Student Module 4 - Test and Exam Accommodations

Accommodations Tab Review
1. Accommodations Requests
2. Accommodations Status
Confirming Test/Exam Participation and Selecting Accommodations
1. Step-by-Step
Confirm Exam Accommodations Status
1. Step-by-Step
Opt-out of / Cancel Exam Accommodations
1. Step-by-Step
Video Tutorial
1. Transcript
Resources

In Module 4, we cover how to use Ventus to confirm your participation in tests and exams and to select the test/exam accommodations you wish to use or, alternately, to opt out of or withdraw from all test/exam accommodations. Before going over how to confirm participation in tests and exams and selecting required accommodations, let’s take another look at the Accommodations Tab and the initial teaching and exam accommodations request that is required.

Accommodations Tab Review

When confirming participation in a test or exam, you will select or decline exam accommodations from your course-specific accommodations that were approved for this semester. However, before being able to do this, you must have submitted an Accommodations Request via the Accommodations tab for the test/exam accommodations you wish to use in that course for the current semester.

Accommodations Requests

To make an accommodations request for teaching and exam accommodations in each of your courses:

Go to the Accommodations tab, and choose the current semester from the Semester dropdown list.
From the current semester course list, choose the course in which you wish to request accommodations.
From the template accommodations list of Teaching and Exam Accommodations, click the checkbox next to each accommodation you require in that course.
- Note: Having established with your PMC Coordinator what exam accommodations will be included in your template accommodations, you are being asked to anticipate the exam accommodations you will need for that course before any Notice of Examination (NoE) has been issued. However, in this initial accommodations request for that course, it is in your best interest to select all the available exam accommodations in your template that you think you might possibly need. When you receive an NoE and confirm participation, you will have the opportunity to make a final decision on which exam accommodations you will actually use or to decide to opt-out of all accommodations for that test/exam.
Click the green “Submit for approval” button.

For more complete instructions on requesting accommodations, see Student Module 3 – Accommodation Requests & Letters of Accommodations.

Accommodations Status

Once you have submitted your accommodations request, your Coordinator will need time to review and approve any non-self-serve accommodations. You should check back to view and verify the status of all accommodations, especially any pending exam accommodations, to ensure you have access to the ones you require when you receive an NOE and go to confirm participation and make final exam accommodations selections.

screenshot of an exam accommodations request status for a sample course highlighting the pending status of one those accommodations with a red border

Confirming Test/Exam Participation and Selecting Accommodations

When you receive an NOE, you will need to confirm your participation in that test or exam by the 10 calendar days deadline and choose the specific exam accommodations you require.

Step-by-Step

Go to your student dashboard and look under the “Unconfirmed Exams” heading to review the list of all exams you need to confirm participation for.
Click the blue “View” button next to the “Unconfirmed Exams” heading or click the Exams tab to start the confirmation process.
At the top of the Exams page, under the heading “Unconfirmed Exams”, pick an unconfirmed test/exam and click the “Respond” button to the right.
A new page opens with the test/exam details, i.e., course number, exam date and time, “Professor option” detailing whether it is online, on campus, etc., and the list of available accommodations for this exam.
Click the checkboxes to select the exam accommodations you require.
Under the “Student confirmation option” heading, you will click the down arrow to choose how you would like to write your exam. From the dropdown menu, choose “I will write this exam online with the class”.
Click the green button labelled “I confirm that I will write this exam with accommodations”.
- Note that you also have the option to confirm that you will write the exam without accommodations. In that case, you would not click any checkboxes from the list of available accommodations. Then you would proceed to the heading “I will write this exam without any accommodations provided by PMC” and click the button labelled “I confirm that I will write this exam without any accommodations”.
When the page reloads, you will now be in the Exams tab and see the confirmed exam listed under the heading “Exams with MEC — McIntyre Exam Centre”. To the right of the listing for confirmed exam, click the blue “View/edit” button to check the status of your selected accommodations:
- “Self-serve” accommodations have a status of “Approved” with a green checkmark icon.
- “Non-self-serve” accommodations have a status of “Pending” with a blue clock icon.
- Any accommodations you have not chosen have a status of “Not selected” .

Confirm Exam Accommodations Status

If you have any exam accommodations that were listed as pending (requiring PMC Coordinator approval), verify your exam details and status of your exam accommodations in the Ventus Student Portal three (3) days before each test or exam.

