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How are the exams procured?
Exams are presented in HTML5 and run in your web-browser.
How long are the exams?
The exams consist of 20 to 30 questions. They are timed and cannot be paused, so you must complete each exam in a single sitting. You have between 40 and 60 minutes (averaging 2 minutes per question).
Can I review my answers before submitting them?
Yes. You can review and change your answers at any time until you submit the entire exam at the end of the session.
What is the procedure for taking the exams?
Once you start the exam, the Learning Server will open a separate browser window in which questions will appear. The main browser window (also called "communications window") will stay open behind. Do not close the communications window or the exam results will not be saved! Once you finish answering all questions, you will be asked to click 'Submit All' button and then 'Finish' button. At that point, please, wait till the communications window finishes processing and offers you to go back to the list of modules. The exam should then show status 'Completed' indicating that the results were successfully saved.
Are there any technical problems that can cause the exam results to be lost?
Occasionally your browser may crash while you are taking the exam. In that case the results may not be successfully sent to the Learning Server. If this happens, you will not see exam status as Completed after you take it. Always check that the exam status shows 'Completed' after you finish taking the exam! If the results are not successfully saved, the exam status will show 'In Progress' or 'Not Attempted' instead of 'Completed'. Please, e-mail support@elearningcurve.com immediately and we will try to recover the results.
How will I know if I passed?
You will get an e-mail with exam results within 48 hours (typically much sooner). The e-mail will contain detailed analysis of the results by topic and module of the course and level of difficulty.
Are all questions in multiple-choice format?
No. There are five types of questions:
- True/False. Choose whether a statement is true or false.
- Multiple Choice. Select one answer from the list of choices.
- Multiple Response. Check all correct answers from the list of choices.
- Matching Drag & Drop. Match each item in the list on the right to an item in the list on the left by dragging and attaching them together.
- Sequence Drag & Drop. Order items (for instance, steps in a procedure) according to specific criteria by dragging them up or down the list.
Do questions vary in difficulty?
Yes. There are three levels of difficulty following Bloom's taxonomy:
- Level 1. Recognition. Test the ability to retrieve, recognize, and remember concepts and terminology.
- Level 2. Understanding. Test the ability to compare, contrast, describe, interpret, classify, and explain terms, concepts, or ideas.
- Level 3. Application. Test the ability to combine different concepts and ideas and apply them to solve problems or produce results.
Is the number of correct answers in a multiple response question related to its difficulty level?
No. Multiple Response questions have two or more correct answers, and they always have at least one incorrect answer. But difficulty level is not based on the number of correct answers. It is determined by the Bloom’s taxonomy levels described above. What this practically means is that, if you are not sure, you should check the answers that you feel are more likely to be correct (basically, you feel the probability of them been correct is more than 50%) and not check the answers that you feel are more likely to be incorrect (less than 50%).
Please note that in multiple response questions the word “points” refers to the difficulty level of the question, not the number of selections you should make. Check all the correct answers from the list of choices.
How are multiple response questions scored?
Because each question has more than one correct answer, each correct answer selected earns a portion of the total points for the question. Given a question with 4 choices, 2 correct and 2 incorrect, each correct answer selected earns 50% of the point value. However, each incorrect answer chosen deducts a portion of the points. So, choosing 2 correct answers and 1 incorrect answer in this example results in 50% of total points: 100% for correct answers less 50% for the incorrect answer.
What exam-taking techniques can I use to improve my scores on multiple response questions?
First, don’t try to sort through all of the answer choices at once. Instead look at them one at a time as if each is a true/false question. For example, given the question “Which of these letters are in the first half of the alphabet? A, C, J, X” you can think of it as four true/false questions: (1) True or False: A is in the first half of the alphabet, (2) True or False: C is in the first half of the alphabet, (3) True or False: J is in the first half of the alphabet, (4) True or False: X is in the first half of the alphabet. Mark as correct only those choices where you believe the statements are true.
Second, think probability when marking answers as correct. Remember that every question has more than 1 correct answer and at least 1 incorrect answer. Also remember that you earn points for choosing correct answers and you lose points for choosing incorrect answers. A question with 4 choices will have either 2 or 3 correct choices. For these questions, if you choose 2 correct answers when 3 are correct you will score 66.66% of the total points. But if you choose 3 answers when only 2 are correct the best possible score is 50%. This means that it is smart to to choose the two answers that you are most confident are correct and choose a 3rd answer only if you strongly believe it to be correct. Don’t choose the 3rd answer if you’re uncertain. Most of the MR questions that you encounter will have 4 choices of answers. When you see questions with more than 4 choices apply the same logic. If 5 choices, choose the 3 where you are most confident and a 4th only if you’re sure that it is also correct. If 6 choices, choose the 4 you most believe to be correct.
Does everyone get the same questions?
No. The questions for each exam are randomly selected from a large pool. However, the selection program ensures that every student gets the same numbers of questions from each topic and for each level of difficulty.
How are exams graded?
The exams are graded by a computer program. Each question is assigned maximum point value of 1, 2, or 3 based on the level of difficulty. No points are awarded for skipping a question. With Multiple Choice, True/False, Matching Drag & Drop, and Sequence Drag & Drop questions, you will receive no points for a wrong answer and full point value for a correct answer. With Multiple Response questions, you will receive partial credit for partially correct answers using a complex formula with the awarded point value depending on the total number of choices available, the number of correct choices available, the number of correct choices you made, and the number of incorrect choices you made.
What is the passing grade?
Your final score is calculated as the ratio of the number of points awarded over the maximum possible number of points in the exam. The passing grade is 70%. The actual score is rounded, so 69.5% will be considered a passing score.
Do you offer practice exams?
Each exam license entitles you to 3 exam attempts. Thus you can think of the first try as a practice and still have two more attempts left. And remember, we will not share your score or the number of exam attempts you made with anyone but you!
Do I get any document certifying that I passed?
Once you pass the exam, you will receive a Certificate of Education documenting that you have demonstrated mastery of the topic.
What if I fail?
Do not be discouraged. The exams cover a lot of ground and are designed to be challenging. This way, passing the exam is a true indication of significant mastery of the subject. About 40% of the candidates fail an exam on the first attempt. Most students, however, pass on the next attempt after further studying the course material. The advantage of eLearning is that you can review the material many times. The feedback you receive will help decide which portions of the course you should review.
How soon can I retake the exam if I fail?
You must wait for the e-mail informing you that you passed or failed. Do not retake the exam until you receive the results e-mail even if you feel that you failed. The system will not be able to save the second set of results. Once you receive the results and are re-enrolled, you can re-take the exam at any time.
How many times can I take an exam?
You can take each exam up to six times. However, each exam license that you purchase entitles you to three attempts. If you fail on all 3 attempts, you can purchase an additional exam license, and thus make up to three more attempts, by contacting support@elearningcurve.com. We believe that attempting an exam more than 6 times is not productive.
What do I do if English is not my native language?
We do offer exams with double-time-limit for students in the countries where native language is not English. Simply write to customer support and request this service.
Who develops the questions?
Exam questions are designed by a team made of our course instructors and certification development experts.
How do you make sure the questions are not ambiguous?
The answers given by students are regularly reviewed with analytical software. Any unusual patterns in answers are analyzed. If a question or an answer is deemed ambiguous, it is corrected or removed from the pool.
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