FAQs

Examplify = software used to take exams

The School of Pharmacy requires students to take exams on their laptops using Examplify. Examplify provides a secure testing environment which locks out all other applications and access to the internet. Students are not able to access anything other than the exam while it's in session.

1. Visit the ExamSoft Login Page using Chrome or Firefox. If you forgot your student ID or password, select Lost Student ID or Password? and follow the instructions to reset/change your password.
   
2. In the Exam Takers section, enter your Examplify credentials (Student ID and UCSF password).
3. Visit My Account then Manage My Account.
4. Select Change Password.

If you need help with any steps, contact the Integrated Core Staff on the Integrated Core Team.

It is highly recommended that you download your actual exam file prior to the exam day to save yourself time. Remember you will only need a stable internet connection in order to download and upload the exam. An internet connection is not needed during the exam.

Exams are typically posted for student download a day before the exam. You will receive an email notification when the exam is ready for download. If an exam is on Monday, the exam will be posted the prior Friday so you have time to download the exam during the weekend.

All students will take the exam on the scheduled exam day on campus within the specified time frame. The proctor in your assigned room will provide you with the password. Everyone will start the exam at the same time when instructed by the proctor.

The exam file did not download correctly or has been otherwise corrupted.

Report your technical issue to the proctor in the room for assistance.

The exam start time will begin when you start the first question. You’ll see the timer at the top of your Examplify screen get activated.

Once selected, the highlighter tool remains active throughout the entire exam. To unhighlight text, you can select the “eraser icon” and select the text you wish to “unhighlight” to remove any color. There is no standard cursor.

For calculation questions, instructions on how you should format your answer will be provided in the question.

Some examples:

• Round to two decimal places: e.g. 5.01
• No trailing zeroes: e.g. 100

Note: You will be able to use your own hand-held scientific calculator during the exam if preferred.

Yes. Examplify allows answers to be copy and pasted from the keyboard-friendly calculator or notes section to the essay text field by using the normal copy/paste shortcuts on your keyboard.

See the table below.

Yes. When you set an alarm, you will see a notification that will pop up and remind you when that time has elapsed. There is a 5 min warning reminder that is automatically set in Examplify.

Please know that when the alarm goes off, no sound will be made. Rather, an orange banner/notification will appear at the top of your screen to let you know that the time you set has reached its end. You can then dismiss the alarm.

The “Hide Exam” button allows you to hide/block your Examplify window during an exam when you have to get up from your seat (for example, during a restroom break). This is mainly applicable for in-person exams (e.g. multiple students in one room taking an exam). Note: the exam timer is still active in the background even if you hide your exam.

Question-level attachments: If there is a specific document (e.g. research article, figure, chart, etc.) that would be helpful to answer a question, you will be asked directly in the question to refer to that specific document/page/figure which will appear on the right-hand side of the question.

Exam-level attachments: Any exam handouts that can be referenced across the entire exam (for example, normal lab values) will be available as exam-level attachments. To more easily navigate/jump across pages on the PDF attachment, you can use the bookmarks menu to easily jump to the page you are looking for.

There are six different types of questions you may see on an exam: multiple-choice (with either one answer or multiple answers), True/False, Fill-in-the-Blank/Matching/Dropdown select, essay, hotspot, and drag and drop.

Flagging a question is only for your own tracking purposes. Instructors and proctors will not be able to see what questions you have flagged during an exam.

Use your keyboard shortcuts! (right clicking will not work within the app)

• Mac = copy (Cmd+C) and paste (Cmd+V)
• Win = copy (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V)

Can I copy and paste any text I type in the text field? Yes

Can I copy and paste text from an exam attachment? No

Can I copy and paste text from the question stem? No

No. All answers must be typed out directly in Examplify. There is no function for students to attach documents in Examplify. For questions that require calculations, you will not be asked to type out long formulas or equations. You will be allowed to use scratch paper for your own purposes, but any scratch paper will not be graded.

Only Examplify controls can be used. For exam PDF attachments, you can only use the magnifying icon to zoom in/out which is located on the PDF menu bar. To make the text in a question stem smaller or larger, use the “Adjust Text Size” controls under Tool Kit >> Tools.

