Placement Exam Resources

Introduction

Otterbein College delivers and manages its placement exams for entering students online. If you have access to a computer that has an Internet, you will be able to complete the math placement exams off-campus any time of day. The foreign language placement exams will be administered online during your on-site orientation.

This web page contains information that will help you complete the exams.

Blackboard Web Site

Click here to log on to Blackboard.

The placement exams will be managed using Otterbein's Blackboard course management server. Your Blackboard UserName is your first name followed by your last name (separated by a dot); for example, Jennifer Michaels' UserName would be jennifer.michaels. Your default password is your Otterbein ID. This UserName and password is mailed to you in the Registration Packet, as well as your Orientation confirmation letter.

Documentation

Here are two documents to assist you with the Placement Exams:

• Instruction for Online Examinations - a detail set of instructions that should answer all of your questions
• Quick Guide - a one-page summary of the instructions

Download these instructions and review them prior to taking the online exams.

Computer

You will need access to a computer that is free of viruses and spyware.  For the exams you will need to run the Firefox browser. If you don’t have the Firefox browser, you can download it at

www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

In addition, you will need access to a continuous Internet connection; telephone dial-up connections are problematic and may lock you out of your exam session.

You should not use the Safari or Internet Explorer browsers.  Neither one has been certified to work with Blackboard; the Safari browser may cause your exam session to crash.

Note to AOL Users: You should not se the AOL browser. Use Firefox after starting AOL.

Activating Your Otterbein e-Mail Account

To activate your Otterbein e-mail and network accounts, go to www.otterbein.edu/newuser and follow the on-screen instructions. You will need to know your 8-digit Otterbein ID number to activate your account.

Once you activate your e-mail account, you can access your e-mail at ocwebmail.otterbein.edu.

Please Note: At Otterbein you'll have many different computer accounts.  Unfortunately, many of these accounts will have different UserNames and Passwords.  Use the Otterbein Log In Guide below to guide you through the different systems.

Post-Placement Survey

When you have finished taking the placement exams, please take a few minutes and complete a post-exam survey. Click here to go to the survey.

Help

There are detailed instructions that should answer most of your questions. It can be downloaded at www.otterbein.edu/placement

Problem	Who to Contact	Phone	Hours*
Academic advising	Registrar's Office Orientation Office Admissions	(614) 823-1351 (614) 823-3202 (614) 823-1500	8:30 AM to 5:00 PM
Activating your e-mail/network account.	www.otterbein.edu/NewUser	NA	24/7
Advice on buying a computer	Tahsha Raleigh traleigh@otterbein.edu Also see: www.otterbein.edu/its/newstudents/	(614) 823-1885	8:30 AM to 5:00 PM
Cannot log into Blackboard	Frank Brusca fbrusca@otterbein.edu	(614) 823-1875	8:30 AM to 5:00 PM
Cannot log into WebMail	Tahsha Raleigh traleigh@otterbein.edu	(614) 823-1885	8:30 AM to 5:00 PM
Cardinal Web	Registrar's Office	(614) 823-1351	8:30 AM to 5:00 PM
Locked out of/cannot get into a Math exam	Math Department	(614) 823-1218	8:30 AM to 5:00 PM
Orientation questions	Orientation Office orientation@otterbein.edu	(614) 823-3202	8:30 AM to 5:00 PM
Questions about your Math placement	Math Department	(614) 823-1218	8:30 AM to 5:00 PM
Reading your e-mail	ocwebmail.otterbein.edu	NA	24/7
Which classes to take	Registrar's Office Orientation Office Admissions	(614) 823-1009 (614) 823-3202 (614) 823-1500	8:30 AM to 5:00 PM

* During the summer, Otterbein's offices close at 4:00 PM.