Step-by-Step

Go to the Exams tab and click the “View/Edit” button next to the test/exam in question.
Review the status of each accommodation and ensure that they have been approved. Contact your PMC Coordinator if there are any issues.

Screenshot of exam listing with pending exam accommodations highlighted with a red box.

Opt-out of / Cancel Exam Accommodations

If you decide to write a test or exam with your class without accommodations, you need to go through the process of opting-out of or cancelling your exam accommodations at least 7 days before the test or exam so that MEC is able to give your seat to another student.

Step-by-Step

To opt-out of or cancel accommodations for a specific test or exam, go to the Ventus Student Portal and …

If you have NOT YET CONFIRMED your participation in that specific test or exam at MEC, you can opt out of exam accommodations by:

1. Go to the Exams tab, and look under the Unconfirmed Exams heading for the specific test or exam.
2. Click the Respond button to the right of that test/exam listing.
3. On the next screen, scroll to the bottom and opt-out of accommodations by clicking the grey button labelled “I confirm that I will write this exam WITHOUT accommodations”.
4. Back in the exam listings, this exam listing will be highlighted in pink and the accommodations status will be changed to “Accommodations cancelled” – Note that the exam itself is not “cancelled”… just your accommodations arrangements.

If you have PREVIOUSLY CONFIRMED your participation in that specific test or exam at MEC, you can cancel all your exam accommodations by:

1. Go to the Exams tab, and look under the Exams with MEC – McIntyre Exam Centre heading for that specific test or exam.
2. Click the Cancel Accommodations button to the right of that test/exam listing.
3. A dialog box pops up with the following message: “Are you sure you want to write this exam without accommodation?” Click OK.
4. Back in the exam listings, this exam listing will be highlighted in pink and the accommodations status will be changed to “Accommodations cancelled” – Again, note that the exam itself is not “cancelled”… just your accommodations arrangements.

Video Tutorial

For more detailed information and a visual guide, the following video covers the steps for:

Confirming participation in a test or exam
Selecting test/exam accommodations
Confirming test/exam accommodations status
Opting-out of or cancelling test/exam accommodations

Transcript

Video Tutorial: Confirm Participation in Exam / Select Exam Accommodations

Welcome to Module 4 of the Ventus training for PMC students. In this video, we are looking at the Exams tabs and will cover how to confirm participation in tests and exams and how to select exam accommodations.

Please note that before you can receive a Notice of Examination for a test or exam allowing you to confirm participation and select your exam accommodations, you must first complete an accommodations request for that course. If you need help with completing an accommodations request, please visit the Ventus Help website at carleton.ca/ventushelp and review “Module 3 – Accommodation Requests & Letters of Accommodations”.

On your student dashboard, you will see a heading for “Unconfirmed Exams”. There you will find a list of all exams for which you currently need to confirm participation. Clicking the Exams tab or the blue “View” button will take you to the Exams tab where you can start the confirmation process.

In the Exams tab, under the heading “Unconfirmed Exams”, you will see any new exams listed for which you will confirm participation. To the right side of the listed exam, click the “Respond” button.

A new page opens with the following details: course and section number, exam date and time, “Professor option” detailing whether it is online, on campus, etc., and the list of available accommodations for this exam.

Now, click the checkboxes to select the accommodations you require for the exam. Take note that if you have the accommodation of extended time, you will be prompted to select how you wish to apply your extra time. Currently, the option to apply your extra time at the beginning of your exam is unavailable, so you would choose “Apply extra time at the end” . Your exam start-time may be adjusted after confirmation if extra time exceeds operational hours.

Under the “Student confirmation option” heading, you will click the down arrow to choose how you would like to write your exam. In this example, the dropdown menu offers the option of “I will write this exam in person at the McIntyre Exam Centre”. Once you have selected your student confirmation option, click the green button labelled “I confirm that I will write this exam with accommodations”.
You also have the choice to opt-out of test and exam accommodations, that is, choosing to write the test or exam without accommodations. To do so, you go to the Exams tab and look under the heading “Unconfirmed Exams” to find the test or exam which you would like to write with no accommodations. To the right side of the listed exam, click the “Respond” button.

You will come to the view/edit page with all the details for that test or exam. You would by-pass your list of template exam accommodations, not clicking any checkboxes from that list and scroll to the bottom of that page. Below the green button, you will find the heading “I will write this exam without any accommodations provided by PMC” and click the grey button labelled “I confirm that I will write this exam without accommodations” to opt-out of all test or exam accommodations.

Once you have confirmed your exam participation WITH or WITHOUT accommodations, the page will reload and bring you back to the Exams tab.