1. Yes, you are allowed to use scratch paper during your exam. You are not limited to using the electronic notepad in Examplify.
2. There is no limit on the amount of scratch paper you can use.
3. Proctors will collect and dispose of all scratch paper securely and appropriately after each exam. Scratch paper is NOT GRADED. Please follow the honor code.

1. Students will not be able to ask proctors any content-related questions during the exam. You can ask proctors for assistance if you experience any technical issues. Since all exams are pre-programmed as secure, the internet and all other apps are disabled for the entire duration of the exam.
2. A question feedback button may be enabled in Examplify (it would appear as a toggle button under Notepad) if allowed by the instructor. This would allow students to input question feedback for the instructors to consider post-exam.

If you experience technical difficulties...

• For Technical Issues Before/During an Exam: ask the proctor for assistance in your assigned room.
  • Examples: laptop freezes, question takes too long to load, exam file is not uploading, etc

You can submit your exam at any time before the full exam timer runs out. If you finish the exam early, you can submit your exam early and you can exit the exam room (you do not need to wait until the timer runs out to submit the exam).

Your exam will automatically close after the full timer runs out. You will not be able to re-enter the exam once the timer runs out so please make sure to keep track of time!

The Ilios Calendar is a curriculum management system that includes your day-to-day course schedule and all course materials, such as lecture slides and assignments.

• “Week at a Glance” view -- see all sessions for that week in chronological order.
• “Calendar” view -- see a color-coded block calendar overview of your courses by day, week, or month.
• “Materials” view -- see all learning materials for the next 60 days in chronological order.

Occasionally you may need to resync your calendar with a new iCal link from Ilios:

1. Log in to MyAccess.
2. Visit curriculum.ucsf.edu and select the Calendar tab located near the top of the window.
3. Ensure the toggle switch is set to My Schedule
4. Select the RSS feed button:
   
   A calendar subscription link appears below the icon.
5. Copy this link to set up a new subscription on your Outlook, Apple, or Google calendar.

There has been a recent update to the entry. Check the course entry to be sure you have the most current version of course documents like lecture slides or the class syllabus.

No, optional seminars or other extracurricular events will not appear on your calendar. Only official course calendar items will appear. These cannot be edited. No, you cannot add your own personal events to your Ilios Calendar. If you have synced your Ilios Calendar to a third party app, you can manually add your own personal events to that third party calendar app and view the synced Ilios Calendar at the same time.

Course calendars will be published about a month in advance before the start date of a given course. Courses will appear automatically. You will not need to manually enroll. Note #1: Changes to session times may still occur even after a calendar has been published so check your calendar regularly and keep a look out for announcements. Schedule changes are dependent on Course Director discretion.

You will only be prompted to log into Ilios via Duo if you are NOT on the UCSF network. Once you are logged in with Duo, you may be prompted to repeat Duo authentication in a few hours (depends on the application you are using). The calendar will continue to be updated with changes even if you are not logged in. Note #1: If you are connected to VPN (Pulse Secure), you will only be prompted to authenticate via Duo once. As long as you are continuously connected to VPN, you will not be prompted to log in with Duo for subsequent attempts.

Yes. Course assignments (deadlines) and class materials will appear automatically on your Ilios calendar. If you are using a third party calendar app, clicking on a given session will redirect you to the browser version of the Ilios Calendar, where you can then download any session-specific learning materials. Note #1: For third party calendar apps, it may take ~3-4 hours for the calendar to re-sync and display any recent changes, such as new deadlines or updated session times. For any critical updates, an announcement will be sent. Note #2: The browser version of your Ilios calendar immediately reflects any changes and will always display the most up-to-date information.

You can use the “Calendar” or "Week at a Glance" view to see all pre-work/post-work/formative deadlines for the next 60 days listed in one place. Depending on the type of assignment, links may direct you to submit materials via CLE (e.g. pre-class quizzes or formative assessments).

Yes, all assessment-related items will be included on the calendar. This includes dates of summative assessments and deadlines for any formative assessments. The purpose of formative assessments is to help students prepare for the summative assessments. These assessments will have cases and questions similar to the summative assessments. Students are required to complete them before the deadline outside of class time. Formative deadlines will appear on your calendar and will have the specific due date/time listed in the title (e.g. in the Calendar view, a red box deadline will appear at the specific due date/time).

