What do the different AutoProctor Settings mean?

In this post, we will take a look at the different settings on an AutoProctor Test. These are the Settings you can configure as a Test Administrator. They cover settings related to Timing, Proctoring and the Classroom.

Main Settings

When you first load the Settings Sidebar on Google Forms, you should see a screen like the one above. There are 3 tabs at the top: Main, Timer and Proctor. By default, the Settings opens with the Main tab.

We have added some number labels in red to make it easier to describe what each item does:

1. Number of tests remaining: This item tells you how many Tests are remaining according to your plan. Every time a test-taker finishes a test on AutoProctor, this number will decrease by 1. You can click on the link to open your account on AutoProctor. You can add more tests to your account there.

2. Enable Timer: This setting allows you to toggle between enabling and disabling Timer. The details about the Timer Settings are available in the Timer tab. But, if you disable the Timer here, even if the Timer has Settings, the test will not have a Timer. You need not save this setting. Just clicking on the checkbox to the left of the option automatically saves the option.

3. Enable Proctor: This toggles between enabling and disabling Proctoring. The same logic as that of Enable Timer applies here.

4. Max Num of Attempts: Though you don’t see this Setting in the image, you should see it on the add-on. This number tells you how many times the student can open the test. If you don’t want the student to open the test multiple times to discover the questions, you can choose a number here. But, we suggest you don’t set the number to 1, because if the student faces an error during the test, and tries to reload, he/she won’t be able to. We recommend a number like 4.

5. Test Link: This is the link that you will share with people who want to take the test. Every Google Form has its own, unique link. The link gets generated when you open the add-on for the first time. If you click on the Copy Link button at the bottom, the link gets copied. You can paste it into any email, chat application, etc to share it with the test-taker.

6. Choose Classroom: This is useful if you are using Google Classrooms along with Google Forms. You may want to use the same Google Form quiz for different classrooms. Once the students take the test, you may want to view the results based on their Classroom.

   If you choose a Google Classroom from the dropdown, the test link changes. You can then share the new link with the specific classroom.

   For example, let’s say you want to share the same Google Form with 3 different classrooms. Choose the first Classroom from the dropdown. Copy the link that gets generated and share it with students in the first Classroom. Now, choose the second Classroom from the list. A new link will get generated. Share that link with students in the second Classroom. And so on.

Timer Settings

On this tab, you can change the different settings related to the timings of the test. (Important: The dates and times are set with respect to the time zone of the test-administrator. That is, of the person who creates the test.)

1. Start Date: This is the date before which a student cannot start the test. If a student tries to open the test before this date, they are told that they need to wait until the Start Date to start the test.

2. Start Time: Same as above, except that it refers to the Time, instead of the Date.

3. End Date: A student usually cannot start the test after this date. If they try loading the test after the Test Date, they will be informed that the test has expired.

4. End Time: Same as End Date, except that this refers to the Time. (Important: If the End Time of a test is, say, 9 PM and the test’s duration is 1 hour, the test taker can still start the test at 8.59 PM and take the test for 1 hour. That is, the End Date and End Time refer to when the student can start the test, not the date and time by which they must submit the test.)

5. Duration: The test duration in minutes. Depending on whether Late Submissions is allowed or not, this number sets the amount of time the test taker has to finish the test.

6. Auto-close Test: If Auto-close Test is selected, the test disappears as soon as the duration is up. It is very important to note that if the student doesn’t submit the answers before the time is up, all the answers are lost. So, be very careful about choosing this option.

Proctoring Settings

The Proctoring tab has Settings related to the different items that get tracked, and how this tracking is communicated. You can disable any tracking event by de-selecting the checkbox.

1. Tab-Switching: When a user leaves the quiz (either by going to a different tab on the browser, or by going to a different app or application), the time is recorded. The time when the user re-enters the quiz is also recorded. This amount of time spent away from the quiz determines the quiz attempt’s Trust Score.

2. Number of People: We expect quizzes on AutoProctor to be attempted by a single person. So, we expect a single (and the same) face to be on the screen at all times. Enabling this setting means that whenever AutoProctor detects either zero faces via the camera, or detects 2 or more faces, the event gets flagged.

3. Audio & Noise Levels: Enabling this setting means that the device microphone is monitored. We expect that an online test must be taken in a quiet environment. So, if the microphone detects a noise higher than a threshold level, this gets tracked.

4. Photos At Random: The above three points are violations that a test taker has possibly committed. But, you may just want a few photos taken at random throughout the test that you could review later. Enabling this setting means that a few photos of the test taker are taken throughout the test.

5. Me after the Test: If this box is checked, depending on the violation, audio and image files are recorded and saved on the cloud. As a test administrator, these files are made available to you after the test.

6. User during the Test: If this box is checked, as the user is taking the test, AutoProctor can inform the user real-time if a violation is detected. For example, if AutoProctor detects loud noise in the environment, the test taker gets notified. The test taker can then try and reduce the noise so that their trust score won’t get affected negatively.