Support for Exams and Class Tests and using a Scribe in Exams
Special examination arrangements can only be put in place after discussion with and approval of the Enabling Support team and these arrangements must be known to the Examinations Unit six weeks prior to an exam diet.
Students with disabilities may use various types of support in exams including using a scribe. Ideally, the scribe should act and be treated as an efficient writing machine which acts on instructions and which does not have the technical complexities or failure possibilities of tape recorders and similar equipment.
Types of Support
Depending on the particular requirements of students with Enabling Support, various support methods may be offered during examinations. The following list may serve as a checklist. Not all of the services will be required in any particular instance, but it is important for students to discuss their needs with an Enabling Support Adviser to ensure that everything that is necessary is made available:
- a scribe, reader or lip-reader,
- additional time,
- a PC with spell-checker or dictionary,
- rest breaks,
- a separate room,
- letter of instructions (for hearing-impaired students),
- coloured overlay (to place over printed pages) in the case of certain dyslexic students,
- support for any medical conditions, as approved by recognise professional bodies such as the RNIB, RNID and medical organisations.
Scribing
The nature of the arrangements for the examination will depend on the reasons that the student needs the scribe. For example, students with a manual impairment, which prevents them from writing or typing, will probably be able to read over the scribed work once it has been completed. If the student using the scribe has severe dyslexia or a visual impairment, however, he or she will need the scribe to read back the answers. These students will also need to have the exam questions read out by the scribe.
Before the examination begins, the scribe and the student must meet together and agree the means of working, covering such points as punctuation and the scribe's response to words he or she does not grasp on first hearing. Students with visual impairments need to decide on a number of other things, including:
- does the student want the scribe to report the tome regularly or only near the end of the exam,
- how can the student check that diagrams drawn by the student accurately reflect his or her wishes?
When using a scribe in examinations, 25% extra time is normally allowed.
Using a Scribe in Exams
The qualities of the ideal scribe are similar to those of the ideal lip-reader. He or she should be calm and reassuring. The scribe must not give out signals, verbal or non-verbal, in response to what the student is dictating. For example, the student may ask the scribe to score out an answer, which the scribe knows to be correct, and commence dictating a wrong answer in its place. It would be quite inappropriate for the scribe to express any disapproval of the student's instructions. The scribe should not try to prompt the student in any way, even by re-reading the question on his or her own initiative. The best scribes speak usually only as they are spoken to, for example, when asked to read or re-read a question.
The scribe should, wherever possible, be proficient and knowledgeable about the subject of the examination. Knowledge of this proficiency may be forbidding to some students, who are wary of dictating perhaps wildly wrong answers to a subject expert. The calm, positive qualities of the scribe can help to reduce tension here.
Further Help
For more information about special arrangements at examinations, you can contact :
Linda Hunter (Exams Unit)
Tel: 0141 848 3695.