Exam Rules and Instructions for SofTest

GENERAL RULES

RULES FOR SPECIFIC EXAMS

COMPUTER PREPARATION

COMPUTER PROBLEMS DURING AN EXAM

TAKING AN EXAM WITH SOFTEST

EXAM PRINTING and PAGE COUNT

SOFTEST EXAM TIPS

SOFTEST HELP

FOR MORE INFORMATION

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GENERAL RULES

If computers are allowed for an examination, students who wish to use a computer will be expected to register for the SofTest computer software and use that system for the exam.  Any student who entered school prior to Fall 2009  and who has a computer whose operating system is not compatible with SofTest will have to petition the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs office for permission to use a computer without SofTest. Contact Associate Dean Martha Spence, spence@lclark.edu.  Students who wish to use a computer but not use SofTest must make a specific request citing the reasons the computer is not able to use SofTest.

RULES FOR SPECIFIC EXAMS

The rules for each individual exam are posted on the Authorized Material listing on the Summer Session Final Exams page. Click on the course title, if underlined, and you will be shown the authorized materials and any special instructions for the exam.

COMPUTER PREPARATION

Well before the third month of the semester, if you feel your computer needs checking, make an appointment with the Computer Lab staff.  The sooner you see them, the earlier they can assist you to be sure your computer has no virus or potential problem.

COMPUTER PROBLEMS DURING AN EXAM

Computer problems that prevent you from completing the exam on the computer must be brought to the attention of the Registrar after the exam is over.

If you experience technical problems, you must write the exam in a blue book. Should you have a computer problem during an exam, you are given seven minutes to reboot SofTest.  If you cannot reboot during this time, you must start hand-writing your exam.  Blue books are found in all exam rooms.

After the examination, a student who has experienced technical problems of any kind that have affected the completion of the examination, should bring his/her computer to the Registrar’s office.  The student might be required to leave the computer at the Registrar’s office. The Computing Services department will check the problem as soon as possible.

TAKING AN EXAM WITH SOFTEST

All exam questions will be given out in paper form.  A professor giving a multiple choice exam may opt to deliver the questions on-screen in SofTest.  Except in those instances, you will either be given your exam questions in paper form by the professor or proctor in a scheduled exam, or you will pick up the questions at the registrar’s window if the exam is unscheduled. 

You will write your answers to essay questions on the computer.  For multiple choice questions in any other courses where they are used, you will use an op-scan sheet to fill in your answers.

When you have the exam in hand and either:

                         Have been told by a professor or proctor to start the exam,

                         Or, You are ready to start your unscheduled exam,

you will open the exam on your computer.  The first thing you will see are instructions.  Read the instructions carefully.

At the end of the instructions you will see a place to enter a password.  Each exam will have a unique password that you have to use in order to open the exam and start typing your answers. You will not be able to open the exam without the password.  The password is on the cover sheet of the exam.

             Scheduled Exams: The professor or proctor will tell you when to enter the password and begin.  If students in a class are going to different rooms, you will be told at what time you may open the exam questions, and start the exam in Examsoft. The end time will be the same, within a few seconds, for everyone taking a scheduled exam.

             Unscheduled Exams: Enter the password and open up the exam in Examsoft as soon as you open the exam questions.   Once you use the password to open the exam, and press the “begin” button on the exam page, you are considered to have begun the exam, and the SofTest exam timer will begin. 

 If you are picking up the exam questions for an unscheduled exam from the registrar, you will be clocked out and clocked back in. Do not turn in the exam questions until you have closed out the exam in Examsoft.   The time stamp for when you turn in the questions to the registrar after you finish the exam must be LATER than the time you clocked out of the exam in Examsoft. 

             You will be allowed an additional ten minutes beyond the time allowed for the exam to clock the exam in and out.  This time does not count against the time you have to take the exam.  The time you take writing your exam is the time as it is counted by the SofTest computer program — the time you are actually typing your answers. 

             Honor Code Violations – Caution:  Retaining the paper copy of the questions beyond the time limit is a violation of the honor code.  Keeping the questions overtime will be reported to the professor along with the amount of time you were overtime.  Also, having an “end time” recorded in Examsoft that is after the time you turned the exam questions back in to the registrar is considered an Honor Code violation, and will be reported to the professor.  See detailed information about the Honor Code and exams on the General Exam Information page.

             This means you must open the exam in Examsoft at the same time you open up the questions. {note exception for Criminal Procedure I from Professor Yin}  You will go overtime if you spend time reading the exam questions before you open the exam on your computer.  The amount of time you are allowed to have the questions is meant to be just enough time to get them from the registrar’s office to your computer, and back to the registrar after you have finished the exam. 

 Example: 

             You are taking an unscheduled exam and you have 3 hours in which to take it. 

             You have ten minutes TOTAL travel time. 

             You check out the exam at 1:30pm.  This means you must turn it in by 4:40pm.

This means that if you go to the exam room, open the exam, read it for 30 minutes, then open the exam on your computer, then take 3 hours to write the exam, you will turn it in at 5:00pm and you will be 25 minutes late.

 You are expected to open the exam in the computer at the same time you open the exam questions even though you will not begin writing immediately.

EXAM PRINTING and PAGE COUNT

All exams are printed by the TIPS staff and turned over to the professor.  A cover sheet with the exam number and the name of the class is automatically generated for each exam.  All exams are printed in the same font with the same margins.  If a professor has a page limit, Examsoft tracks word counts and character counts. You will be told in the exam insructions at the time you take the exam if there is a character or word count.

SOFTEST EXAM TIPS

 There is a handy list of exam “tips” on the examsoft web site.  If you want to know more about how to copy and paste, setting alarms, and how to use the word count or character count functions – among other things – go to:

            Exam Tips

 Take a look at the ExamSoft training video on how to take an exam.  The url below has videos for both Windows and Mac users on how to take essay exams and how to take multiple choice exams.

            Examsoft Demo Videos

SOFTEST SUPPORT 

           Softest Support

FOR MORE INFORMATION

If you have any questions about this procedure, please contact Susan Galyen, Registrar galyen@lclark.edu or 503-768-6615 or Chris Bray, Computing Services Student Help Desk cbray@lclark.edu or 503-768-6905. Computing Services is unable to assist with technical questions once you have started your exam and during the time you are taking the exam.

NOTE:  Questions about SofTest and technical assistance can be found on ExamSoft’s web site support.examsoft.com.  You can contact their personnel directly by the web or call them at (866)429-8889.