you can offer certain students and groups longer access to a test.

Example:

In the Test Availability section, you choose to display a test on October 1 from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM.

In the Test Availability Exceptions section, you can choose students and groups and give them longer access to the test. You must add a day and time for the After and Until fields.