8.8 How to create a new written Exam
Click Exams from the top menu bar
Click + Create then Exam
Fill out the basic exam details as required
Exam ID - the unique identifier used by risr/assess, this cannot be changed
Title - the name of your exam
Number of days - the number of days your exam will run on (if this number is more than one then you will need to specify that here as new fields are opened in exam creation)
Exam Blueprint - the template for your exam which will have been created at an earlier stage in Blueprints
Exam Venue Candidate Capacity - the number of rooms you are going to have in your circuits
Blocks - for OSCE this is equivalent to one Item Set (per block) within an exam, eg. Paper 1 in the morning and Paper 2 in the afternoon
Sessions - the method used for segregating candidates/examiners into different physical locations or different times in a day to enable easier control of your exam
Circuits - Not relevant to Written Exams
Standard Setting Method - the method used for calculating cut scores and used in statistical analysis. This can be changed after the Exam is run.
Allowed Marking Discrepancy - this is only applicable to OSCEs where there are two examiners per station
Set as 20% - Item out of 10 - one marker 8/10 one marker 5/10 discrepancy is 3 which is above 20% - 2
Double marking is a back-end configuration and is only available upon request. Please get in touch with one of our team if you would like more information on this.
Click Create Exam
Edit Exam Details Screen
Click Edit Exam Details
Some of the previous entered information can be edited here if required
Title
Exam Venue Candidate Capacity
Dates Estimate (Number of days exam will be run on)
Allowed Marking Discrepancy
Answer Order - for certain Item types it is possible to randomise the answer order (at Item creation stage the answer order was defined to be default or custom. For any Item where a custom order was defined, randomising the Answer Order at Exam set up will have no effect. For all Items where the Answer order was left as default (alphanumeric) then the selection here will impact those Items.
Question Randomisation - this setting will give each Candidate a randomised order of questions (Items)
Enable Copy/Paste - Enables candidate to copy information from the question/resource and paste into notes
Enable Calculator - enables the use of in-built calculator function
Enable Answer Elimination - allow students to strikethrough an answer so they can rule out some answers they are certain are incorrect
Enable Resource Grid view - Enables multiple resources to be simultaneously displayed in a grid format
Exam PIN required - When required, candidates will need to enter the exam PIN before they can begin a started session. When not required, logged-in candidates will be started automatically when they are allowed to start
Enable Notes? - Enables the use of in-built mini text editor for candidate to make notes only visible to them
Enable Highlighting - Enables highlighting function for candidate to highlight important information in the question text
Require Safe Exam Browser (SEB) - If enabled, candidates will need SEB to take the exam. Additional security requirements can be enforced by using either Configuration Keys (CK) or the more stringent Browser Exam Keys (BEK). Even if no keys are entered in the key lists, SEB must be set up to send configuration and browser keys
SEB Configuration Key list - One key per line. If set, the candidate's SEB configuration will be verified against the keys
SEB Browser Exam Key List - One key per line. If set, both the candidate's SEB version and configuration will be verified against the keys. Keys are required for each combination of SEB and operating system
Please view our comprehensive Safe Exam Browser Guidance here
Proctoring - only applicable to remote Written Exams for when the Exam is not centrally managed in a college administered location
Exam Timing
Exam start mode - Timer starts when Exam starts - this is pushed by an Administrator in the backend
Timer starts when user logs in - started in backend at 9:00 but candidate logs in at 9:10 so timer starts from 9:10
Timer starts on Admin command
Counting Up or Down - this setting changes whether the timer counts down to 0 or up to the maximum Exam time allowed
Exam Duration - the maximum allowed time for the Exam
Reading Time - Provides time before the start of the examination for the candidate and examiner to read any required information
Notification of time remains - the system will automatically prompt candidates with warning messages notifying them of the time remains at set intervals
If required you can upload a cover document. Click Upload cover document to select a file from your device to appear as the first Resource for your exam. You can upload your customized cover document. Any existing one can be removed with the selection of the Clear checkbox when available. If you already have a cover document uploaded within the Exam Blueprint it will be replaced with this one. We also provide a template which can be customised using the text editor, you can access this by clicking Customise cover document.
Click Save Changes to be taken back to the Exam Preparation screen
First Box - Candidates
Click Specify Exam Dates
Click Choose dates - if across multiple days you can use the exclusion dates settings to automatically filter out certain days (for example: weekends)
Click Save Changes
Second Box - Item Sets
Click Pre-Select Item Sets
By default the system selects an Item Set at random that fulfils the requirements of the Exam Blueprint. You can then add and/or remove Item Sets as required.
Click Approve Item Set when ready
Check for any warning messages ensuring Blocks and Exam Days are correctly set up in correspondence with the Item Set selection.
If you need to make any changes to the Item Set selection then this can be by:
Click Make Manual Changes
Click Modify to make changes to the selected Item Set
following this process will take you through the How to Edit an Item Set process
Click Replace to select a different Item Set to be used
Use the search bar to search for an Item Set by Item Set number
Click Find Item Sets to search
Select the desired Item Set
Click Select as Replacement
First Box - Candidates
Click Specify Candidates
You can allow risr/assess to allocate candidates automatically based on the use of blueprint tags or by excel spreadsheet
Using Blueprint maps to allocate candidates requires that a Blueprint map has been created and applied to candidates within the system already. An example could be Year of course/Graduation Date/Specialty/etc. To allocate those candidates to the Exam simply select the required Blueprint Dimension or Category from the list and then click Schedule
To use the Spreadsheet allocation download the template XLS file, fill in and manipulate the data in the spreadsheet and then upload the file to risr/assess (you can also drag and drop the file from your device to the choose file button)
Manual manipulation and data input is required on the spreadsheet. You can find comprehensive information regarding managing Candidates in the system here. For uploading a candidate allocation here is some useful information:
If the candidate already exists in the system then as a minimum only the ID of the candidate and the title of the Block for the candidate to be scheduled in to is required.
