Testing Center Services

Instructor Information

The Testing Center is open 60 hours a week to partner with you and your students to facilitate learning. Please be aware of the important guidelines that follow. Feel free to contact us at any time if you have any questions or concerns about your students’ testing needs.

1. DEPARTMENTAL MAKE-UP EXAMS: The Testing Center can accommodate any student who is unable to test in the classroom because of an accident, illness, or other excused absence from class. Students must be approved to test by the instructor. Students who arrive for exams and are ill should not be sent to the Testing Center in lieu of taking a test in the classroom.

Due to space and staff limitations, the Testing Center cannot accommodate entire classes unless they are On-Line, Hybrid or Fast-track courses. For full-class testing needs, please contact the Department Chair.
To have a departmental make-up exam administered by the Testing Center, please fill out the FCC Testing Center Exam Form, which is available in the Testing Center or in the mailroom.

The Testing Center does not receive departmental exam instructions by e-mail. This form should include specific proctoring instructions on how the test should be administered. Information should include: permitted use of notes and/or books, calculators, periodic tables, dictionaries, time limits, etc. Any special instructions
MUST be listed; otherwise, the Testing Center will not permit the use of any resource material. Please include contact phone numbers, preferably cell phone numbers. They are important in the event the Testing Center needs to reach an instructor regarding a student. Phone calls to verify what a student assumes is permissible can cause unnecessary anxiety if an instructor cannot be reached the day a student comes to the
Testing Center to take his/her exam.

NEW!! Under normal circumstances, make-up testing periods should be one week only and run from Wednesday to Wednesday, which permits a student to take their exam on Saturday, if they need to do so. A make-up testing period can certainly be less than one week, but if at all possible, we request that exams do NOT expire on a Friday or Saturday.

2. NEW!! ON-LINE, HYBRID OR FAST-TRACK courses: Due to space and staff limitations, full-class On-line, Hybrid, or Fast-Track exams must be prearranged with the Testing Center. Testing sessions should be one week only and run from Wednesday to Wednesday. The Testing Center must be notified by the instructor of specific student extensions. If an exam comes into the Testing Center without at least two weeks advance notice, the Testing Center will have the prerogative of changing the exam date to the following week so the Testing Center has enough notice to staff appropriately. There are an increasing number of On-line, Fast-track and Hybrid classes offered at FCC, while the Testing Center is operating in the same lab space. Therefore, please encourage students to arrive early for their exams because there are only a limited
number of computer stations available and during busy times students may have to wait
for an available seat or computer station in the Testing Center.

3. COMPLETED EXAMS WILL BE HELD IN THE TESTING CENTER FOR PICKUP by the instructor or his/her representative because of security concerns. The Testing Center will e-mail instructors that their completed exams are ready for pickup. Expired/untaken exams will be returned to instructors’ mailboxes with a note attached that the student did not come to take the exam.

4. STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: The Testing Center makes provisions for students with ADA accommodations. If a student’s test is being sent to the Testing Center because of an accommodation, please check the “student has an accommodation” box on the blue Testing Center Exam Form. Also, if a student requires additional time for an exam, please indicate the amount of time allowed. If a student requires a private room, scribe and/or reader, scheduled room reservations are made in advance through the Services for Students with Disabilities Office at 301-846-2408. Instructors should refer students to the Services for Students with Disabilities Office so they can make arrangements for themselves.

5. PHOTO IDENTIFICATION: is required of students each time they take an exam in the Testing Center. This can be a driver’s license, passport, etc. No exceptions will be made unless that student can locate his/her instructor or another FCC staff member for positive identification AT the Testing Center. Notes of identification will not be accepted.

6. INSTRUCTOR LAST NAME: The Testing Center administers thousands of exams during a year, and we file exams by instructor LAST name; therefore, it is very important that students know their instructor’s LAST name. This helps to avoid a backup of students in the Testing Center while we try to locate an unprepared student’s exam.

7. DROP OFF, PICK UP OR REMOVAL OF TEST MATERIALS: The Testing Center cannot accept students’ homework assignments, take-home exams to be distributed, or graded exams to be distributed back to students. Please arrange an alternate location for students to pick up or deliver such items. We will direct students to an instructor’s mailbox to turn in homework.

8. TESTING CENTER RELEASE FORM: Students should be aware of the Testing Center’s hours when taking an exam to allow themselves ample time to complete their test prior to the closing time of the Testing Center. Students choosing to test with less than the time allowed by their instructor will be asked to sign a Testing Center Release Form. The Release Form will be submitted to the instructor along with the exam,
indicating the student’s arrival time at the Testing Center and the student’s acknowledgment that he/she agreed to take the exam without the benefit of the full time allotted to him/her. Exams will be collected at the scheduled closing time. Students will not be permitted to return at a later time to complete a test they have started or seen
without permission from the instructor.

9. PRINTING OF EXAMS, SCANTRONS, AND BLUE BOOKS: These are services/supplies available through Division Offices. Please include enough tests, Scantrons, blue books, etc. for each student to be tested. We have a small supply of Scantrons and Blue Books for emergency purposes only.