If you set a day and time for the test to become available, you must choose Yes for the Make the Link Available option. This does not turn to Yes automatically when it is time for the test to become available to students, and therefore students would not be able to have access to the test.

The Force Completion setting generally should not be turned on*. Force Completion allows for a one-time-only entry into an exam. While this sounds useful, if a student accidentally closes their browser window or loses their connection to the internet/Wi-Fi, the student will not be able to reenter the exam. The instructor would need to intervene and reset the test (losing all student answers to that point).

*Note: To ensure test integrity during in-person proctored tests, the Force Completion option may be helpful to ensure only the student in the room is taking the test or outside sources are not used. The setting is not needed for tests using Lockdown Browser/Monitor because students will receive a warning if they try to leave a test before completing. The student must enter a reason they are leaving the test, which is visible to the instructor in the Monitor results area. There is also a Lockdown Browser option to require that students not leave the test.

It is recommended to set the Set Timer option without using Force Completion for Blackboard exams. With this set-up, if the exam connection is broken (such as the student loses internet access or unplugs their computer), the student will be able to re-enter and continue taking the exam (all work will be saved). The timer will continue to count down the time from the initial exam entry time.

When designing Blackboard tests, we recommend you set the Test Presentation Mode option to One at a Time. If the option is set to All at Once and a student is logged out of their Blackboard session (for example during an extended Wi-Fi outage), they may continue to answer questions but their responses would not be recorded. One at a Time prevents this because when the student goes to the next question (on another page), they would receive an error message, and the student could log back into Blackboard and continue to test. This is especially important during longer tests (more than one hour).

Please keep in mind that for security reasons, there is a 3-hour session time out in place. If you will be creating exams that are longer than one hour, we recommend you set the Test Presentation Mode option to One at a Time which will help ensure students are not logged out before they complete the exam. This also prevents students with internet connection problems from realizing there is a problem before they submit their tests. Another option for longer exams and quizzes would be to divide them into multiple tests.

If a student loses access to a test mid-attempt

Always ask your students to document test problems with a screenshot or cell phone photo and report the problem to you immediately.

1. If the test was not timed, and Force Completion was not selected, the student may still have access to their test attempt - they should try to access the test again. If the test availability time has ended, the instructor may need to change the Availability time of the test.
2. For timed tests with auto-submit selected or any test with Force Completion selected, there is no way to re-open the test attempt to allow a student to complete the test.

You can clear the student’s attempt and let them retake the test; however, you would lose the record of what the student was able to complete and this may give the student an unfair advantage.

Workaround

In the Grade Center, look at the student’s test attempt. At the top of the page where you see the student’s attempt is a Test Information link which shows you how long he was in the test (see attached screenshot). Then, if you click the Access Log button you will see how long the student was in each question and approximately where they stopped.

Then, you can give this student a second attempt at the test and tell them to only answer the questions they didn’t answer the first time. You could also limit the time to a shorter window than the original test.

To do this:

• Find the test in the course and go to the Test Options page (see attached). About halfway down look for the Test Availability Exceptions area.
• Select the Add User or Group button
• Select the student(s) and Submit.
• Allow the student another attempt, check the box for Timer, and enter the amount of time. If needed, change the Availability of when the link to the test is available for this one student.
• Submit.

Once the student completes this attempt, you would look at both attempts and manually enter the score the student should receive for the test.

Concerned about an upcoming high-stakes online assessment? Contact us and we would be happy to look over your settings and answer any questions.