A Reminder on the Identification and Procedures on the Act of Reading or Taking Notes

Time:2011-06-05 10:29:31 Clicks:

According to ETS TOEFL Bulletin and information and test administration policies, the act of reading or taking notes is an act of misconduct during test administration. The standard to identify and to process this kind of misconduct is as follows.

Definition of reading or taking notes
The act of reading or taking notes specifically refers to one of the following acts during the time interval from the moment a registered candidate is checked-in to the moment when this candidate finishes the test and leaves the test room, including the time during which this candidate takes the break or goes to the restroom.

A candidate will be identified as conducting the act of taking notes or reading notes when either one of the following happens.

1. A candidate writes onto or reads from any media other than the candidate’s own designated work station screen and scratch paper.
2. When a candidate is not working on any section of the test, or more specifically, the time before clicking the “CONTINUE” button to start working and when the work station timer is NOT active, this candidate writes notes onto any media, including the scratch paper or reads from any media other than the candidate’s work station screen.

Procedures to process this mis-conduct
The procedures to process the above mis-conduct by test site proctoring staff and ETS are as follows:
- Test site proctoring staff will immediately notify the candidate of the mis-conduct
- Test site proctoring staff will immediately confiscate the relevant media, take photo of notes written on the media including notes written on candidate’ s exposed skin or replace scratch papers if notes are found
- Test site proctoring staff will file Center Problem Report and submit digital images of the media to ETS before the end of the testing session
- ETS will conduct review of each case and notify relevant candidates of the actions taken. The penalty for this act could include warning, cancellation of scores, and bar from registering to take the test again.
- There will be no refund or reschedule of test provided to candidates who conduct this behavior.

Overseas Testing Department
NEEA
March, 2011