Elsevier’s Assessment Builder (EAB) FAQ Faculty Guide

An assessment cannot be edited after it has been assigned. This helps prevent scoring issues and discrepancies.

An assessment can only be deleted from the Course Plan page if no students have started taking it. Once students have started taking an assessment, it cannot be unassigned or removed from the Course Plan. You must navigate to your Course Plan to delete the assignment.

Questions cannot be deleted after they have been assigned to prevent disrupting scoring and assessment history.

This depends on whether the assignment has been made visible to students in your Course Plan. Once an assignment has been made visible, students can access or interact with it.

• • • If the assignment is in study or exam mode, the student can start as soon as it is visible.
    • If the assignment is in secure exam mode, the student can access the exam launch page as soon as it is visible, and they can start as soon as they have the access code from their instructor.

Any instructors added to the course can make assignments visible when first assigning an assessment or after it has already been added to the Course Plan. 

• • • If you are assigning an assessment, you can make the assignment visible during the “Access and Availability” step by updating the visibility date under “Scheduling.” Click here to view a video reviewing how to assign assessments in EAB. 
    • If an assessment has already been added to the Course Plan, click the Actions button to the right of the assignment and select “Make visible now.” You can also set the visibility for a later date by clicking the “Settings” link. 

You can reassign an assessment that has been assigned previously via the “Assign Assessment” action in the left-hand menu navigation.

1. If you are in your Course Plan, first click the “Add/Manage Banks and Assessments” link. Then, use the left-hand navigation menu to manage your assessments.
2. Click the “Assign Assessments” button. From the content list, select the assignment you would like to assign, then click “Next.”
3. Complete the remaining steps to set the access and availability, assignment mode, and grading to finalize assigning the assessment.

You can filter item banks to help narrow down your search. This allows you to easily find questions tagged to specific categories without having to search through thousands of questions manually. To use the filter function, simply select “Search” or “Browse Categories” to check off the tags you’d like to include, then select “Apply.” EAB will then filter and only provide the questions that fit your specific criteria.

Yes, the item type filters will work for searching traditional item types.

EAB’s questions are currently scored by question type and scoring type.

Question Type:

• Next Generation NCLEX® (NGN) item types follow the partial credit scoring guidelines from NCSBN. Scores range from 0 and 1. Each item is weighted by the number of Clinical Judgment Measurement Model (CJMM) category tags. For example, a bowtie item that has 5 CJMM categories tagged, and the test taker got a score of .5, then the score of the item is .5 X 5 = 2.5.

• All Traditional item types, except Multiple Response Select All that Apply, are dichotomously scored. For example, a Multiple Choice question will receive a score of 1 if it is correct, and 0 if it is incorrect.

• Multiple Response Select All that Apply items are scored using partial scoring. For all correct selections, students receive >= +1 point. For all incorrect selection, students receive <=-1 point. The minimum score is 0, and the maximum score is the correct number of answers.

Scoring Type:

1. Correct and Partial Credit: The system assigns full points for completely correct answers and partial points for questions where the student answered only some parts correctly.

2. Partial Scoring: In multi-part questions (like “Multiple Response Select All That Apply” or “Matrix Multiple Response”), the student can earn partial credit for correctly answering some, but not all, parts of the question. This is factored into the final grade, which may lead to a score that differs from a simple “number of correct answers divided by total questions.

   Score Calculation Example: If Example Student A answers 25 out of 30 questions correctly, their final score also includes partial points from questions where they answered some parts correctly. This results in their final percentage reflecting both full and partial credit.

Throwing out a question means it will not count towards student or class scores.

Currently, you cannot throw out questions or give full credit only to specific students. This feature is only available on a single assignment level. Any student who completes the applicable assignment will receive the rescore.

Currently, the ability to undo grading is not available.

No. After a regrade, nothing in “My Assessments” will change.

Instructor View: The questions will be displayed in the order in which the items are listed under My Assessments.

Student View: The questions will be displayed in the order in which students take their assessments.

When a course is copied, the assessment that was originally regraded will be in its original state, and this also applies to the assignment. All of the assignment data will be in its original form, since it behaves as a new assignment in the system.

Students will not be able to see which questions were rescored, but they can see a percentage change in their final grade to maintain test security. There will also be a note that students need to speak with their instructor for more information on what was rescored and why.

Regraded assessments will sync with all Learning Management Systems. Regraded assessments will not sync with Evolve.

KR-20 is for exam-level reliability, and Point By Serial is for question-level reliability.

• KR-20 is a special case of Cronbach’s Alpha that offers exam-level reliability estimates for dichotomously scored items (i.e., right/wrong or 0/1).
• PBCC (point biserial correlation coefficient) is the point biserial correlation coefficient. It is a special case of Pearson’s correlation coefficient, which can be used to estimate item reliability and item discrimination. The Pearson correlation coefficient can be used to measure both item reliability and item discrimination because it quantifies the relationship between the scores on an item and the overall test scores, helping to ensure that items not only produce consistent results but also effectively distinguish between varying levels of ability.

Students can access the exam launch page as soon as the assignment is visible in their Course Plan to download the secure browser and complete the system check. After selecting the assignment in the Course Plan, they will land on the exam launch page and can download the secure browser. 

