Managing Administrative Procedures
In the normal flow of a test opportunity, a student takes the test in TDS and then submits it. Next, TDS forwards the test for scoring, and then the test scores are reported in Reporting System.
Administrative procedures are a way of interrupting this normal flow. A student may want to retake a test or have another test opportunity. A proctor may want to invalidate a test because of a hardware malfunction or an impropriety. This section describes how you view, create, and approve administrative procedures.
Table 18 provides descriptions of each administrative procedure type.
Table 18: Types of Administrative Procedures
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Grace period extension
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Allows the student to review previously answered questions upon resuming a test after expiration of the pause timer. For example, a student pauses a test, and a 20-minute pause timer starts running. The following scenarios are possible:
- If resuming the test within 20 minutes, student can review previously answered questions.
- Without a GPE, student resuming the test after 20 minutes cannot review previously answered questions—student can only work on unanswered questions.
- Upon receiving a GPE, student can review previously answered questions upon resuming the test. The normal pause rules apply to this opportunity.
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Invalidate a Test
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Eliminates the test opportunity, and the student has no further opportunities for the test.
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Restart a Test
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Allows the student to restart a test opportunity (removing all responses on the test), or allows the data entry operator to restart the data entry process. You can submit these administrative procedures until the end of the test window.
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Re-open a test
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Reopens a test that was completed, invalidated, or expired. A Grace Period Extension (GPE) is automatically applied.
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Re-open Test Segment
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Reopens a test segment. This administrative procedure is useful when a student inadvertently or accidentally leaves a test segment incomplete and starts a new test segment. Students can answer unanswered items, and can modify responses to answered items in the reopened segment.
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Revert a test that's been reset
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Reverses a reset, restoring the student’s responses to what they were before the reset was processed.
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Warning:
Timing of Administrative Procedures Submit administrative procedures at least one day prior to the end of the test window so that students can complete their test opportunity.
An administrative procedure's status can change throughout its life cycle. Table 19 lists the available statuses.
Table 19: Administrative Procedures Statuses
| Error Occurred |
An error occurred while the administrative procedure was being processed. |
| Pending Approval |
Administrative procedure is pending approval. |
| Processed |
Administrative procedure was successfully processed and the test opportunity has been updated. |
| Rejected |
Administrative procedure was rejected. |
| Rejected by System |
Test Delivery System was unable to process the administrative procedure. |
| Requires Resubmission |
Administrative procedure must be resubmitted. |
| Retracted |
Originator retracted the administrative procedure.
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| Submitted for Processing |
Administrative procedure submitted to Test Delivery System for processing. |
Table 20 lists the valid combinations of administrative procedures and test statuses. For example, you can invalidate a test that is in one of the following statuses: completed, denied, expired, paused, reported, scored, or submitted.
Table 20: Available Administrative Procedures by Test Status
| Approved |
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✓ |
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✓
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| Completed |
✓ |
✓
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✓ |
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✓
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| Denied |
✓
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✓
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|
✓
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✓
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✓
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| Expired |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
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✓
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| Invalidated |
|
✓
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✓
|
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✓
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| Paused |
✓ |
✓ |
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✓ |
✓
|
✓ |
| Pending |
|
✓ |
|
|
✓
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| Processing |
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✓
|
|
|
✓
|
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| Reported |
✓ |
✓
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✓ |
|
✓
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| Review |
|
✓ |
|
|
✓
|
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| Scored |
✓ |
✓
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✓ |
|
✓
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| Started |
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✓ |
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✓
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| Submitted |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
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✓
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| Suspended |
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✓
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✓
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