Before administering any examination, the examiner must study the Directions for Conducting (DFC) in order to ensure that all necessary supplies are on hand to conduct the test, to be acquainted with procedures, and to ensure that the examination is conducted professionally.
When ready to start, the examiner calls the group to order and reads applicants appropriate instructions in the DFC. The examiner must stand at the front of the room and read the instructions. Examiners must read with no deviations from the written instructions.
Examiners and monitors must administer examinations uniformly in a courteous and business–like manner.
Examiners must allow only items relating to the examination and equipment authorized for applicants’ use as noted in the DFC to be used during the examination.
No unauthorized items are allowed on the applicants’ desks. Unauthorized items include reference books, logarithmic tables, calculators, or other items that are not described as acceptable in the DFC. Applicants are forbidden to communicate with, give help to, or receive help from other applicants. Examiners should consider the exchange of papers or notes, attempts to make such exchanges, or conversation with any other applicant during the examination as evidence of collusion. Evidence of collusion or copying information between or among applicants may result in the cancellation of applicants’ ratings. Examiners should refer to the DFC for handling these situations.
Examiners must start examinations promptly at the time specified on the admission documents.
Examiners should refer to the following guidance in handling examination materials.
Answer sheets are printed on specialized equipment within very precise tolerances and must be protected from exposure to environmental elements. Long–term exposure to humidity can degrade the quality of these documents thereby causing delays in scanning and processing at NTAC. When answer sheets are cellophane–wrapped, the examiner must open only a sufficient number of packages required for the number of applicants for a session. Examiners must use answer sheets out of the cellophane as soon as possible.
NTAC uses a high–speed scanner to process all answer sheets; therefore, it is important that applicants mark the answer sheets properly. The scanner reads only what applicants grid. If the gridding is incorrect, processing errors will require NTAC to take corrective action. Incorrect gridding delays the processing of tests.
Prior to starting the test, after applicants provide personal information on the answer sheets, the examiner collects the forms from the applicants as specified by the DFC.
As described in the DFC, examiners distribute test booklets to applicants. Examiners must use the following procedures before distributing test booklets:
- Count the number of test booklets on hand before passing them out.
- Count the number of applicants in the examination room.
- Count the number of test booklets to be passed out (same as number of applicants).
- Count the number of test booklets remaining and verify the total count obtained in procedure a.
- Place the remaining test booklets in the examiner’s desk drawer or other receptacle, out of sight and reach of the applicants. In sessions requiring more than one monitor, the examiner divides the booklets among the monitors. The examiner makes monitors responsible for distribution of the test material, and accountable for test booklets of applicants assigned to them.
Note: Examiners must keep the supply of test materials, used and unused, away from the applicants at all times.
Examiners or monitors give applicants only one test booklet of each kind, unless the test booklet is defective or damaged, in which case the monitor or examiner picks up the defective booklet and replaces it with an undamaged one.
If the examiner discovers that not enough examination materials are on hand for an examination, he or she must inform applicants who will be prevented from taking the examination that (1) a special examination will be scheduled for them as soon as possible, and (2) they will be notified of the date and time.
When deciding which applicants must be scheduled for a special examination, examiners must consider the immediate situation. Examiners normally admit persons with proper authorization on a first–come, first–serve basis. If too many applicants are already in the examination room when the shortage is discovered, examiners may call for volunteers, select from those who last entered the examination room, draw lots, or use whatever method appears most practical to resolve the situation. The examiner must mark the admission documents of those applicants to be rescheduled, and keep their documents for rescheduling, and must make every reasonable effort to accommodate their personal schedules.
When the examiner detects an error in the test materials, he or she must, nevertheless, complete the examination in full. The examiner instructs applicants to answer the item involving the error in whatever manner they think best, but allows no discussion of the matter among applicants. The examiner informs applicants that their comments about the error will be included in the examiner’s report. The examiner must report an error in test material under Remarks on the Time Record Sheet.
Examiners should refer to the following guidelines regarding timing examinations.
Accurate timing of examinations is extremely important. Examiners must accurately time all parts of the examination, whether the actual test items or sample questions, and monitors must verify the timing for the examiner. NTAC may cancel examinations where examiners allow too much or too little time and examiners may need to reschedule the applicants when examinations are cancelled. Incorrect timing by examiners may lead to the following consequences:
- Applicants are inconvenienced in order to retake the examination.
- New ratings cannot be added to a register.
- An additional workload is created for the examiner and NTAC.
- An unnecessary expense is created and could lead to an unfavorable image of the Postal Service.
Examiners must use the following procedures when administering examinations:
- The examiner, in accordance with the DFC, tells the applicants the time allowed for each part of the examination. For each part, the examiner enters on the Time Record Sheet the time started, then immediately enters on the same sheet when the time signal must be given for applicants to stop.
- When the calculated stop time is reached, the examiner announces that the applicants should stop. The examiner then enters the actual time the test was stopped. This procedure is followed for each test part precisely. Examiners and monitors must ensure that all applicants stop work immediately.
- If all applicants finish the last part of the test before time is called, the examiner will note the time the last applicant finished in the Time Stopped column and explain in Remarks why the examination was stopped early.
Examiners must correctly complete the Time Record Sheet in duplicate for each examination using instructions in the DFC. The examiner sends the original Time Record Sheet to NTAC with the answer sheets. The examiner retains the duplicate copy and attaches to it the registry receipt for the answer sheet package after mailing it by registered mail.
Examiners must not make suggestions or remarks that might assist applicants in answering questions, explain the meaning of a question, or comment on the correctness of an applicant’s answer. Examiners must refer applicants requesting explanations to the test booklet instructions to the guidance that is provided to applicants for completing the test.
Examiners should refer to the following guidance regarding the correct gridding of answers:
- Examiners must not allow applicants extra time to grid their answers under any circumstances.
- Examiners must instruct applicants to grid their answers on the answer sheet, not in the test booklet.
Note: Examiners must not allow applicants who incorrectly mark their answers in the test booklet any additional time to transfer answers to the answer sheet. Examiners must report the incident on the Time Record Sheet.
Examiners should refer to the following guidance regarding the handling of exceptional situations.
According to instructions in the DFC, when an applicant abandons an examination, the examiner documents whether the applicant left for reasons not under his or her control.
Examiners do not normally permit applicants to leave the room during the examination, unless specifically permitted in the DFC. In unusual circumstances where absences cannot be avoided, examiners must use the following procedures:
- The examiner or monitor collects all test materials from the applicant at the applicant’s desk.
- Whenever possible, a monitor must accompany the applicant.
- The examiner or monitor returns test materials to the applicant when he or she returns to the examination room.
- Examiners must not allow applicants additional time to make up time that elapsed during their absence from the examination room under any circumstances. Examiners must consider any time spent out of the room by the applicant as part of the time allowed for the examination.
