Tips For Final Exams in LYNX

Click here to view related articles.
Setup
25Live Fields vs SIS Data
Key LYNX Settings
Setting Up Translation Tables
Mapping Event Names, Categories, and Attributes
Best Practices for Optimizer Partitions and Preferences
Utilizing Meeting Patterns and Standard Schedules
At the Start of Each Term
Roll courses/exams over from previous term
Initialize reference data in LYNX
Using and Understanding Extract Sets
Tips for Import Extract Sets
Tips for Export Extract Sets
Create date exceptions
Test extract sets and import data into 25Live
Review errors and conflicts
Placing Classes Using Optimizer
Finalize bindings between sections
Review Best Practices for Optimizer Runs
Run the Optimizer to find placements
Tweak settings to improve your Optimizer results
Ongoing Throughout Term
Updates Throughout the Term
Ongoing Maintenance for LYNX
Finishing a Term
Final Exams
Tips For Final Exams in LYNX


Final exams in Series25 usually come in one of the following forms, depending on how they are handled in your SIS:

MethodIn your SISIn LYNXIn 25Live
Exam ImportExams exist separately from sections on their own table.Exams are imported and their location assignments are exported back to the SIS using a special extract set.Exams are either independent events with their own event type, or part of the original section.
Exam CreationExams don't exist in the SIS at all.Exams are created from scratch in 25Live using a special extract set based on rules and time blocks you configure. Nothing is exported back to the SIS because there's nothing to update there.
Exam Meeting PatternsExams are created as extra meeting patterns on a normal section.

Exams are treated just like any other meeting pattern, imported and exported through the same extract sets that handle sections.

Exams are always part of the original section.

Configuration

Exam Meeting Patterns

If you're using the Exam Meeting Patterns method, you don't have any extra configurations to perform or extract sets to create. LYNX will treat your exam meeting patterns exactly as if they were regular meeting patterns of another type. Note that this will cause them to gain the MMP label (for "multiple meeting patterns").

Exam Import/Creation

Otherwise, when you're making your initial configurations for LYNX, refer to the page on Key Settings. The biggest decision you'll have to make is whether exams should be in 25Live as separate events or as additional meeting patterns on the corresponding sections. If exams are their own events, you need to choose their event type.

You can also choose to modify the head counts of exams in 25Live for the purpose of spacing out students. For example, if you have 25 students in an exam but you want a classroom that holds 50 so that there can be space in between, LYNX allows you to set a multiplier so that 25Live knows you need more seats.

If you are using LYNX to create exams, you can also set limits on how they are created. For example, you can ensure that only LECTURE-type classes have exams, while LABs never will.

Extract Sets

If you're using the Exam Import or Exam Creation method, you have one more extract set to manage in addition to the regular import and export extract sets for your sections.

Exam Import

Unlike sections, which have separate extract sets for import into 25Live and export back to the SIS, exams have a single extract set that goes both ways. The criteria of this extract set match the exams themselves.

When you create your exam extract set, be aware that it will be active in both directions. Changes made in the SIS will automatically be imported into 25Live, and changes made in 25Live will automatically be exported to the SIS.

Importing and exporting exams and reviewing the warnings and errors behaves otherwise identically to the rest of your sections.

Exam Creation

Follow the steps on LYNX Exam Creation to create your exam creation extract set and its rules. Since exams don't exist in your SIS, the extract set for this method actually uses criteria that match the original sections in your term. Every section in the extract set will receive an exam as long as it meets one of your exam rules.

Once LYNX creates an exam in 25Live, you can assign a location to it. (Or you can set your configurations so that they have the same room as the original section.) Since the exam exists only in 25Live, nothing is exported back to your SIS.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

  • Exam rules. LYNX creates exams based on rules that boil down to "if a section looks like X, then its exam is Y". They work best when you have your exam week planned out with time blocks that correspond to different meeting patterns. See Planning Exam Creation Rules for help outlining your rules.
  • Multiple meeting patterns. If a section has more than one meeting pattern, LYNX can make an exam for each of them. To prevent this from happening, use your configuration settings to limit which meeting patterns generate exams.
  • Date exceptions. If exams aren't listed in your SIS, chances are that your sections have meeting pattern dates that extend through the end of the term, including during finals week. If that's the case, make sure you add a date exception to your section import extract set which excludes dates during that week. This will clear up space for your exams and ensure there are no conflicts.