If your district is using Albert for a beginning-of-year (BOY) and end-of-year (EOY) assessment, your administrator builds those exams and sends them to your class. You don't create them, you administer them. Here's what's different about the assignment and what you need to do.
What's different about this assignment
You can't edit the content. The questions, and the number of them, are fixed.
You can't see the questions. Question text and titles are hidden from you, deliberately and permanently.
Your students can't open it until an admin authorizes your class.
You keep all of your data. Every score, report, drilldown, and export works exactly as normal.
The questions are hidden because the same exams get reused year after year, and the measure depends on the content staying secure. You lose only the ability to view the questions, not any student data, and that doesn't change once students are given access.
Before test day
Check your roster. Every student taking the test needs to be enrolled in your Albert class before the window opens. This is the most common problem, and adding a student late resets that class's authorization, so lock your roster before you request access.
Confirm your devices. If your district enabled Secure Mode, students need Chrome on a desktop or laptop, including Chromebooks in standard laptop mode. It doesn't work on iPads, phones, or Chromebooks in tablet mode.
Check the time limit and due date. Both are set by your district. For students with testing accommodations, ask your admin to adjust the timer rather than changing it yourself.
Don't preview, reassign, or duplicate the test. Leave it exactly as your district sent it.
Getting your students access
Restricted questions stay locked for students until an administrator authorizes your class on that specific assignment. On an assignment with restricted questions, you'll see a read-only access status for each of your classes.
To request it, use the Request Access banner to email the admins you select a direct link to the assignment, where approving takes one click. You can also copy the link and send it yourself.
Good to know:
Every class starts unauthorized, including on an assignment that's already been sitting there.
A class you add later also starts unauthorized, even if your other classes on the same assignment are already approved. Same if you remove a class and add it back.
A student in two of your assigned classes follows the authorization of whichever class they joined most recently.
Check the status a day or two before testing, not the morning of.
During the test
With Secure Mode on, students will see:
A notice before they begin explaining that the assignment is secured.
Their browser going full-screen automatically.
A violation logged if they exit full-screen, switch tabs, minimize, or open developer tools.
A 10-second grace window to return to full-screen on the first two violations.
Automatic submission on the third violation.
It's best to tell students this up front. Most violations are accidental (someone checks a notification or hits Escape out of habit), and ten seconds isn't long to notice a warning you weren't expecting. It's worth saying out loud that they should close everything else first, stay in full-screen until they submit, and click back into full-screen immediately if they see a warning.
Secure Mode can't detect a second device, an external monitor, or a phone under the desk, so pair it with your normal testing procedures.
After the test
To find your results:
Click Reports in the primary navigation and select your class, or All Classes.
The Assignment Report loads by default.
Hover over the assignment name and click the Drilldown arrow for individual student performance.
Switch the view to Questions, Standards, or Subjects & Topics from the report toolbar.
Question text stays hidden, but all of your class and student data is there.
Auto-submitted students: a student who tripped three Secure Mode violations shows an Auto Submitted status. Click that badge to open the Violation Log, which lists each violation, its type, and the date and time. You can Reset Submission Status to clear the history and let a student retest, but check your district's policy first, since many districts require an administrator to authorize any reset.
Export: click Download Report in the top right of the Assignment Report and choose CSV or Excel. Your district pulls the official data itself, so you don't need to send anything unless asked.
The end-of-year test
The post-test is a different exam covering the same material. For most courses the pre-test is a Diagnostic Exam and the post-test is an End of Course or Cumulative Exam; for AP and ACT/SAT courses they're two different full-length practice exams. Expect a second assignment in the spring rather than a repeat of the first, and it will need its own authorization.
In between, use Albert as usual. Your own assignments, practice, Adaptive, and reports are completely unaffected. The restriction applies only to those specific exams, and topic quizzes and practice questions stay open to you for formative work.
Frequently asked questions
My students can't open the assessment. Your class hasn't been authorized yet. Use the Request Access banner on the assignment.
My students scored terribly on the BOY test. Should I be worried? No. A pre-test covers a full year of content students haven't been taught yet. Low BOY scores are the baseline that makes growth visible.
Can I see which questions my students missed? You can see performance by question, standard, and topic, and which answer each student chose. You won't see the question text.
My students have access now. Can I see the questions too? No. Authorization unlocks the content for students only.
Something's wrong with the assignment. Who do I contact? Your school or district administrator built it, so start there. They can adjust settings, fix rosters, authorize classes, and reassign.