If the assignment has not yet been made visible and you want to let students in before the scheduled available time, on your Course Plan page you can click “Make Visible Now” via the Actions button for that assignment. Students will then see the assignment on their Course Plan immediately. However, regardless of visibility or availability settings, students cannot enter the exam without the access code. Only their proctor/instructor can view and share this code. 

No, you cannot detect if a file is already installed from the browser since this is handled by the user’s browser.

No, instructors will not know a student’s system readiness status unless they ask the student directly or see it before they enter the exam.

The secure browser automatically updates in the background if it is not on the latest version. It is recommended to allow any update to occur and to make sure the browser opens and install any necessary files if it is the very first launch.

After downloading the app, students will need to drag and drop the app icon into their desktop folder to complete the install properly. 

After the app has been installed, while not a requirement, it is recommended that students open the app. Opening the app after installation allows for any updates to occur, ensures that browser can open successfully, and allows for the installation of any necessary files. 

You must assign the assessment in study or exam mode, as the secure exam tool in EAB exclusively supports MacOS and Windows operating systems.

Browser Minimum Requirements
Google Chrome (latest version)
Mozilla Firefox (latest version)
Safari (latest version)
Microsoft Edge (latest version)

Network Minimum Requirements
8 mbps

Operating System Minimum Requirements
Windows 7+ 32-bit
Mac OS X 10.8+

Device specifications can always be reviewed here.

Students can see the system check before launching an assessment to ensure their system meets the recommended specifications. This information is also helpful for the Support Team, if they need to assist. If a student encounters any technical difficulties and additional troubleshooting is necessary, they can contact Support and provide these details.

Test-takers can check their system specifications at any time via the following link: https://eols.elsevier.com/systemCheck/

You can select between the Exam Mode and Secure Exam Mode during the assessment setup. There are a few key differences between these modes, which will be listed below:

• Lockdown browser: Secure Exam Mode uses a lockdown browser that blocks access to all other applications to administer exams. Exam Mode does not use a lockdown browser.
• System requirements: Secure Exam Mode only supports MacOS and Windows operating systems. Exam Mode supports all operating systems.
• Student reports: Student reports will be provided in both exam modes.

The access code will be automatically generated after the assessment has been assigned and must be provided to students so they can access the secure exam. You can always locate the access code via the Course Plan.

Yes, the secure exam code is case sensitive.

Students can access the exam launch page as soon as the assignment is visible in their Course Plan. However, regardless of visibility or availability settings, students cannot enter the exam without the access code. Only their proctor/instructor can view and share this code.

If a student pauses or leaves an exam, they must submit the question they are currently working on. They can re-enter the exam using the access code if the assignment is not past the due date and time. Students will not have access to questions they have already answered.

If a student has exited the lockdown browser and it is within the due date and time, students can get back into the exam. Once the due date and time has passed, students will no longer be able to re-access the exam and the assignment will not be automatically submitted. In this scenario, the assignment will be marked as “Past Due”. If the student needs to re-take the exam, you must create a separate exam in “Exam Mode” and assign it specifically to that student.

If a student is actively taking an exam when the assignment due date/time passes, they can continue working on the assignment, but it will be logged as late. If they start the exam prior to the due date/time and do not exit the exam during this time period, they will not be kicked out. After finishing the exam, the assignment will be marked as “Completed Past Due.”

If a student does not enter the exam before the assignment due/date passes, they cannot re-enter the assignment and it will not be auto-submitted. The assignment will be marked as “Past Due.”

EAB now allows faculty to access their custom items to include in their new course’s item banks and assessments from any content library and course to which they’re entitled. You can copy your custom items with the following steps:

1. Click “Add Questions”
2. Search your content library
3. Select the desired item(s) to add to your new bank or assessment

No, you can copy your own questions from any of the EAB courses you are entitled to, even if they have unique ISBNs. The requirements are:

• You must already have access to the EAB course
• You can only copy questions from your item banks

It is a copy of the original item that is disconnected from the original question.

At this time, instructors cannot copy full banks and assessments.

When a Sherpath EAB course is copied, all assessments and banks from the original course will be copied to the new one if the new course has the same ISBN. You will have all the same assignments in My Course Plan that are in the original course, except these assignments will not have been started by any students.

If new items and assessments are created in the original course after the course is copied, these additions will not automatically flow to the copies.

Click here to review minimum system requirements.
Note: Secure Exam Mode only supports Mac and Windows devices. 

We recommend the following best practices:

1. 1. Make sure the laptop is plugged in to charge.
   2. Close all apps and tabs.
   3. Clear browser history, cookies, and cache.
   4. Turn off pop-up blocker.
   5. Connect headphones before starting the exam tool.

If the issue persists, students should:

• • Try refreshing their screen.
  • Exit and re-open the secure browser.
  • Complete uninstall and reinstall the secure browser.

If the above troubleshooting steps are not successful, contact the Elsevier Learner Support Team for assistance.

It is recommended that students clear their cookies before launching the tool to remove leftover cookies from a previous logged session. You can review a support article with instructions about how to clear cookies by clicking here.