Overview
Unless otherwise specified or for project courses, each MDS course has two quizzes: one in week 3 and another in week 5. Students will have the option to attend a quiz review session to review their quiz results and submit regrade reqeusts. Please read through the quiz policy as well. The information in the quiz policy page has the final say in any discrepancies between the two pages.
Quiz and quiz review windows will appear on the MDS quizzes calendar with a ‘tentative’ label until reservations open, at which point they are updated to ‘confirmed’. This is becasue quizzes are held at ORCA, a shared UBC testing facility, and we must schedule quiz availability around all other courses at UBC. We will do our best to keep the dates consistent throughout the program, provided the ORCA has adequate availability.
Purpose and Difficulty
The purpose of quizzes are to be a “sanity check” that students are keeping up with the essential material. While labs may go more in-depth into a topic, the quizzes cover essential material that we expect students to have mastered and to retain. They are intended to be less difficult than the labs and are not meant to trick you nor to contain unexpected material.
What is ORCA?
ORCA (previously CBTF) stands for ‘Open Resource Centre for Assessments’ and is a series of purpose built computer labs on campus for taking exams at UBC. You can find more information about ORCA such as locations on campus and scheduling through their website.
Quiz Format and Platform
All MDS quizzes are closed book, unless the instructor allows the use of a single-sided, one-page, letter-sized, digital cheatsheet. Each quiz is 50 minutes long and delivered on PrairieLearn (PL).
Quizzes are held in person using an asynchronous format. Students book preferred time slots during our provided quiz window and write their quizzes in an ORCA computer lab. Students make quiz reservations through a platform called PrairieTest (PT). Quiz questions are randomized, so each student may receive a slightly different version of the quiz.
During the quiz window, students are NOT allowed to disclose, discuss, or share any part of the quiz with any other individual, except as directly permitted or required by the course instructors. Details are outlined in the quiz policy. Violations will result in academic penalties, which may include failure of the quiz or failure of the course.
Quiz Review Sessions
Quiz results may only be reviewed by booking and attending a quiz review session at the ORCA. These sessions are typically held one week after the quiz. Reservations follow the same process as for quizzes, but students only need to book a single time slot to review all quizzes from the previous week.
Quiz procedure overview
- Once the quiz window on the MDS quizzes calendar has been updated to ‘confirmed’ and an announcement has been made, make a separate quiz reservation for each quiz through PT.
- Instructors will specify one of the following cheatsheet policies for the quiz:
- No cheatsheet allowed
- Instructor-provided cheatsheet: Students may choose to use the provided cheatsheet by submitting it to PL. If permitted by the instructors, you may choose to submit a student-created one instead.
- Student-created cheatsheet: Students create their own cheatsheets and submit them to PL
- Note: Students may choose not to use a cheatsheet during the quiz.
- Make a quiz review reservation through PT to secure a time slot for a quiz review session.
- Check in your reserved quiz session and write the quiz
- Bring your student card for check-in.
- Memorize your CWL password to log in to PL on the provided computer
- Once the instructors release the quiz grades, you can view your overall score online through PL
- If you are happy with your grade for all quizzes, please delete your quiz review reservation to free up the time slot for other students
- Or if you wish to review your quiz results and identify any mistakes, attend your reserved quiz review session