If the candidate is not in the system already then it is possible to use this step to create a full Candidate User account if all the required information is filled out. It would be necessary to ensure all data required for creating Candidates as Users is filled in:
ID (Required) - The IDs may be the same as the ID in your list of candidates (Settings > Manage Candidates). If ID does not exist yet, the candidate will be created.
First name (Optional) - This overrides the value in Manage candidates, if provided.
Last name (Optional) - This overrides the value in Manage candidates, if provided.
E-mail (Optional) - This overrides the value in Manage candidates, if provided.
Password (Optional) - If provided this will be the candidate's password used to login to this exam. If not provided and the candidate is defined in the Manage candidates section with a password already, the password in Manage candidates will be used. If there is no password, the Candidate ID will be used as a password.
Block (Optional) - Exam block name as displayed on View Sessions page. Usually 'Day Month Year - number' or a custom name, is defined. This field must be provided if you want to allocate candidates to rooms and circuits and there is more than one Exam block or more than one Session.
Session (Optional) - Session name as displayed on View Sessions page. Session 1, Session 2 etc. or custom name. This field must be provided if you want to allocate candidates to rooms and circuits for an OSCE exam and there is more than one Session in the exam.
Room (Optional) - See also Block and Session name above.
Circuit (Optional) - See also Block and Session name above.
Preferred variant (Optional) - Code of the preferred item variant this candidate will be using when taking an exam. If not set defaults to the Primary variant of the item set used in the exam. It overrides the value in Manage candidates, if provided. Allowed values: en / fr
Timezone (Optional) - The time zone where the candidate takes the exam. Usually used for a remote written exams when candidates can be assigned to different sessions taken in different time zones. Optional, defaults to the Practique server time zone.
If after uploading a Candidate allocation you need to make manual changes the Candidate allocation there are a number of options available:
Clicking Make manual changes will enable you to make changes to the Candidate allocation
Using the drop down menus select the Block and Session you need to make changes to and click Show Candidates
It is possible to use the checkboxes on the left to select multiple Candidates if a bulk action is required
Using the drop down menus, it is possible to change the language variant for Candidates if this is configured for your system
Using the drop down menus it is possible to change the Circuit and Room allocation manually
By clicking Remove it is possible to remove a Candidate from the Session
If you remove a Candidate the system will not make any adjustments to the Rotation as it is ok to have empty Rooms in the Rotation
By clicking Add a candidate to this session you can add another Candidate to the session
You can use the search bar to search for a Candidate
Click Search
Click Add for the candidate you need to add
You can repeat this process for as many candidates you need to add
Adding Candidates automatically fills any empty rooms in the Rotation
Clicking Manage Sessions - manage sessions is only for reporting purposes?
Clicking Notify Candidates will enable you to send an email from risr/assess to all candidates scheduled for the Exam
From the dropdown menus provided you can change the following settings:
Notify - notify everyone participating or only previously unnotified candidates
Session date - filter candidates to notify by Session date
Session - filter candidates to notify by Session
Circuit - filter candidates to notify by Circuit
Click Populate Recipients to generate a list of Candidates emails based on your filters
Using the Free text boxes provided you can then write:
Subject - the subject for the email
Message - the main body for the email
Recipients - these will have been populated by using the above filters or you can manually write candidates emails here (separated by a comma)
Attachment - click Choose file if you wish to add an attachment to the email
Redirect to - this can be used for testing purposes to redirect all emails to another email address before sending the confirmed message to candidates
Click Send notification emails to send the email
Clicking Download Candidate Data will give you a spreadsheet download of candidate information which includes:
ID
First Name
Last Name
E-mail
Password
Block
Date
Session
Room
Circuit
Last Change (to candidate user profile in the system)
Preferance (language preference)
Time Zone (candidate timezone)
Click Exams from the top menu bar and locate the Exam just created. A number of options and overviews are not available to view.
View Sessions
View Rotation - provides an overview of the rotation for the Exam
View Schedule - provides the same information as in View Rotation but in list format
View Rooms - provides you with the ability to change candidates if necessary
View Starting Rooms - where you can change the ordering of the stations - this is the place where clients can design where the rest stations go - has to be done for each individual circuit per exam - can also change examiners
View intersect report - downloads excel spreadsheet of everything
Masterplan is mostly Examiner allocation
Examiners Availability report
Download Candidate Allocation
Exam details
View
View Seating - list of students
View history - audit log of administration against Exam
Change date
Download Candidate Allocation - same as download candidate data
Continue Preparation - back to exam prep
Run session on paper - pushes exam to IN MARKING STATE. Downloads all content that you would need to run the session on paper, zip files
Gives pdfs of everything run
Publish to devices - this is the point that information is available on P4B to get into the Exam, if Exam PIN is applicable then candidate can use if they have the PIN. Otherwise Admin will click start and it will be ready. OUT risr management for candidates like emails etc
Available on Dashboard
Reset Exam Day
With admin secret code - will delete all data associated with that exam - all answers/responses will be removed