Frequently Asked Questions

The following steps need to be take at the start of each semester.

Adding Course Staff

Courses in PrairieTest are setup with the people who requested the course as "Owners".  If you need to add additional staff, you can do that through PrairieTest by going into you course and then to the "Staff" tab.  Once there click "Add Staff". 

Enroll Students in PrairieTest

Students will not be able to register for exams until they are enrolled in PrairieTest.  It is best to enroll students as early as possible to allow them more opportunities to find an exam time that works for their schedule.  Students are able to begin registering for exams approximately two weeks before the testing window.  Waiting to enroll students will result in students having fewer scheduling options because students enrolled in other courses will have already taken up available options.

For information about how to enroll students see "Adding Students" in the section below.

Naming Exams

When you start the semester, exams will have already been added to our course in PrairieTest.  However, you are able to choose how you name your exams.  It is recommended that you choose the same name for that exams that you use in PrairieLearn.

Linking Exams

Before each exam you will need to link the scheduler examUuid into the PrairieLearn assessment access rules so that students checking into a CBTF lab can access their exam.If an exam is not linked when a student arrives to the lab, the student will not have access and will need to reschedule at a later time.

You can check to see if your exam is linked to PrairieLearn from the Exams tab in PrairieLearn.

For more information about how to link an exam, see "Linking Exams" in the section below.

Students will not be able to make reservations until they have been added to your course.

To add students to your PrairieTest course:

1. Go to the Students tab at the top of your course.
2. Click the "Add Students" button
3. Copy/paste in a list of netid@illinois.edu email addresses separated by new lines or commas.

Students will not be able to access their PrairieLearn assessment until it has been linked in PrairieTest.  

To link your exam:

1. Open the infoAssessment.json corresponding to the exam
2. From the Exam Settings tab in PrairieTest, copy the PrairieLearn access rule, which has the following format.

   {
     "mode": "Exam",
     "examUuid": "41330c3e-8ffa-4ce2-bd8e-73b3029a717b",
     "credit": 100
   }

3. Paste this block of code into allowAccess inside of the infoAssessment.json.
4. Click "Save and sync"

To extend the original testing window, follow the procedure outlined below.

1. From your course homepage, choose the exam that needs an override.
2. Click "Overrides" tab.
3. Click the "Add override" button.
4. Enter the student's netid and the start and end date for the override.
5. Click "Add override."

CBTF policy is that students  need to visit a CBTF lab to have a proctor clear a missed test reservation.  Students cannot make new reservations for an exam until their missed reservation is cleared.

However, if course staff would like to delete an existing reservation for a student, follow the procedure below.

1. From your course homepage, choose the exam with the reservation that needs to be deleted.
2. Click the "Reservations" tab on the exam page.
3. Find the UID for the student who needs their exam reservation deleted.
4. Under the "Session" column, click the pencil icon and select "Delete reservation".

There are multiple reasons why a student wouldn't be able to make a reservation.

1. Students have not been added to the PrairieTest Course.  (See "Adding Students" for help.)
2. Student has an existing reservation.  The student needs to visit a CBTF lab to have a proctor clear their missed reservation.
3. Testing window has closed. (See "Creating Overrides" for help.)
4. There are not open times for testing.  Students should check additional days or request an override.

Individual Student Problems

If a student experiences a problem in our lab (login problems, individual computer failure, calculator problems, etc), they should talk to a proctor and file an incident report.  Incident reports are emailed to you and contain a description of the situation. Incident reports must be filed before a student leaves the lab.  We are not able to track incidents or provide information about an incident if a report is not filed at the time of the problem.

Testing Crisis

If there is a situation (loss of power in the building, network outage, exam not working for all students) you will receive an email notifying you of the situation.  That email will be followed up with more information from a CBTF admin with additional details and suggestions for how to mitigate the problem.

1. Course staff cannot add DRES accommodations to student profiles for testing in the CBTF.  Accommodations added to student profiles are not applied to tests take in the CBTF.
2. Students must upload their LOA to: https://cbtf.illinois.edu/students/dres

Accommodations can take up to 5 days to be added to a student's profile and are not retroactive.  Students will need to delete existing reservations for their testing accommodations to be applied.

An explanation of the CBTF exam policies and procedures can be found under Policies and Procedures on the Student Info page.

CBTF computers are  Windows based systems that are only equipped with a web browser.  No additional software (MATLAB, Python, Excel, etc) are available on the computers.

All software that is need for an exam is provided through PrairieLearn.