If you confirmed that you will write the exam WITHOUT accommodations, you will see the exam listing under the heading “Exams I’m writing in class without accommodations”. Next to the listing, you will see an “Undo” button which you can use to undo your decision to write in class without accommodations. When you click the “Undo” button, you will receive a confirmation prompt of “Are you sure you want to undo your decision to write this exam in class?” … Click OK. This exam listing will then be returned to the “Unconfirmed exams” listings.

If you confirmed that you will write the exam WITH accommodations, you will see the confirmed exam listing with the Status of “Upcoming”.

Now, to check the status of your selected accommodations and make any necessary edits, click the blue “View/edit” button to the right of your confirmed exam listing. This will open the “View/edit accommodations” screen.

On this screen, the status column will show any “Self-serve” accommodations you chose with a status of “Approved” with a green checkmark icon, any accommodations you chose that require coordinator approval with a status of “Pending” with a blue clock icon, and any accommodations you have not chosen with a status of “Not selected”.

If you have any exam accommodations that are listed as pending, please check back at least 3 days before your exam, using the “View/Edit” button to return to this screen, and review their status to ensure that they have been approved. Contact your PMC Coordinator if there are any issues.

If you needed to modify your exam accommodations for any reason, you make the changes required on this “View/edit accommodations” screen, for example, selecting an available accommodation that you need or unselecting any accommodation that you no longer require, and then click the green “Modify Accommodations” button. The changes will be saved and you will be brought back to the Exams tab.

However, there is one situation in which you would NOT use the “View/Edit” button followed by the “Modify Accommodations” button. If, for instance, you had only one available accommodation on an exam, for example, 100% extra time, which you initially selected when confirming participation, but now you no longer wish to use this accommodation.

If you try to use the “View/Edit” button on that exam listing and then try to unselect the only available accommodation you have and then click the “Modify Accommodations” button, it will not work. You will get a Ventus notification screen stating that “You must pick at least one accommodation to be able to write this exam at PMC – Academic Accommodations”. In this instance, the only way to modify your accommodation would be to use the “Cancel Accommodations” button because you are essentially cancelling all your accommodations for this exam in this case.

Let’s take a look at the functionality of the “Cancel Accommodations” button.

If you have already confirmed participation in a test or exam and have selected your test or exam accommodations, but you have decided that you no longer require any accommodations and wish to write with the rest of the class, you can cancel all accommodations using the “Cancel Accommodations” button.

In the Exams tab, find the confirmed exam for which you no longer require accommodations and click the red “Cancel Accommodations” button to the right of the listing. You will then get a confirmation screen, asking “Are you sure you want to write this exam without accommodation?”. Click OK. Back in the exam listings, you will now see that this listing has been highlighted in pink and its status has been changed to “Accommodations cancelled”. This, of course, doesn’t mean that your exam is cancelled, but that your accommodations arrangements have been cancelled.

Thanks for exploring Ventus and how to confirm participation in tests and exams, to select test and exam accommodations and to opt-out of or cancel those accommodations. That completes the 4 modules of the Ventus Student support menu. Much success to you in your studies at Carleton!

Resources

Ventus Student Support and FAQ

Visit the Ventus Student Support and FAQ materials for guidance on the accommodations process at Carleton and how Ventus can be used to support the management of your academic accommodations.

Ventus Support Line and Live Chat

Scheduling and Examinations Services operates the following services for Ventus-related issues and technical inquiries:

Toll-free lines:
- From within Canada & USA: 1-877-557-2930
- Outside Canada/US: +1-613-518-2601

Live Chat Support – On the Exam Services Live Chat Support page, click the icon (like the one to the right on this page) that will appear on the bottom right of the screen to chat with examination staff representative.

Toll-free lines and Live chat support are available 8:30 am -10 pm on weekdays, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm on weekends.

PMC Coordinator

Contact your PMC Coordinator if you have any questions or concerns regarding your accommodations and support.

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Student Module 4 – Test and Exam Accommodations

Accommodations Tab Review

Accommodations Requests

Accommodations Status

Confirming Test/Exam Participation and Selecting Accommodations

Step-by-Step

Confirm Exam Accommodations Status

Step-by-Step

Opt-out of / Cancel Exam Accommodations

Step-by-Step

Video Tutorial

Transcript

Resources

Ventus Student Support and FAQ

Ventus Support Line and Live Chat

PMC Coordinator

Was this page helpful?