Managing Appeals
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 CRS.
Appeals are a way of interrupting this normal flow. A student may want to retake a test or have another test opportunity. A test administrator may want to invalidate a test because of a hardware malfunction or an impropriety. This section describes how you view, create, and approve appeals.
Table 14 provides descriptions of each appeal type.
Table 14: Types of Appeals
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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.
You can submit these test invalidations until the end of the test window.
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Reset a Test
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Allows the student to restart a test opportunity (removing all responses on the test). You can submit these appeal requests 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.
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Re-open test segment
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Reopens a test segment. This appeal 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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Warning:
Timing of Resets and Reverts Submit resets and reverts at least one day prior to the end of a test window so that students can complete their test opportunity or data entry can be completed for paper-based tests.
An appeal's status can change throughout its life cycle. Table 15 lists the available statuses.
Table 15: Appeals Statuses
| Error Occurred |
An error occurred while the appeal was being processed. |
| Item Information Sent |
Information regarding a Report problem item appeal was sent to the designated recipients. |
| Pending Approval |
Appeal is pending approval. |
| Processed |
Appeal was successfully processed and the test opportunity has been updated. |
| Rejected |
Appeal was rejected. |
| Rejected by System |
Test Delivery System was unable to process the appeal. |
| Requires Resubmission |
Appeal must be resubmitted. |
| Retracted |
Originator retracted the appeal.
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| Submitted for Processing |
Appeal submitted to Test Delivery System for processing. |
Table 16 lists the valid combinations of appeals 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 16: Available Appeals by Test Status
| Approved |
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✓ |
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| Completed |
✓ |
✓
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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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| Expired |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
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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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✓ |
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| Scored |
✓ |
✓
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✓ |
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| Started |
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✓ |
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| Submitted |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
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| Suspended |
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✓
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