Configuring Test Settings

After creating a new Test, it will be necessary in most cases to set various properties for the assessment and its individual parts. There are four levels in which properties may be assigned: the Test level, the Test part level, the Section level, and the Item level. These properties will appear in the Properties Panel on the right when you click on the appropriate properties icon (depicted as three interacting gears).

Test-level Properties

The Test level properties icon can be found in the Test bar at the top of the canvas.

Click on the Test level properties icon. This brings up four panels on the right: general properties, Time Limits, Scoring and Outcome Declarations.

General Properties

In the general properties, the Identifier box should normally be left as it is, though it is editable. However, the test Title can be renamed to make it easier for the Test-taker to identify.

Time Limits

In the Time Limits you can set a time limit for tests at the item, part, or test level. At the Test level, the defined time limit will apply to the entire test. Whenever a countdown at a higher level (such as the Test level) reaches zero, it will apply immediately for every test level (such as the Section level) underneath, even if there’s another timer on a lower level that still has remaining time.

To limit the amount of time the test-taker has to complete the test, enter the maximum duration (in hours, minutes, and seconds).

Late submission allowed

If late submissions are to be accepted, check the Late submission allowed box. If the duration of the test is to be strictly enforced (i.e. no late submissions are allowed), leave this unchecked.

This setting ensures that when the defined timer reaches zero, any responses entered by students shortly before or after this cutoff are saved and recorded. This configuration prevents the loss of critical assessment data, particularly in high-stakes or large-scale assessments.

This setting can be configured at the Test, test Part, test Section, or Item level. For high-stakes or large-scale assessments, it is recommended to configure it at the Test level.

Scoring and Outcome Declarations

See the section on Scoring Tests for more information on Scoring and Outcome Declarations.

Test Part Properties

Test part level properties icons can be found in each grey Test part bar.

Click on the Test-part level properties icon. This brings up three panels on the right: a general properties panel, an Item Session Control panel, and a Time Limits panel.

General Properties

In the general properties panel, the Identifier box should be renamed as appropriate.

The Navigation box, or how the test-taker is allowed to answer questions, should be selected as either linear (first question first, second question second, etc.) or non-linear (can be answered in any order).

Note:For information on guided navigation for linear tests (TAO Advance), see the section on Item properties below.

Restrict non-linear navigation for TAO Advance: The option to restrict non-linear navigation so that users can freely go back to any item, but can only go forward to the next item is now available. Once this feature is enabled, this behavior will replace the existing behavior for the non-linear navigation (users freely navigating to any past or future item).

Select the Submission mode as either individual (submitted response by response) or simultaneous (submitted on completion of the test-part) by clicking in the appropriate box.

There is an option to add Categories to a test Part. Categories are used mostly for aggregating the scores for the various questions and responses in terms of the learning outcomes that are being measured. They are also then referenced in the reports, by grouping together the scores for the questions that belong to each category. Certain categories, however, have other uses. An example of this is enabling Scratchpad. For more information, see Test-taker tool configuration. A category on a test part will automatically set it for every item under that test part.

Test Navigation

Check Informational Item Usage if the item has been included in the test for informational purposes only. This prevents the item being treated as a question.

Navigation warnings

TAO 3.x only: In the Navigation Warnings panel, check the boxes where you would like the test-taker to receive (or not receive) the warning in question.

Note: For TAO Advance users, these warnings are hardcoded and cannot be enabled/disabled.

Test taker tools

In the Test taker tools panel, you can enable which tools you want to be visible during the test Part. For more information, see Test-taker tool configuration.

Note: Test taker tools can also be enabled at the Item level. See the section below for details.

Item Session Control

In the Item Session Control Panel, set the following properties:

• Set Max Attempts to the number of attempts the test-taker may have (the default setting 0 permits an unlimited number of attempts).

• Check the Show Feedback box if the test-taker should see the modal feedback (instant feedback) after completing this test-part.

• TAO Core only: An Allow Skipping box will be visible if this has been configured on the server. If this box is checked, a Skip button will appear during the test for the questions in this test-part. The test-taker can choose to pass on any of the questions by selecting this button. In other words, if the test-taker selects the Skip button, they will be taken to the next question in the test and any answer given to the question on the screen will be disregarded, and therefore not submitted for processing. In contrast, if the test-taker selects the Next button, they will also be taken to the next question, but in this case any answer given will be submitted for processing.

  Note:There is no Skip button in TAO Advance. This setting simply allows the test-taker to skip the question by going to the next one without answering.

