Test Scoring Services

Using a Scantron optical mark scanner, the Scoring Services office can provide machine scoring of tests using standard WWU Answer Sheets, can keep a quarterly cumulative file of student numbers, names, and scores by class, and can generate a number of reports for WWU faculty who wish to use Scoring Services.

To prepare classroom tests for scoring, instructors should read these instructions and those on the Job Cover Sheet, and must assemble a packet in an inter-office envelope that includes:

• Student Answer Sheets, ALL FACING THE SAME WAY
• Answer Key(s)
• The Job Cover Sheet completed by instructor

Either hand-carry this packet to Bond Hall 418-B, or call x3081 to arrange for courier pickup from your departmental office. Scoring Services is open three days per week, normally Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. We will provide you with the fastest turn-around possible. Please call before walking over to be sure the office is open, x3081.

 

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Answer Sheet Protocols

• Use standard WWU Answer Sheets which are generally available for faculty in their respective departmental offices.
• Students must mark their Answer Sheets with a #2 pencil, and make dark marks that completely cover the bubble; marks so dark that the number or letter printed in the space cannot be read through the mark. Students must supply both their name, on side 1, and student number, on side 2, correctly bubbled, on the first test taken in a course, and their student number, correctly bubbled, on every subsequent test.
• Before submitting the Answer Sheets to Scoring Services for scoring, please check them over for complete information (name, student number, and test version, if required) and arrange them so that they all face in the same direction.
• INSTRUCTOR TIPS FOR RAPID AND ACCURATE SCORING:
  Checking and correcting errors, omissions, and poor markings on Answer Sheets accounts for 25% to 50% of the time consumed in the scoring process. To assure prompt scoring of your tests, please acquaint yourself and your students with proper marking techniques, and encourage students to double-check gridding of student number, name, and test version (when applicable). See the Job Cover Sheet for details to read to your class before each test.

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Answer Keys

• To prepare an Answer Key, fill in the correct answers on a standard Answer Sheet. Use a #2 pencil and make dark marks that completely cover the bubble. If more than one answer is correct for any item, mark all possible correct responses. Leave omitted items blank.
• Label the sheet clearly as a "Key", and include your name and class information.
• If you are administering only one version of a test, mark "A" in the TEST FORM field.
• If you are administering more than one version, mark the appropriate letter: A, B, C, or D, in the TEST FORM field. You must make a separate Key for each version. Instruct students to mark the TEST FORM field for the version they are taking. If students do not mark the version, their answer sheets will be returned unscored or scored as version A (default). It is not necessary to sort the answer sheets by version.

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Job Cover Sheets

• Each job to be scored must be accompanied by a Job Cover Sheet. You can obtain a Job Cover Sheet form by opening and filling out and then printing the online pdf version of the form, or you can obtain one from the Scoring Services office (BH418-B) or your department secretary.
• The first two lines identify your class; please fill in the Dept and Course number (e.g., ENG 101).
• Date / Days / Time: Fill in today's date, the days your class meets, and the time your class begins. This helps us to select the correct class for future tests.
• Test Type / Form / Number:
  • Exam is the default test type. If you want your reports to have columns labeled to show scores as a quiz, for example, mark Quiz. If you are planning to drop any scores at end of quarter, you must choose the same label for every exam for scoring purposes, even if you make distinctions among quizzes, finals, midterms, etc., for your own records. Test Form is the version. Mark as many as are appropriate. A is the default. And the Test Number is the accumulated number of tests for that class, in that quarter.
  • Test Key Instructions: Always complete Total points and whether you want raw scores or percentage scores. Complete b, c, d & e as necessary.
  • Essay Points: Note the 3-digit field in the upper right corner of the Answer Sheet labeled Essay. Here you may enter additional points that can either be included with multiple choice test score or scanned separately as another score (lab, paper scores, or extra credit for example). Indicate the total number of essay points possible in the blank provided and fill in this number on your key. On the student Answer Sheets, fill in ALL THREE SPACES, so that a score of 23 would be marked as 023 in the Essay field.
  • Weight: Default weight is one point per question. If you wish to change the weight for ALL items, note that weight here. If you wish to weight different items by different amounts, indicate item numbers and corresponding weights. Decimal fractions to two points on either side of the decimal point are allowed.
  • More than one correct answer: If there are items for which more than one response is correct, mark all correct responses on the key, then note the item numbers on the Job Cover Sheet. If only one of those possible responses should be allowed, that is, EITHER but not both, mark OR. If all marked responses are required, mark AND.
  • Omit: If there are questions you'd like omitted from the exam, erase them from the key and note the item numbers in this section of the Job Cover Sheet.
• disAbility Resources for Students (DRS): If you are having tests delivered directly to Scoring Services from DRS, please indicate how many. If you want the bulk of the class scored as soon as possible without waiting for these, mark that box. If you wish to have us wait for them and score all exams together before reports are run, mark that box. For any tests added after the bulk of the class is scored, I will send you an updated Excel spreadsheet only. We cannot re-run other reports.
• Reports: Provide your email address in the space provided and check the boxes for the reports you want emailed to you. You will be sent an Excel format student roster and pdf versions of other requested reports as soon as your exam has been scored. Western provides Instructions for loading Excel scores into Blackboard. The scanned and scored test Answer Sheets will be delivered to your departmental office as soon as possible.
• Special Instructions: Use this section for any other instructions for scoring and to clarify your preferences.