Student experience and support during online tests and exams
Information to provide to your students in advance of their assessment, and options for support while a test or exam is in session.
Communication
Announcements to students beforehand
Please direct students to the information about exams on the central University website. Assessment Services will also email students with information to prepare them for their exam.
To reinforce the communication with students, please feel free to send these instructions in advance of the test or exam. Delete the passage that doesn’t apply to your context.
Please note, as per the usual requirements for exams, you must not directly contact your instructor about your exam.
Student Support
- If you need help during your online exam, please call the Contact Centre for advice. Phone: (Auckland) 09 373 7513, (New Zealand) 0800 61 62 63, or (International) +64 9 373 7513.
- If you are unable to call, please email studentinfo@auckland.ac.nz and provide exam details, contact details and a description of the issue.
- Additional support information is available on the central website.
Please note that emailed responses may not be able to be provided before your exam submission deadline so please call in the first instance.
Inspera is the University’s platform for delivering end of semester online exams:
Inspera
An Inspera announcement will be made if there are any corrections or clarifications regarding your exam.
- Online exams have an additional 30 minutes added to the exam duration to allow you time to submit all components of your exam including uploading any documents where required.
- It is recommended that you start uploading any documents at least 10 minutes before the deadline. It takes several minutes for your submission to upload. After you have uploaded a document, you should check that the correct document has been uploaded.
- You cannot submit a document in Inspera after the exam due time if the upload process has not started before the deadline. It is your responsibility to ensure your assessment is successfully submitted on time. You must contact the Student Contact Centre if you run into technical difficulties submitting your exam.
- If you are unable to submit before the deadline, you need to contact exams@auckland.ac.nz and provide an explanation and evidence as to why you could not complete.
Before your exam, it is highly recommended you take a demo assessment ahead of your exams to ensure your device is compatible and you are familiarised with the platform. It’s quick and easy and is the best place to start when preparing for online exams this semester.
Please read the Inspera exam FAQ’s.
If using Canvas for an academic term test:
Canvas
If you face a technical issue with Canvas, live chat is available 24/7 with Canvas Support, via the Help button within your Canvas left-hand sidebar.
If you are in New Zealand, you can also call the Canvas Support Hotline on 0800 005 205.
If any correction to the online test is made, you will be notified via a Canvas Announcement. Please ensure your notifications are turned on during this period.
- Online tests have an additional 15 minutes added to the duration to allow for the online delivery mode.
- It is recommended that you start submitting your work at least 10 minutes before the deadline. It takes several minutes for your submission to upload. After submission you should check that the correct document has been uploaded.
- Once the submission deadline has passed, normal Canvas submission is not possible. It is your responsibility to ensure your assessment is successfully submitted on time.
- If you are unable to submit before the deadline, you need to upload your submission document as a comment. You will also need to contact your examiner and provide an explanation and evidence as to why your submission was late (i.e., technical difficulties).
- Late submissions added as a comment may receive a penalty. Submission documents that have been modified in any way after the deadline (document metadata) cannot be accepted for marking.
Information to include in the assessment instructions
You should include the Academic Honesty Declaration and the Student Support Statement above, plus any special examination instructions.
Practise assessments for students
An Inspera practise exam has been created for students to familiarise themselves with the online platform. However, it is worth reiterating that the practise exam does not count towards their course grades and is completely voluntary. They should log in to Inspera using their University Single Sign-On details and select the Demo tests tab, and look for Demo Test 1.
You may also consider giving your students some examples of the ways that you will ask questions in the end of semester exam.
There are additional suggestions for preparing students on the exam preparation checklist.
Support for students during the test or exam
The student support information should be added in the instructions for every exam (see the ‘Communication’ section above).
For academic term tests, examiners are expected to be available for the duration of the test to respond to issues that may arise.
Provision will be made through the University Contact Centre for students requiring technical support while undertaking an online test or exam. The Contact Centre will be directing queries through to Assessment Services as appropriate (e.g., potential content errors) and will liaise with the examiner/nominated course staff. Assessment Services will phone the number you have provided.
For Canvas-related questions, students can contact the Canvas Support (available 24 hours, 7 days a week). Staff can live-chat with Canvas Support via the help icon in Canvas.
The Inspera support team can monitor student activity during your test or exam and report any anomalies to you, such as students who have not connected, lost connection or not submitted the test or exam. See the Inspera support page on the Staff Intranet.
If students have questions about their timetable, or how to contact student support, please refer them to the Exams for students studying remotely page on the central website.
Problems with test or exam questions
It is best not to attempt to correct questions while the test is in session. In the case of a Canvas Quiz, we suggest you wait until the test is finished, then either:
- Regrade the quiz and select the “Give everyone full credit for this question” option (the simplest solution).
- If you are using Canvas Quiz or Assignment for the test, create another Quiz or Assignment with a single (corrected) question for students to complete at their earliest convenience. If the exam is part of an Assignment Group that has a % weighting for the overall course grade, add the new question to the same Assignment Group. You should update the scores on the original (incorrect) question to zero, using SpeedGrader, so that this does not interfere with the overall score.
Note, other students may be wasting precious time on the incorrect question so make sure you let students know as soon as possible how they are to proceed through a Canvas announcement.
Technical problems during the test or exam
If using Inspera, examiners with the Planner role can add extra time for the affected student via the instructions on the Inspera Staff Development Hub. Follow the link for granting extra time for students using Inspera.
If using Canvas, and depending on the technical issue encountered, you may consider using the Moderate Quiz feature to grant the student another attempt at the quiz. If the due date has expired, tick the ‘Manually unlock the Quiz for the next attempt‘ box. In this case, liaise with the student so they know what their new ‘due by’ date will be, then adjust the Quiz availability for the individual student for their second attempt.
It is not appropriate or fair to ask a student to retake a test at another time. Exceptions and aegrotats should be handled on a case by case basis, in the usual way.
Page updated 08/04/2025 (content removed from tests and exams page)