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Publishing an exam in StudyDrome

Publish once, and the paper stops moving

StudyDrome Exam Manager publishes an exam as an immutable snapshot. Everything a candidate could be graded against is frozen at once: the paper, the resolved roster, the marking rules. Six settings stay editable on the live exam. Candidates already writing keep the version they started on.

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What happens when you publish an exam?

  1. 1

    The paper is checked first. A blocker stops publishing before anything changes.

  2. 2

    The previous version, if any, is superseded and linked to the new one.

  3. 3

    The paper, the roster, the marking rules, OSCE material, media, and access codes are frozen as a single version.

  4. 4

    It is all or nothing. Either the whole exam is published, or nothing is, and you get the list of blockers.

What does the snapshot contain?

What is frozen

What that covers

The paper

Test items, question banks, questions, answers, and shared case vignettes

The roster

Groups, individual students, exclusions, course groups and clusters, resolved to one final access list

The marking rules

The grading scale and every level, with translations

OSCE material

Stations, station questions, examiners and the global rating scale

Media and fields

Intro and completion images, custom field values

Entry

Access codes, generated fresh or carried over

Everything a candidate was graded against, in one version. The snapshot is the reason a score survives a challenge a year later: the paper a candidate saw is still readable, exactly as it was served.

Which settings can you change on a live exam?

Six settings are live on the test itself and are deliberately excluded from the snapshot. Change any of them, and the change takes effect immediately, with no republishing.

  • Grader anonymity:Whether graders see candidate names while they mark.

  • Results detail:How much a candidate sees on their own results page.

  • Teacher attempt visibility:Which attempts teaching staff can open.

  • Teacher grading permission:Whether teaching staff may grade at all.

  • Grading deadline type:Which date starts the grading clock?

  • Grading day limit:How many days does that grading window run?

Where do you change them on screen?

From the Grading & Results drawer, for one exam or for many at once. The drawer states the rule on itself: toggle the fields you want to change; untouched fields keep their existing values.

  • Everything else — items, roster, randomization, time limit, integrity controls, access control — belongs to the snapshot and moves only by republishing.

  • That split is the point. The things an exam office adjusts mid-cycle are live. The things a candidate could be graded against are frozen.

What does StudyDrome check before it publishes?

The same checks run in the wizard before you commit, under Configuration Summary, so an author sees blockers first.

  • Question bank shares:When questions are drawn by percentage, the shares across question banks must total 100%. Publishing is blocked until they do.

  • Global rating scale:An OSCE scale must still exist and must include exactly one borderline grade.

  • Paper size:A written exam must ask for more than zero questions. An OSCE derives its count from its stations.

  • All or nothing:A paper that fails any check is not published at all. You get the blockers; never a half-published exam.

How do you fix a flawed question after delivery?

Two operations change scoring after an exam is over. Neither edits the snapshot.

Adjusting the points on one question. A reviewer re-weights a single published question. The original point value is never touched. The new value is stored beside it, with the time and the person who set it. Every attempt on that publication is then recalculated. Clear the adjustment and the original value applies again.

Voiding a question. A flawed item can be excluded from scoring on every attempt with a single toggle. Voiding is reversible, and the question's point values survive it. Restoring the question returns the exact prior score. The item stays in the snapshot; only its contribution to the maths changes.

Both actions are permissioned, and both leave the delivered paper intact. That matters at appeal: you can show what the candidate answered and what it was later worth, side by side.

How do exam versions behave over time?

  • Only one publication of a test is Active at a time.

  • Publishing again supersedes the previous publication and links it to its replacement. A publication is Active, Superseded, or Archived.

  • Candidates who have already started should keep working against the version they began with. New attempts bind to the Active version.

  • Attempt caps are counted across all publications of the test, so republishing never gives a candidate a fresh allowance.

  • Access is withdrawn by archiving a publication, which keeps the record and the results intact.

  • Publication History lists every version with its status, who published it, how many students it resolved to, and when it was published and superseded.

  • Republishing is the same operation as publishing, so a corrected paper is frozen in exactly the same way as the first one.

Who needs this most?

Publishing is plumbing until someone challenges a result. Then it is the whole case.

  • Exam offices running the same paper across several sittings, who need each sitting to stand on its own record.

  • Assessment leads who publish a correction mid-cycle must show which candidates saw which version.

  • Quality and appeals panels, who ask what the candidate actually saw rather than what the bank holds today.

  • IT and information-governance reviewers, who want the durability boundary stated plainly before they sign off.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly does publishing freeze?

Everything a candidate could be graded against: the paper (items, banks, questions, answers, shared vignettes), the resolved roster, the grading scale, OSCE stations and examiners, images, custom field values, and access codes. The snapshot is what a candidate sat, kept readable long after the bank has moved on.

Can we change anything on a live exam without republishing?

Yes, six settings. Grader anonymity, how much detail candidates see on their results, which attempts teaching staff can open, whether teaching staff may grade, which date starts the grading clock, and how many days it runs. You change them in the Grading & Results drawer, and they take effect immediately.

What happens to candidates who are mid-attempt when we republish?

They finish on the version they started. Publishing supersedes the old publication rather than deleting it, so an in-flight attempt retains its own paper, roster, and marking rules. New attempts bind to the Active version. Attempt caps still count across every publication of the test.

How do we handle a flawed question found after the exam?

Two ways, both without touching the snapshot. Reweigh the question and keep the original points recorded beside the adjusted value, along with the time and the person who set it. Or void it, which excludes it from scoring on every attempt. Both recalculate affected attempts, and both are reversible.

How do we withdraw access to a published exam?

Archive the publication. Archiving preserves the snapshot, attempts, and results exactly as they are, so the record survives the withdrawal. That is deliberate: an exam you can no longer sit is still an exam you may have to account for at appeal or audit.

Does republishing create a second set of results?

No. Results belong to the publication a candidate sat, and each publication keeps its own. Publication History shows every version side by side with its student count and its dates. Reporting can therefore separate the cohort that sat the original paper from the cohort that sat the correction.

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Bring one paper. We will publish it, republish a correction, and show you both versions side by side in Publication History.

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