Building a Test You Can Administer to Students

You can build new tests for your students in Authoring’s test builder. When adding items to a test, you can insert existing items from your item libraries, and you can also create new items by filling out templates directly in the test builder. After creating a test, you can publish it to the Test Administration Site, where you can administer it to students.

1.To start building a new test, select Create New Test from the Dashboard, or click Create New Test on the Tests tab. The test builder appears. The first test page will already be added, giving you the option to create a new item from a template or insert an existing item from a library.

2.There are two options for adding items to each page of a test:

• To create a new item, click Create from Template and select an available item template.
• To insert an existing item from your available libraries, click Add from Library and then apply filters and select an item. Your libraries may include items provided by CAI, items you created and items shared with you.

3.When you add an item to a test, the test builder displays the item’s template. An item toolbar also appears in the top-right corner for each item.

• You can edit the content for added items by following the same process that you would use to create items in the item builder.
• After editing an item, click Save Item in the item toolbar. Items and tests are saved separately.

4.To add more items to the test, click in the Layout panel on the left. A new thumbnail will appear in this panel for each item you add.

• When you add a stimulus to the test, a separate, smaller icon appears in the left panel below the stimulus thumbnail, allowing you to create new items to link to that stimulus.
• You can rearrange the items in your test by clicking the arrow icons () in the corner of the item's thumbnail.
• You can click in an item thumbnail to remove that item from the test. This action will not delete the item from its library.

5.At any point when you’re building a test, you can enter details (such as the test’s name, grade, and available tools) from the Test Properties menu in the test toolbar at the top of the screen.

6.Optional: To see what the test will look like to students, click Preview Test in the test toolbar. You can enter sample responses to machine-scored items and click Item Score to make sure the items are being scored correctly.

7.Optional: To view a summary of test information, click the Summary tab in the left panel. This summary view shows you the test’s total number of items, stimuli, unique standards, unique item types, and pages. It also shows you which standards are aligned to each test item

8.To save the test and check for errors, click Validate Test in the test toolbar. A popup window will show you if any errors are found.

9.To publish the test, click Publish Test in the test toolbar. Once you publish a test, you will be able to administer it to students in the Test Administration Site.