Creating TestGen tests

TestGen provides another test generation resource you can use with your course. Unlike other assessments, TestGen tests are created outside of CourseCompass in the TestGen application. You download a TestGen testbank for your textbook and select questions from this testbank to create tests for your course.

TestGen tests can contain questions of the following types: multiple-choice, short-answer, true/false, matching, essay, and vocabulary. Additionally, you can author bimodal questions to use as short-answer (for example, fill-in-the-blank) or multiple-choice questions.

TestGen lets you:

• Draw from an additional source of test questions (TestGen testbanks associated with your textbook, if available)

• Regenerate numbers or text in questions that allow variables

• Add or modify testbank questions using the built-in Question Editor

• Use symbol palettes and templates to insert math notation

• Insert graphics in questions and store them in a graphics library

• Create Cartesian, polar, and number line graphs for mathematics using a built-in graphing tool

• Use a built-in spell checker

To use TestGen to create tests and then view them in your course, you need the following items:

• The latest version of the TestGen plug-in, which allows you to view tests created with TestGen. You can install the TestGen plug-in from the My CourseCompass page.

Note: Your students must install the TestGen plug-in, too, in order to take tests.

• The latest version of the TestGen application, which lets you create a test using the TestGen bank of test items. You can install the TestGen application from the My CourseCompass page.

• The testbank for your textbook. To obtain the TestGen testbank for your course, contact your sales representative.

Here are the steps you typically follow to create a TestGen test and make it available in your course:

1. Create a test in TestGen on your own computer.

2. Upload the test to a CourseCompass course.

3. Preview the test in CourseCompass.

4. Add the test to a content area.

5. Make the test available to students.

Once you have TestGen tests uploaded to your course, you work with them using the TestGen Manager. You can modify TestGen test descriptors and test-taking options from inside CourseCompass. However, to modify the test content, such as adding questions, you must edit the test in the TestGen application, and then upload it again to your course.