Local Testing and Proctored Testing
Testing must be either completed in the VHCC testing center or proctored at an approved site.
The Virginia Community College System and our accrediting agency require this.
It is up to the student to locate an approvable proctor and submit the required information to the instructor for approval, using the Proctor Information Form.
Most colleges and community colleges have a testing service, though some do charge for the service.
The testing center of any accredited institution of higher learning is automatically approved, but the Proctor Information Form must still be submitted so the instructor can contact the testing center with the necessary information.
Other arrangements are sometimes possible (e.g., military personnel have had tests proctored by superior officers), but arrangements with testing centers are usually easiest to set up and the most likely to be approved. More specific information is provided in the form.
Sites at which the standards of college-level testing cannot easily be verified, and at which personnel are not generally experienced at proctoring college-level tests, are not generally approved. Sites that are not typically approved include K-12 schools, most commercial learning centers and public libraries. However sites of this nature are sometimes approved if there is documented and demonstrated need; approval in such a case would be contingent on conditions to be specified on a case-by-case basis, but would usually include the condition that the final exam be taken in an approved testing center, with performance criteria to be agreed upon in advance.
If you are living or working close to VHCC, you may choose to use our testing center, and in that case you would come to our campus for testing. The VHCC testing center knows the procedures and if you will be using our testing center it is not necessary to submit the Proctor Information Form.
Testing Arrangements for Remote Sites must be Approved
If you will be taking Tests and Major Quizzes through a testing facility other than VHCC or through a proctor, you need to be sure the proctoring situation has been approved. To get approval you need to submit the form at Proctor Information Form. You will need to include the email address of a contact person or proctor and the instructor needs to clarify arrangements with that person. Then instructor will email you when he contacts that person and again when that person replies to the contact message. If you do not hear anything within a reasonable time you need to contact the instructor by email.
Testing Procedures
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Very Important: Read this document completely and be sure you follow every
instruction.
Tests for students in the VHCC area are administered through the VHCC Learning Lab. Distance students not in the vicinity of VHCC will need to make arrangements for testing through testing centers and/or proctors at institutions of higher education in their area (more information below). Note that the Due Dates page, linked from your Assignments page (or in the case of Mth 151 and 152 the assignments page itself) is grouped by Tests and Major Quizzes. This tells you when a Test or Major Quiz is due. A test should be taken within about a week of completing the last assignment in a group. The Assignments page often assigns a Test or Major Quiz as part of an assignment, but the best guideline is the grouping of Due Dates or assignments. All tests and exams must be completed by the end of the exam period for the term. The procedure for taking a test is printed on each test and you are expected to read and follow those instructions. The procedure will be as follows: 1. Tests are randomly generated, with a new test generated every 5 minutes, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You are welcome to look at tests at any time. The address of the testing site is http://vhmthphy.vhcc.edu/tests/. Except when the site is not accessible due to Internet problems, which do sometimes occur but only rarely, tests are always available at this online site. 2. To take a test, you go to the VHCC Learning Lab or to an approved testing center or proctor. Take along the Website address for Tests (the address is the same as that given above: http://vhmthphy.vhcc.edu/tests/; be sure you have accessed this address previously). 3. You or your proctor (this is up to the proctor) will print out a test from one of their computers (or, if taking at a site other than the VHCC Learning Lab, the proctors there might prefer to print the test out for you, perhaps in advance).
4. The test is then to be returned to the attendant for filing if taken in the Learning Lab, or if taken at a remote location faxed by your proctor to 276-739-2490 and/or mailed by the proctor to the instructor: Dave Smith, Virginia Highlands Community College, Abingdon, Va. 24212-0828 and/or sent digitally (e.g., by an email attachment) by the proctor to the instructor's email address dsmith@vhcc.edu. Before you take the test you should double-check with the instructor to be sure that none of this information has changed. 5. To be sure you have the necessary information you should print out a copy of this message and take it with you when you go to take the test. 6. Note that you are welcome to take a photograph of the test. However if you're testing anywhere but at the VHCC Learning Lab, you need to first make sure this does not conflict with the rules of the testing site. Most sites do not permit this. Note the Following: a. When you take a test be sure to show all your thinking and all your steps. Without the steps and the process you won't get partial credit, and on true-false or other two-choice questions you won't get any credit. b. After you have completed the test email the instructor right away, using your VCCS email account only (to protect right of privacy this is the only account through which I will communicate information on grades), being sure to mention which test was taken, where and when, and how the test is to be returned to the instructor (i.e., by mail, email, fax or through the Learning Lab). If the instructor has not posted the results of your test within a reasonable time (3 days under most circumstances, a week if it's being mailed) it might mean that the test has been misfiled or otherwise misrouted. If this happens email the instructor again requesting your results; if your test has been misrouted (a rare occurrence but on the average it happens once a year to someone) this will prompt your instructor to trace it. c. If you wish for detailed feedback you may email the instructor, using your VCCS email account only, requesting a summary of your errors and suggestions for improvement. |