Examinations

All courses contain proctored exams. A proctor is an individual who will supervise the student while s/he is taking exams. In general proctoring must be done at college or commercial testing centers. Students must be identified and confirmed with their photo ID to take exams. When you have arranged to take the exam, the proctor will enter the password in D2L to make the exam available or will supervise and return any paper tests that are required.

Once you have selected an approved testing site, submit the proctor's contact information in the Exam Proctor Information quiz located in D2L. Exam passwords or in some cases, complete exams will be sent to the proctor selected.

If you are near the Norman area, you should take your exams at the Center for Independent and Distance Learning. The Center is open for examinations Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call (405) 325-1208 to schedule an appointment or you can book an appointment to take a test in our testing center by clicking the Book Now button below or from your course homepage in D2L. Follow the on-screen instructions.

In many areas, a local college or university testing center may be used. In the absence of a college testing center a commercial testing center may be used. All proctoring centers or sites must be identified and approved by the Center Independent Distance Learning before exam materials can be sent to the center. Identifying an acceptable testing center is the student's responsibility and should be coordinated soon after enrollment. The Consortium of College Testing Centers provides a comprehensive and user-friendly list of their participants (http://www.ncta-testing.org/cctc/find.php).

Most online exams can be supervised or proctored by the online service ProctorU. ProctorU is a fee for service site that will proctor your exams if you have a webcam, high-speed connection and pay for the service.

Should you choose to take your exams using ProctorU, please understand that you are taking on certain risks and responsibilities. First of all, it is your responsibility to make sure that you are taking the exam on a fast connection. Use a broad band connection that will allow the pages of the exam to load quickly. Second, use a (relatively) new computer with all of the latest software updates and relevant plugins. Be sure to have ProctorU test the audio files on the exam prior to starting so that you can make sure that they will work on your computer.

Students who use slow connections, older computers, or computers that lack the latest software put themselves at risk of not being able to access certain portions of the exam. This is especially true with respect to the audio portions of the exam.

If you need assistance finding an approved testing site, please contact us for help. The Center for Independent and Distance Learning must approve proctoring services in advance of the requested test date. Students should make arrangements for a remote proctor at least ten days in advance of the desired or required testing date to allow for the mailing of required materials.

It is not the exam proctor's responsibility to schedule exams. It is your responsibility to schedule an appointment with your exam proctor to take an exam.

Course grades are based heavily on the results of supervised exams. The Center for Independent and Distance Learning has a no re-test policy. In order to make the best grade, you should take each exam as soon as possible after you have completed and reviewed your graded lessons. To receive a grade for a course, you must do all of the assignments and take all of the exams.

If you want to review a paper exam after it is graded, you must notify CIDL and your proctor. The center will mail a copy of the exam to your proctor. After you review the exam, and write down your questions it will be returned to the Center for Independent and Distance Learning and forwarded to the instructor. The instructor's response to your questions will be returned to you via email.

If you are reviewing an online exam your exam proctor will need to contact the center once you arrive so the exam can be opened for review. The exam proctor needs to then notify the center when you have reviewed the exam so we can close it. Again, you cannot copy any part of the exam, write down any answers, or take any notes away from the test review.

Regardless of your proctor arrangements, bring photo identification with you to the exam location or have it on hand.

If you have any other questions about how to request exams, send an email to testing@ou.edu.