The Exam Optimizer is only recommended for PeopleSoft schools. Learn more here.
Table of Contents
Meeting Patterns
Relationships
Conflicts
Understanding Results
Merging Results
Related Articles
Meeting Patterns
How does the Exam Optimizer assign an Exam time/room to a section that has multiple standard meeting patterns?
It will assign to the first meeting pattern.
Is it possible to ensure all standard meeting patterns have been mapped to an exam meeting pattern?
The best way to do this would be to know the number of standard meeting patterns the institution has and look at the “Associated Meeting Patterns” column in Settings > Meeting Patterns > Exam Meeting Patterns (and make sure it adds up to the total number). However, this will not guarantee that repeat standard Meeting Pattern association doesn't happen.
For the sections using custom meeting patterns and not standard meeting patterns, is there any way to assign those to certain exam meeting patterns? In these cases is it recommended to assign the exam meeting patterns manually in the Section Dashboard?
If using custom meeting patterns, our suggestion is to assign exams for such sections manually.
Relationships
How do relationships work with Exam optimization? Will they book the exams in the same space?
Currently exam-specific relationships are not supported in the Exam Optimizer. If the input data has sections associated with a "Same Time Same Day Same Room" relationship, the Exam Optimizer will attempt to assign those sections to the same exam meeting and room. When merging the Exam Optimizer results back into the schedule, the "Double Booked Exam Room" conflict will be triggered if turned on. This is expected, and the user can suppress this conflict by setting the "combined exam" field to "Yes" for the corresponding exam meetings.
Conflicts
If there’s a conflict in a room for final exams, does the optimizer find any available room to put the exam in? If so, is there a way to indicate not to use a room in the Exam Optimizer?
No, it does not find any available room. The Exam Optimizer uses the room mappings defined in the exam meeting patterns. Currently, there is not a way to exclude a room from the Exam Optimizer. The optimizer will also NEVER double book a room or book a room that is under capacity.
Understanding Results
What falls under the “Scheduled with Issues” category?
This category is not currently used within the Exam Optimizer.
If a room cannot be assigned to an exam meeting, will the exam still be scheduled by the optimizer?
If a section has an academic room, but the corresponding exam room cannot be scheduled for the specified exam time, the optimizer will NOT schedule the exam for that section.
How are online rooms handled by the optimizer?
If a room is marked as “Online”, the Optimizer will ignore any double-booked room constraints and will double book online rooms.
Merging Results
When merging results, what happens to sections that did not get an exam date scheduled by the optimizer? Will it appear blank in the section editing modal?
Sections that did not get an exam date scheduled by the optimizer will remain blank in the editing modal.
Does the exam meeting card need to be added to field options before merging the results?
It does not need to be added before merging results. Adding the exam meeting card to the section template just changes if users can view the results in the user interface of the Section Dashboard.
Is it possible to merge only some results?
No, you currently cannot merge single courses. Only all results can be merged.
After results are merged, where in the UI will the exam times be reflected?
After exam optimizer results have been merged, the data will appear in the Exam Meetings card in the section editing modal. It will not appear in the calendar view at Academic Scheduling > Section Dashboard > Calendar. However, it will appear at Events > Events > Calendar if you check the “Show Academic Events” box.
