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faq

Q: I'm going to give an exam. Where do I get opscans? Is there any charge? Who can use your services?

A: Many departments keep a supply of exam opscans on hand or you can pick them up at the Test Scoring office in 2096 Derring Hall. There is no charge for the sheets or for grading an exam. Anyone associated with Virginia Tech may use our services.

 

Q: I've never uploaded results to Blackboard, where can I get help?

A: For specific support with using Blackboard, please contact OCS: . However, there is information on their website on how to get started with uploading files, including files from Test Scoring Services (TSS). The current link is:

http://www.edtech.vt.edu:8080/ocs/blackboard/faq/course_tools/importgradebook.shtml

 

Q:  Do the students really need to use #2 pencils?

A:  Yes, #2 pencils work best; most inks are transparent and do not contain enough graphite to block the light and so are not "read" by our scanner.

 

Q:  My exam ends after 5pm. Can I still drop off my exam?

A:  Yes, we have a drop off slot in our door for after hours exams. Exam cover sheets and campus mailing envelopes are available too.

 

Q:  How long does it take to get back my exam results?

A:  This will depend on when the exam was dropped off and what else we are processing. During the regular semesters you will usually get the results anywhere from a half hour to a few hours. During final exam periods response time can depend on how many exams were brought in ahead of yours but we still try for a 2 hour maximum return time.

 

Q:  How do I post my grades?

A:  According to the Registrar's Office, lists of class grades may not be publicly posted on account of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Blackboard has security features that allow your students to see just their own grades. If you have questions about using Blackboard please see their website, https://learn.vt.edu/, or email them at .

 

Q:  I miscoded my answer key. Do I need to bring you a new key?

A:  No, you can call us at 1-5413 or reply to the email we sent you. Tell us which item to correct and the new answer. We will email you the new printout. We do not need the opscans back.

 

Q:  Why can't I have more than one correct answer for a question?

A:  There are a number of reasons why this is not allowed but a major reason is that the scanner needs to distinguish between a "true" mark and a multiple mark (either a messy erasure or 2 or more "true" marks) for an item.

As we process an exam, student opscans with multiple marks are rejected and we check to see which of these cases apply. We can fix the messy erasures; for real multiple marks you will find an error message at the top of your printout. The question with the multiple mark is counted wrong for that student. We usually put opscans with errors at the bottom of the stack. See the next question for more information on this subject.

 

Q:  I accidentally used 2 correct answers for a question.  Can I mark both on my key as correct?

A:  No. The easiest way to handle this is to omit the question and erase both answers from your answer key. This will delete the question.

If you need to keep the question, you may mark the key with the answer you think most students chose. Tell us that you want an "Alternate Answer" printout for that item and what choice should be used. We will send you 2 printouts -- a regular exam printout (with all items graded) and a printout with the alternate answer as correct (only the problem question graded). Your students will receive a score of 0 or 1, depending if they chose the alternate answer. For students who chose the alternate answer you will need to recalculate their exam score. Don't edit the regular printout file if you want to upload it into Blackboard. Make your changes in Blackboard. For help with Blackboard, send email to . We can handle up to 3 questions with multiple answers but we don't recommend it.

 

Q:  (1) I have 20 questions on my exam and a bonus question.  OR  (2) Some of my questions are worth more than others. What kind of output will I get?

A: Tell us about this when you drop off your exam. In each case you'll be sent multiple files. Case 1 will receive a regular exam printout with 20 questions scored and another printout with just the bonus question. Case 2 will receive files that score just the questions for each particular weight. We don't do the weighting for you, you'll need to do that for your specific requirements.

 

Q:  I don't want to give the students back their opscans but I do want to be able to discuss with them the questions they missed.

A:  Ask us for a "Wrongs" report. We can send it to you at the same time as your exam or you can request it later. This lists each student, his score, and a listing of the question(s) he got wrong along with the incorrect answer chosen.

Each student has at least 1 line of data. Only the wrong items are listed, with the wrong choice in parentheses.

 

Q:  I double-clicked on a file you sent in my mail program but nothing happened (or the wrong program opened).

A:  Test Scoring exam printouts have an extension of .txt. If you do not have a program associated with opening this extension then nothing happens when you double-click on one of our files. Or you may have the extension associated with Acrobat or some other program.

The easiest way around this is to

1.) Close your mail program

2.) Open Word or some other text processing program

3.) Open the printout file

 

Don't save any changes if you want to upload an exam file (.txt) into Blackboard.

Other files we might send you have different extensions but you can use these same methods.

 

Q:  The printout appears to be jumbled -- the columns don't line up.  What do I do?

A:  You will need to change to a non-proportional font such as Courier or Courier New. After Opening Word or your favorite word processing program, open the printout file, highlight the entire printout, then change the font name. This should arrange the data into discrete columns. At the same time, change the font size to 8 (if you are intending to print the file).

Don't save your changes if you want to upload an exam file into Blackboard.

 

Q:  I don't know what some of the numbers on my printout mean.

A:  Explanations can be found for the various statistical values, such as Reliability Extimate (KR-20), T-Score, etc. here.  

 

Q:  I want to put my exam scores into an Excel spreadsheet.

A:  If you are starting a new Excel worksheet then you need to Copy and Paste the part of the printout that contains the IDs, Student Names, Raw Scores, etc. Open the printout and highlight this section. Under Edit, click on Copy. You can now close the printout.

Open Excel. Click on the A1 cell if it is not highlighted. Under Edit, Click on Paste. Everything will look jumbled. Under Data, click on Text to Columns and the Text Wizard will open.

Select Fixed Width, click Next. Look at the break lines suggested by the Wizard. Remove incorrect breaks by double-clicking them. (You probably want to remove any breaks within the student names.) Click on Next.

If you wish to keep a particular column in your new worksheet you don't have to do anything to it. For columns that you don't want, such as Seat Number, you just need to highlight the column then choose the Do Not Import button. The label above the column changes from General to Skip Column.

When you're done click on Finish. Your data will now be separated into the columns you wanted. Save this file.

 

Q:  I have a spreadsheet with my Exam 1 grades and want to add Exam 2 grades.

A:  For small numbers of students the easiest way is to hand enter the scores in a new column next to the Exam 1 grades but this is subject to typing errors.

For larger classes this method is impractical. Nor can you use the Copy and Paste method except in very rare circumstances, when each and every student appears in both exam listings in exactly the same order and there are no extraneous or missing students.

By using Excel Range Names and Functions you can match up IDs to IDs and then place the Exam 2 score in the column next to the Exam 1 score. The directions for doing this are found at Using Excel to Manage Grades, specifically sections 4-6.

 

 

Page last updated August 7, 2008 .