• Check the Validate responses box if only responses which are valid should be accepted. If this box is checked, constraints governing the test-taker’s response (such as if the minimum and maximum choices specified for that question have been given) will be checked before the test-taker can proceed to the next question.

Time Limits

The time limits section is similar in nature to the time limits section for the test level properties, except that the settings apply to the current test-part only.

Note: The time limit set for a test Part must be less than or equal to the time limit set for the Test.

Test Section properties

Section-level properties icons will be found on the same line as the section label. Click on the Section-level properties icon. This brings up eight panels on the right: General Properties, Test Navigation, Navigation Warnings, Test-taker Tools, Selection properties, Ordering, Item Session Control, and Time Limits.

General Properties

The general properties include an identifier and title: the default name in the Identifier box should generally be maintained, while the Title can be changed to suit the test.

In general, the Visible box should be checked (or else the test-taker is unable to see the section), and the Keep Together box should also be checked if it is important that the entire section be completed before moving onto the next section.

Categories used (mostly) for aggregating the scores for the various questions and responses in terms of the learning outcomes that are being measured. They are also then referenced in the reports, by grouping together the scores for the questions that belong to each category. Certain categories, however, have other uses. An example of this is enabling Scratchpad. For more information, see Test-taker tool configuration.

Test Navigation

TAO 3.x only: If Enable Review Screen is checked, a review panel will appear on the left when a test-taker is taking the test. If Enable Mark for Review is checked, the test-taker has the option of flagging items in the test (to be able to return to them later). For more information, see the chapter on the Review Panel.

Note: If you are using TAO Advance, the option to configure the review screen for test takers is displayed when creating or editing a session. For more information, see Creating a session.

Check Informational Item Usage if the item has been included in the test for informational purposes only. This prevents the item being treated as a question.

Navigation Warnings

TAO 3.x only: In the Navigation Warnings panel, check the boxes where you would like the test-taker to receive (or not receive) the warning in question.

Note: For TAO Advance users, these warnings are hardcoded and cannot be enabled/disabled.

Test taker Tools

Note: In the Test-taker Tools panel, set the tools which should be made available to the test-taker for this section. See the chapter on Test-taker Tool Configuration for more information on the tools available.

Selection

The Selection panel asks if the delivered test section should include only some of the items assigned to it (Enable selection), and if so, how many (Select).

Ordering

Ordering contains only one property setting, which is Shuffle. This setting randomizes the question order.

Item Session Control and Time Limits

For Item Session Control and Time Limits, see the descriptions in the test Part properties section above.

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Item Properties

Item-level properties icons will be found on the same line as the item label.

Click on the Item level properties icon. This brings up seven panels: General Properties, Test Navigation, Navigation Warnings, Test-taker Tools, Weights, Item Session Control, and Time Limits.

Note: Four of the panels are the same in both the test-part and section level properties. Three panels (general Properties, Weights, and Time Limits) are different.

Note: the text-to-speech functionality (described above for section level properties) can be also configured at item level.

General Properties

The general properties include entries for: Identifier, Reference, and Categories. It also includes check boxes to indicate if the item is Required and if it is Fixed.

The Identifier and References boxes generally do not require modification (the identifier is relevant for identifying the items within the results, while the reference is a read-only identifier set by the platform). Categories act as tag references (see description above). If the Required box is checked, the item will appear in the test, even if less than the total number of items appears in a given test (in a section where selection is enabled). If the Fixed box is checked, the item will appear in a particular order, even if the section ordering calls for shuffling. Categories are not displayed to the test-taker; typically they are used to calculate aggregate scores (e.g. on sub-domains). For more information, see the chapter on Scoring Tests.

Test Navigation, Navigation Warnings, Test-taker Tools

For Test Navigation, Navigation Warnings, and Test-taker Tools, see the description in the section level properties above.

Weights

In the Weights panel, the weight of that item can be adjusted. It is also possible to add further weights if you wish to enable the item to be scored in different ways for different tests. The weight value to be used for a specific test should be selected in the Weight box in the Scoring panel in the test properties section above. The default weight value for each item is 1. The chapter on Scoring Tests gives more information on weights.

Time Limits

For Time Limits, define the maximum time a test taker can spend on an item.

Guided navigation for TAO Advance

The guided navigation functionality provides test authors with the ability to set a minimum and maximum time limit for an item. If an item’s minimum and maximum duration are identical as part of a linear test Part, the test navigation buttons will be disabled and the test-taker is moved automatically to the next item when the timer expires (with no timer warning).

Note:All items with guided navigation need to be grouped together in a linear test part (see above) with the maximum timer for the part set to the cumulative time of all included items.

Item Session Control

For Item Session Control, see the description in the test-part properties above.