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Access Center

Alternative Testing Services

The Access Center Testing Office implements testing accommodations for eligible students who, due to the nature of their accommodations or instructor schedules, cannot be accommodated by their instructors. Because of the highly individualized nature of testing accommodations, we have very clear procedures to support students while maintaining the integrity of the exams.

Access Center Proctoring Office

Testing Office Hours of Operation

The Proctoring office will be open from 8AM-4:30PM, Monday to Friday for students approved to use our office for exam proctoring.   Students and Faculty are encouraged to email access.testing@wsu.edu with any questions or concerns about proctoring services.

When possible, we encourage instructors to arrange testing accommodations within their department to allow students access to them during exams.  However, we understand that often it is difficult for instructors to offer testing accommodations due to space and time constraints.  If this is the case, students approved for testing accommodations will utilize Access Center facilities.  In addition, some testing accommodations may not be practical to implement in a particular classroom situation; for example, the need for a reader/scribe, specialized computer program or specially prepared materials.  The Testing office facilitates those accommodations for students and faculty by request.

Students

Students will be required to utilize the proctoring method established for all students in the course (i.e. virtual or on-site) unless they are unable to do so due to the nature of their specific condition or accommodations. Students should contact their Access Advisor at the beginning of the semester with any questions or concerns.

Process for each exam/quiz/final

  • At least seven days before each in-class exam, the student will submit an online exam request through their MyAccess Portal.  After submitting the request, the student will receive an email confirming all the information entered.  The instructor and the Access Center will receive notification of the request, as well.
  • Exam requests must be within the Scheduling Parameters the instructor has designated in the Alternate Testing Agreement (ATA). This information is found on the left side of the student’s My Access Portal under My Accommodations –Alternative Testing – View Alternative Testing Detail. To the extent possible, the Access Center expects all students to schedule their exams at the stated in-class exam time.

Note:  Students only schedule exams with the Access Center if they are requesting to be proctored on-site at the Access Center. The Access Center is currently unable to proctor virtual exams via Zoom.

EXAMS OUTSIDE OF ALLOWABLE SCHEDULING PARAMETERS:

Students must obtain instructor approval 3 business days prior to the date of the in-class exam and provide it to the Testing Office via email.  We cannot approve requests for alternate times without instructor permission.

Faculty

  • Faculty will be notified of eligible student testing accommodations within the Faculty Notification Letter which is delivered electronically to the faculty member’s official WSU email.
  • At the top of the Faculty Notification Letter there will be a red box with a link inside. This link will take the faculty member to the Alternate Testing Agreement (ATA). 
  • The ATA is for use by Faculty to notify the Access Center of proctoring instructions for accommodated exams in each of their courses for which there is an eligible student.
  • Faculty will only need to submit one ATA per course section for which there is an eligible student. If there are several eligible students in the same course section being proctored by the Access Center, the ATA will automatically be applied to the exams for those students. 

Expectations for students: 

  • It is best practice to submit all exam requests at least 7 days (5 business days) prior to the in-class exam. Any requests submitted fewer than 7 days prior to your exam will be approved on a first-come first-served basis, as space allows. The instructor will receive an email notification containing the request.  The notification will serve as confirmation that the student will complete the exam at the Access Center.
  • Students needing to schedule an exam at a time or date other than the in-class exam time/date must receive instructor approval.  Requests that are outside of the parameters stated on the Alternative Testing Agreement will not be approved without explicit instructor approval.
  • Due to the high volume of students being served, we are also unable to reschedule same-day exams.  Requests submitted on the day of the stated in-class exam time will NOT be approved under any circumstance, and students will need to work with their instructor to make alternate arrangements.  Please note that this also applies to requests submitted over the weekend as we will not be able to approve your request until the next business day.

Expectations for faculty:

At least 24 hours before the exam, the instructor should email or deliver the exam and any updated proctoring instructions to the Access Center. 

For further information please contact access.testing@wsu.edu.