👀6. Manage
Using the exam users table, modifying attempts and managing your live exams
When an exam opens and users start to take it you can keep track of this progress from the users exam table by going to Exams and Users via manage on the exam sub menu.
🚦 Status
For exam day management you'll want to keep track of the status of the exams. The users exam table will group status. You can access a students exam hall link at any time using the Exam link column.
Enrolled = User has an exam generated but they haven't started yet
In progress = User has started the attempt (See Start-Complete column for times)
Submitted = User has submitted their exam attempt
Expired = User did not attempt to start the exam, the window has now closed
Revoked = This attempt is revoked and users cannot start it. If the attempt was revoked whilst in progress then users will no longer be able to continue
An exam can also be locked which means a user cannot start until an admin or educator unlocks it for them
✅ Marks
Mark questions on Synap using the on platform marker. You can only do this for free text and upload question types, all multiple choice questions are marked automatically. See our help guide on credits to learn more
pageAdding custom marks & a mark schemeUnmarked - Attempt has been completed and is ready to be marked
In progress - Attempt is being marked / marking has been started
Completed - All questions in the attempt have been given marks, other admins and educators can make edits to these marks
Finalised - All questions in the attempt have been given marks, and it has been finalised. No more changes to marks at this point
Released - Marks have been released to students
See our guide on marking for more information on how to mark questions on platform
pageMark attemptsSelect the check box next to the user / users you want to manage to highlight the available actions for that attempt(s)
🎮 Exam controls
Manage users in the exam with some of the exam control options.
See below for the exam / attempt state and the valid action that can be performed on that state. Actions can be performed on a single attempt or multiple by selecting more.
| Exam status states | Valid actions on state |
|---|---|
Enrolled | Revoke, adjust Time, send email, lock / unlock, assign marker |
Notified | Revoke, adjust time, send email, lock / unlock, assign marker |
In progress | Revoke, close |
Revoked | Send email, generate attempt, un-revoke |
Submitted | Mark (finalise, release), email |
Expired | Send email, revoke, adjust time |
Generate attempt & notify
Select an attempt or attempts, and the mail action button to send an automated exam email to the candidate about their attempt in this exam.
Extra time & open / close windows.
Select an attempt and the timer action button to modify the open/close or overall timer on an attempt. You can now do this for more than one attempt at a time.
Attempts are given a global open/close window. Candidates will be given a set amount of time depending on the settings of the exam. You can modify each attempt to have a different open/close time or overall timer. Give users extra time on their exam papers or modify the close window for them.
You can re-open expired attempts using the adjust time exam control by changing the close time to be in the future.
To re-open a completed exam for newly added users, go to the schedule page
Re-open an attempt
If you've got users who have missed the exam start window and the exam has closed because the close window was met you can now select one or more of those attempts to 'un-expire' them by giving them a new open/close time independent from the one set at the exam level.
To update the start / close times on expired attempts, head over to the exam>users table and select the attempts. Then use the control panel to update timer
Revoking and closing attempts
An attempt can be revoked in any state. An attempt can only be closed when it is in progress.
Revoking an attempt means a user cannot start it. If the attempt was revoked whilst in progress then users will no longer be able to continue. The users results page for that attempt will let them know that the attempt has been revoked but not display any other information and the attempt won't appear on their insights page.
Closing an attempt will also mean that the user can't continue but they will be navigated to the results page which will display as per the configuration you have selected during the exam set up. The result of that attempt will be recorded on their insights page.
Performing bulk actions on attempts
Bulk will work as long as all attempts are in a valid state for that action
🔚 Close an Exam
If you wish to close an exam early or end the creation of attempts on an indefinite exam, use Synap's close exam feature. You'll find this button in the top left, once clicked you'll get a warning that active attempts can still progress but no more attempts can be generated or started.
⭐️ Override score & grades
You can override the score, grade & points of an attempt even when it has been released or finalised. You can use this feature to moderate exams in the event grade boundaries change, if you need to take into account there was a 'bad' question in a users exam or if you want to deduct marks for a user being late etc. You can also use this functionality to leave a comment on an attempt.
From the users table select the attempt and find the override result button. If this button isn't active the grade cannot be altered (if not finalised yet).
Once you've selected a result to override, a pop up modal will display the options to change the results.
Click into any of the number entry boxes for score, points, credits or penalties and type the value you want to add / remove to that field. You can also use the up / down arrows. Hit return to confirm your selection, this will update any other fields affected by your entry (see below).
To change the grade, simply select the grade you want to change the attempt to.
Clicking Save will record any changes and close the modal automatically.
Changing the number of points, credits or penalties on an attempt will automatically update the overall score. If a change to the overall score means the attempt moves to a new grade boundary, this will also happen automatically.
History
You can view previous overrides and comments by clicking on the 'History' tab. You can click on the name of the user to be taken to the profile of the user who made the change. This can be useful for communicating with the user via the message function.
Reverting to original
After changing the results of an attempt, you can re-open the override results modal and choose to revert any of the results metrics to their original value by using the 'Revert to original' toggle. Again, reverting points and credits to their original value will affect the score, and changes to the score will affect the grade (where applicable).
If an attempt that is finalised or released has a certificate generated then is updated with a new grade & score, the certificate will also update.
⤵️ Exporting Results
On platform exporting results using the Attempts table (recommended)
pageAttempts table & exportsFor more additional analysis go to reporting.synap.ac and login with your admin credentials.
From reporting.synap.ac you can customise export parameters and export exam attempts to PDFs if you want them to be marked externally.
Export Options
| Export Option | Description |
|---|---|
Response breakdown by Score | Exports attempts on all questions and users score on each question (1 for correct, 0 for incorrect) |
Response breakdown by Options | Exports attempts on all questions and which answer option users selected as well as what the correct option should have been (note for randomised answer options exports will be adjusted to match the order questions options were created in) |
User data Complete | Exports include all user information and custom attributes |
User data Standard | Exports include user ID, name and email |
User data Basic | Export include just user IDs and email |
User data Pseudonymised | Exports are just initials of name and user ID |
Attempt Breakdown | Export by attempts (users may have done multiple attempts) Can include completed only |
Question Breakdown | Additional export shows the groups performance by question - see what percentage of users answered each question correctly (helpful for post exam moderation) |
Individual attempt PDFs | Export each users attempt as a PDF file |
📊 Question stats
Once attempts have been taken in the exam, you can go to the bottom 'Question' tab (under the 'Manage header') to view detailed, question by question, performance statistics. This allows you to delve deeper into response breakdowns to uncover common misconceptions, providing you with the insights necessary to address these challenges and facilitate student comprehension.
Learn more about Synap's question statistics page below
pageQuestion statisticsLast updated
