Alis/CEM IBE web-only version - What a student will see

The Alis/CEMIBE Computer Adaptive Baseline Test (CABT) is a single timed assessment. It includes the following adaptive sections. (Running order indicated by the numbers):

• (1) Vocabulary (lasting a maximum of 10 minutes)
• (2) Mathematics (lasting a maximum of 25 minutes)

Additional Non-Adaptive sections

• (3) Non-Verbal (including Pictures, Speed and Accuracy, Diagrams, Dice) (lasting 16 minutes in total)

The assessment has no sound.

Instructions and example questions are given at the start of each section so a student is aware of what they are expected to do and how long they have to answer as many questions as they can. If a student gives an incorrect answer to an example question they will be told what the correct answer is.

When the section time is reached the section will end regardless of whether a student has finished.  This is by design.

Students will not be told if they have given a correct or incorrect answer when the module assessed questions begin.

What is needed:

• The CABT Assessment Link –URL or shortcut download
• The Assessment passkey -The passkey is unique to the year group (grade) but is the same for every student in that year group/grade. It is very important that the students are given the correct passkey for their year group, otherwise they will complete the wrong assessment and their result will be invalid.

Running the Alis/CEMIBE CABT - What is seen when the Assessment link is selected

Selecting the shortcut or copying and pasting the assessment link into an address bar in your browser will launch the test (recommended browser Google Chrome or Safari).

• First thing a student will be asked to do is enter the assessment Passkey. The passkey is not case sensitive.

• Enter the passkey into the text box and click Submit.
• Remember the passkey is unique to the year group/grade but the same for every student in that year group/grade.
• The CABT test will launch

• Click Next

• The student will choose their name from the grid. Once they choose their name the next page will automatically be displayed. This screen will display the name the student has chosen and the test they are about to take.

• Click Next. Final page before the test will begin. The student clicks the Start button to begin.

• The title page of the first test section will be shown. The student clicks Next

• Each section begins with a summary page followed by the example questions. When the final example question has been answered the student will see the final page detailing the time they have to complete the section. When they click the Next button the section will begin.

• When the student reaches the end of the test this message will be displayed.

• The test is finished and the browser can now be closed.

What if something goes wrong?

The save failover process has been designed to prevent data loss in the event that the ‘engine’ (the instance of our e-Assessment, running in a web browser on the user’s PC) is unable to return result files to CEM’s back-end systems.

The most likely reasons for this are:

• A local (school/LA) firewall blocking the result save message to CEM
• Heavy demand on CEM’s systems causing requests to our web-services and database to time out.

When the candidate finishes the test, the engine attempts to save the final result file back to CEM. It will attempt to do so three times, with a time-out of 60 seconds on each attempt. If it is still unable to save back to CEM, the save failover routine will be activated.

If the engine is unable to save results back to CEM, the student will see the following dialog:

What happens next?

The invigilator needs to check the .CSF file has correctly saved to the ‘downloads’ folder.

If the save failover has saved correctly, the invigilator will see a “CEM_RESULTS_FINAL_XXX.CSF” (where XXX is a long string of numbers and letters) file appear in the bottom left hand corner of the browser window. This may look slightly different in different browsers. The invigilator can also open the browser’s ‘downloads’ folder and check if a result file with that name has appeared with a creation date/time within the last minute or so.

The .csf files can then be uploaded to the Alis/CEMIBE secure website.