• Use the "All Weeks" option to view all sessions and deadlines in a list format.
• Use the "Materials" option to view your learning materials by course or use the search bar to find a specific learning material.
• Use the filter options to filter your calendar by course or session type.

When you click on any session on your calendar, you can access announcements by clicking on the “Announcements and Q/A Discussion Forum” link under “Course Learning Materials”.

Announcements cover official course updates from faculty and staff. Everyone is forced subscribed. Since you are subscribed, you will automatically receive any posts/replies via email. The Q/A Forum is a space for students to view answers to questions posted by faculty.

Lecture capture is a video recording of a session which includes the presenter (via video camera), the presenter's voice, the computer screen, and any computer audio. (Please note: the audience is not recorded.) Lecture captures cannot be directly downloaded. They are only accessible through the link provided on the Ilios Calendar which can be accessed at any time. Typically, large group sessions are lecture captured; small group sessions are not.

Refer to the Ilios Calendar Course Syncing Guide quick instructions on how to sync your calendar to your iOS or Android device.

If you are having issues with syncing your Ilios calendar, send the Student Help Desk a quick email at [email protected].

No, there is not an Ilios Calendar mobile app. However, the Ilios Calendar is designed to be mobile-friendly. You can create a bookmark on your mobile device (iOS or Android) and it will appear as an app thumbnail on your home screen.

• iPhone: Open the Ilios Calendar in Safari >> Select the Share icon >> Select Add to Home Screen >> Edit Shortcut Title >> Select Add
• Android: Open the Ilios Calendar in Google Chrome >> Select the three-dot menu icon >> Select Add to Home Screen >> Edit Shortcut Title >> Select Add

You can filter your learning materials by accessing the “Materials” view. You can choose to view learning materials from all courses or from a specific course and sort your learning materials by session, course, title (of the learning material),and date. There is also a search bar at the top of the ‘Materials” view where you can filter your learning materials using keywords.

Yes, course materials of previous classes will be available once courses are finished. An easy way to access past session materials is via the “Materials” view.

UCSF provides to you at no charge virtual private network (VPN) software which is required to view and send email from desktop applications such as Microsoft Outlook and Apple Mail. (VPN is not required to view or send email from properly configured tablet or mobile devices, nor is it required when using the online WebMail.)

To download and use the UCSF VPN software, log in to view VPN Pulse Secure Install (for Windows & Mac).

You must be logged into VPN for desktop email applications to be able to send and receive messages.

Most likely, you are signing into an app based mail system through an external connection. Activate the VPN (Pulse) to connect to Outlook and Apple Mail. You can also use your web browser to connect to your email without using the VPN.

To log into your email via Windows Outlook desktop client, log into your account suing your credentials provided to you by the registrar. If prompted by the system, click yes to allow the organization to manage the device.

On an Apple device, you can access your email either through Outlook directly or through Apple Mail. To access via Outlook, download and install Microsoft Outlook and sign in via your UCSF email and password provided by the Registrar. From here, click on "Start using Outlook." The system should automatically link to your UCSF email calendar and address book once you add your UCSF email.

To access your email via Apple mail, start by removing any other emails linked to your Apple Mail account. To add your UCSF email, click on the Apple Menu, then on System Preferences. From here, click on Internet accounts and then on the Exchange option. From here, you can name your account as well as use your UCSF email and login provided to you by the Registrar. If Verification fails, enter your UCSF email into both the email section and the username section. Once you have successfully signed in, you can select which applications you want to sync then click done.

To set up your UCSF email on Android, start by accessing your phones settings. From here, open accounts and add new account. Select the Exchange option (on some phones it may be marked as Mail or Microsoft Exchange). From here, log into your email with your UCSF email and password.

For iPhones, open settings and open accounts and passwords. From here, open Add Accounts and select the exchange option. From here, add your UCSF email and name it to help you remember the account on the description. Next, on the prompt, click on "Configure Manually" and enter your password. You will get an error message saying it could not verify the server. Click cancel and fill in the fields. Leave domain empty, put outlook.office365.com in the server name field, and add your email address into the username field. Finally, select which applications you want to link to your account and you are all set up!