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 Testing & Data Services 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'm interested in alternative uses for Opscans such as for attendance taking, is this possible?
A: Yes. In addition to exams or quizzes, Opscans can be used for attendance taking or to pickup a score for project/essay/diagram parts of a test.
For attendance taking, students need only code-in their Virginia Tech ID numbers (no social security numbers allowed). We offer two types of attendance outputs: an ungraded list consisting simply of a list of students in attendance, or, a graded attendance report, consisting of a list of students in attendance, plus 1 point for each of those students. Both types of attendance files can be uploaded into Scholar.
To get a report of students' scores on a project/essay/or diagram section of a test, do the following: after grading the students' projects/essays/diagrams, code this number into the seat number of their Opscan. When you bring the Opscans in to us, you must tell us that you would like a "pickup score" in addition to the regular test report, and what the maximum score for the project/essay/or diagram is. We will generate two reports for you, one being the regular exam file (which can be uploaded to Scholar), and the pickup score report, which can also be uploaded to Scholar and contains a pickup score mean for the class, and each student's raw score, percent score and T-score, based only on the pickup part of the exam.
Q: I've never uploaded results to Scholar, where can I get help?
A: For specific support with using Scholar, please contact 4-Help (231-4357).
Q: Do the students really need to use #2 pencils?
A: Yes, #2 pencils only; our scanner does not read most inks.
Q: My exam ends at 5pm. Can I still drop off my exam?
A: Yes, we have a drop slot in our door for after hours exams. Exam cover sheets, pencils, and envelopes are available too. Your exam(s) will be processed first thing the next business day.
Q: How long does it take to get back my exam results?
A: Typically, Opscans are scanned, processed, and results are e-mailed within minutes; many users simply wait while their job is processed so that they can have their Opscans back just as quickly as the results instead of picking them up later or having them mailed back. Regardless of whether you wait for your Opscans, pick them up at a later time, or have them mailed back to you, your results are always e-mailed immediately. However, this quick turnaround depends on the number of Opscans you have, any possible issues with your Opscans (damaged Opscans, many students not filling out the forms correctly, etc.), and any possible backlog due to increased workload, final exams or the scanner being down for repair.
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). Scholar has security features that allow your students to see just their own grades. For help with uploading Test Scoring files into Scholar, please contact 4-Help (231-4357).
Q: I miscoded my answer key. Do I need to bring you a new key?
A: No, you can just reply to the e-mail we sent you, or call (1-5413). Tell us which item to correct and the new answer. We will e-mail you the new printout. We do not need the Opscans back.
Q: How can I drop / omit / leave off a question or questions from my exam?
A: To do this before the exam is processed by us, simply leave the answers to the question(s) off of or erase from your key(s). To do this after the exam has already been processed by us, simply reply to the e-mail from which you received the results, telling us which question(s) to omit (and on which key, if using more than one key).
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. To do this before the exam is processed by us, simply leave the answers to the question(s) off of or erase from your key(s). To do this after the exam has already been processed by us, simply reply to the e-mail from which you received the results, telling us which question(s) to omit (and on which key, if using more than one key).
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. We can handle up to 3 questions with multiple correct answers, but we don't recommend it. 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 Scholar. Make your changes in Scholar. For help with Scholar, please contact 4-HELP (231-4357).
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.
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, their score, and a listing of the question(s) they 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 can't open the file you sent.
A: You need to associate a program with opening this kind of file. We recommend any text editor or word processor such as Word, Notepad, Wordpad, SimpleText or TextEdit, etc.
The easiest way to do this it:
1.) Save the attachment from us to a memorable location on your computer, such as the desktop.
2.) Open your word processing / text editing program.
3.) From the menu at the top, choose: File, then Open..., then Browse to where you saved the file from us and open it.
Don't save any changes if you want to upload an exam file (.txt) into Scholar.
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. 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 Scholar.
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.
Q: What should I do with old Opscans?
A: Opscans that have already been processed should be kept for at least 1 year, then destroyed by shredding. You can contact Records Management on campus to have your Opscans stored, then shredded and recycled after a certain amount of time. Alternatively, if you only have a small to moderate amount, you can speak with us about including your old Opscans with ours that are taken to Records Management at the end of each term.
Q: I'd like to get the students' responses in Excel format, is this possible?
A: Yes. We can provide an Excel .CSV file that lists each student on a row which includes their ID number, name (if desired), which form they had (if multiple test versions were used), seat number (if used), group number (if used) and every response they gave (numerically). Just ask us for this when you bring your test in, or for a test already processed, just reply to the e-mail from which you received your results, or call us to request this. We do not need the Opscans back for previously processed tests, since we already have the data captured.
Q: There are students in my exam results who are not enrolled in my class, why is this?
A: This will happen if a student in your class accidentally mis-coded their ID number by one or more digits and it matched up with another Virginia Tech student. In the student listing at the bottom of your exam results, look to the far right column labeled "Opscan Seq. No." for the student not in your class. This is the sheet number which is printed on the top left of each Opscan sequentially, as they are scanned. This will allow you to more quickly find their opscan and identify the problem.
Q: There are student ID numbers without names in my exam results, why is this?
A: This means that a student in your class accidentally mis-coded their ID number by one or more digits, or was otherwise unable to be matched as a Virginia Tech student. Sometimes if a student mis-codes their ID, it will match with another Virginia Tech student, inserting their name. If no name appears, the ID didn't match any student at Tech. If their ID was in fact coded-in correctly, and their name still didn't show up, it is most likely because they enrolled since the last version of the student name/ID listing, which we receive each week.
Q: There are student IDs 900000001, …2, …3, etc. in my exam results, why is this?
A: We assign numbers such as these to students whose ID numbers we could not determine. This happens if a student did not code-in nor write down their ID number, and we could not find them in our list of student names and IDs based on their name alone. This could be because we could not read their name to search for them, or they are among other students with the same common name (i.e. "Ashley Smith"), or because they enrolled since the last version of the student name/ID listing, which we receive each week.
Q: There are students not listed in my exam results, why is this?
A: This can be due to a couple of things. Most likely, they have mis-coded their ID number by one or more digits and this ID number actually matched up with another Virginia Tech student. This would cause the name of another Virginia Tech student to appear in the grade listing in place of your actual student's name. Otherwise, we may not have received an Opscan for this student, though they may have in fact taken the exam.