When setting up your Grade book, there are different Grade Type Descriptions. This directly corresponds to the exams that are created.
Whenever you create a new test as an instructor in EMSTesting, you have the ability to decide if that test should be categorized in the grade book as either a Quiz, Test, Module Exam, or Final Exam. This is how the program knows what the passing percentage on the test should be and its weight when calculating the overall grade for the student.
- On the Grade Book tab of a class, there are 4 default categories listed under Test Type - Grade Type Descriptions: Quiz, Test, Module Exam, and Final Exam. There will also be an Offline Grade Type Description of Other.
- Test Pass %: which is the score students need to meet to count as “passing”.
- % of Grade: which is the weight of that grade type as a percentage of their overall grade for the class.
When looking at the Grade Book tab of a class, you do have the ability to change the names of the categories from Quiz, Test, Module Exam, Final Exam, and Other to something else (ex. You might change “Test” to “Section Tests”, or “Quiz” might be changed to “Daily Quizzes”, etc.). However, it is important to note that changing the name of a category on the Grade Book tab does not change the name of the categories available when creating and categorizing a test. When creating a new test, these categories will still show up as Quiz, Test, Module Exam, or Final Exam.
The first line under Grade Type Descriptions will always match up to the Quiz test type when creating a test, and the second line will always match up to Test, the third to Module Exam, and the fourth to Final Exam, regardless of what you change their name to in the Grade Book tab. This means that if you change the Quiz line to read instead “Midterm Exam”, you will need to remember when creating the Midterm Exam itself, that if you want it to be graded as you’ve set it up in the Grade Book tab, you will need to categorize it as a Quiz.
Essentially, if you rearrange the order of Quiz, Test, Module Exam, and Final Exam in the Grade Book tab (or rename them all), just remember that when creating a test if you create the test as a Quiz, in the grade book it will display as and be graded as whatever the first line under “Grade Type Descriptions” says.
The Other category under Offline Grade Type Description functions differently. You cannot create a test in the program and categorize it as Other. Other is designed for assignments that you would manually enter into the actual grade book and then enter the score the students achieved. This is the category that Instructors most often end up changing to something else (ex. “Homework”, “Projects”, “Class Participation”, “Attendance”, etc.).
You can also add other Grade Type Descriptions in the line under Other. Add the description, the Test Pass %, and the % of Grade, and then select the green “+” button. This will add the new category, allow you to add the additional categories, and alphabetize each new category. You will need to click Save to save these new categories.