Exam Info

CBTF assessment types

The CBTF is flexible enough to run a few different assessment types. Below are two main models of assessments in the CBTF.

1. Self-scheduled assessments

In courses with a high degree of randomization and/or question banks, the most effective way to utilize the CBTF is to conduct an assessment over several days. This allows students to self-schedule a convenient time to do their assessment in an invigilated and secured environment in a dedicated testing facility. For self-scheduled exams, students will be assigned seats, and time accommodations are available.

Screenshot of the reservation system for a sample quiz, showing some available sessions, and some unavailable.

2. Strict-scheduled assessments

It is not often the case that courses can immediately jump from traditional pen and paper assessments to a digital one distributed over several days with randomization and a test bank (though it has been known to happen!). While a question bank for a course is under development, as an interim solution instructors can run a “strict-scheduled” assessment during class time. The main feature of this assessment type is that all students complete the digital assessment synchronously (at the same time) in one of the CBTF rooms. Currently, the maximum capacity of the CBTF is about 80 seats - though with some creativity, we can run even larger assessments (by a combination of in-class ‘bring your own device’ exams + the CBTF, or repurposing an existing computer lab as a “pop-up” CBTF room). Seat assignment and accommodations are NOT available for strict-scheduled assessments.

Screenshot of the reservation system for a sample quiz, showing an instructor assigned reservation during class time.

Other options

If your assessment doesn’t quite fit one of these, reach out to us and we’d be happy to discuss and brainstorm other options with you! Our ultimate goal is to create CBTF rooms all across campus with sessions running from 8 AM to 8 PM six days a week to give students and instructors maximum flexibility.

Cheat Sheet Options

Physical cheat sheets are not permitted in the CBTF. All reference material should be uploaded as part of the exam. If instructors would like students to create personalized cheat sheets, they can create a separate PL or Canvas assignment where students can upload their cheat sheets in advance of their exam to be vetted by the course staff if required. Then, during their exam in the CBTF, students can open their personalized cheat sheets and use them during their exams. For more details, contact cbtf.support@ubc.ca.

Making Assessments Available to Book

Depending on your assessment schedule, at some point you will need to inform your class that they can make reservations for an upcoming quiz/test. You are more than welcome to do this however you like, but here are some notes:

  • In general, reservations become available to book starting on Monday at 7 AM, two Mondays before the week your exam window begins, assuming your exams are Visible to students.
    • For example, if your assessment is visible and your assessment window is Wed Oct 4th - Sat Oct 7th, then students can book sessions for your assessment starting Monday Sept 18th at 7 AM. Screenshot of the an exam list, showing one quiz that is visible and two that are not.
  • Essentially, what this means is that course instructors and coordinators have final say on when sessions are bookable by students. If you are okay with the defaults, then just set your assessments as Visible now, and let the system take care of it.
  • Sometimes, a course may need a very very small window to allow students to book their assessments - in those cases, students in that course should have priority, and will be able to make their bookings well in advance of the “Two Mondays” default.
  • It might be helpful to set aside ~5 minutes of class time and do the reservation in class for the first time each term - it’s kind of cool to see students booking and the available reservations ticking down in real time!

Final Exams

Scheduling your Final Exam in the CBTF

There are (at least) three cases you fall into if you’d like to run your exam in the CBTF:

A) If you have been assigned a final exam date by UBC

In this case, you just need to make sure your exam window (ideally a minimum of 3 days) overlaps with your scheduled time. Then in the session when your exam runs, we will hold back a few spots just to make sure all students have an opportunity to do their exam during the scheduled time.

B) If you are a first/second year course and have not been assigned a final exam date by UBC

Because you don’t have a centrally assigned exam slot, you’ll need to be extra careful and make sure your exam window is long enough to make sure that students aren’t forced into hardship scenarios because of when your window is. We suggest making your window ~4 days and asking students to contact you if that will be a problem, and then use PrairieTest Overrides to handle exceptions (at your discretion).

C) If you are a third/fourth year course, don’t have a final exam date scheduled, but want to do one anyway

Upper-year courses have a bit more latitude with final exam scheduling (and your courses are smaller, so hopefully that automatically means fewer issues). I suggest starting by picking an exam window that works for your course team and see what happens after it’s been released.

All final exams will have the same rules (no physical cheat sheets, no physical calculators, all reference material within the exam, standard rules for headphones, earplugs, etc…), and students will be allowed to leave the final exam whenever they are ready to leave.

Telling UBC that you are doing your exam in the CBTF means you are opting for a self-scheduled exam, where students choose a time between a range of dates. If you would like your exam to strict-scheduled, that is, at a specific time where all students write at once, then you should let UBC schedule a date and time. You can still use the CBTF in this case, and we will book the CBTF rooms for just your course at that time.

CBTF Final Exam sessions

Final Exams are a whole other beast because our sessions are 3 hours long, and our goal is to have 2 proctors in each session (otherwise the session won’t run). The CBTF has capacity for about 85 students writing at the same time simultaneously.

We can accommodate most CfA students with time extensions and reduced distraction. For anything more complicated (like special hardware or special furniture and environments) we usually suggest they book with the CfA.