Families and students
When can my child take the test?
Written by the TestFLE team.
In short
The teacher decides when your child takes the placement test, and the “My test” card on the Home page announces it. As long as the test is not open, the “Start test” menu entry stays greyed out.
Who this is for, and what you need first
- Who this is for
- Families and students who want to know whether the test is open, and why the “Start test” menu entry is sometimes greyed out.
- What you need first
- A student account that is already activated.
The steps
- Sign in to TestFLE.
- Open “Home” in the menu.
- Find the “My test” card.
- Read the coloured word, then the sentence just below it.
- If the word is “Now”, click “Start test” in the menu.
- Otherwise, the test is not open: come back at the time the sentence announces.
What the “My test” card says
The card shows a coloured word and a sentence. There are six cases.
- “Now”: the test is open. The sentence says “You can take your test.”, or “You can take your test until time.”, or “You can take your test until date.” when the opening has an end.
- “Planned”: the test is not open yet. The sentence gives the day and time of the class session (“Your test is planned on date at time, with your class.”). For a student with an individual opening, it gives the period (“You will be able to take your test from date to date.” or “You will be able to take your test from date.”).
- “Done”: the test has been taken. The sentence says “You took your test with your class.” during the class session, and “You took your test on date.” in the other cases. The card keeps this word after the opening closes, as long as no other test is open or announced.
- “Absent”: the teacher has marked the student absent from the current session (“You are marked absent: you cannot take the test today.”).
- “Nothing planned”: no test is open or announced, and the student has not taken one yet (“You don’t have a test planned for now.”).
- “Account deactivated”: the school has deactivated the account (“Your account is deactivated: you cannot take the test for now. Talk to your teacher.”). The card then does not offer to add the test to the calendar.
If “Start test” is greyed out
A greyed-out menu entry does not respond to a click. With a mouse, leave the pointer over it: a tooltip gives the reason. On a touch screen, there is no hovering, and the “My test” card then gives the same information.
- “You don’t have a test planned for now.”: no test is open at this moment. Wait for the opening time. The card may still show “Planned”: the test will come, but not yet. It may also show “Done”, when the test has been taken and nothing else is announced.
- “You are marked Absent, contact your teacher.”: the teacher has marked the student absent from the current session. Contact the teacher: they can cancel this absence or open another attempt.
- “Your account is deactivated, please talk to your teacher.”: the school has deactivated the account. A red banner announces it on the Home page, and the other activities (“Practice”, “My library”, when the school offers them) are greyed out too. The results and the history can still be viewed (“You can still look at your results and your history.”).
Going further
Understanding the settings and special cases
Who decides when the test opens?
The school does. The teacher opens the test in two ways, and both the “My test” card and the “Calendar” show them.
- A class session brings the whole class together on a precise day and at a precise time. The “Calendar” describes it with “with your class” and its times (“from time to time”).
- An individual opening concerns a single student. The “Calendar” then specifies “once only” or “as many times as you like”, then “from time” or “until date” depending on its dates.
An example: Phoque Indigo, a student in CE1 Bleuets, has an “as many times as you like” opening with no end date. So their card shows “Now” all the time, and their “Start test” menu entry stays active. Zèbre Rouge, in the same class, only has class sessions to come: their card shows “Planned” until the opening.
During a class session, the session is what counts, even for a student who also has an individual opening. So if that student is marked absent from the session, the menu entry stays greyed out for the whole session.
The menu entry becomes active on its own
Your child does not need to reload the page. At the announced opening time, the menu entry becomes active by itself. When the teacher opens the test on the spot, the screen rereads the openings every thirty seconds as long as the menu entry is greyed out: so the entry responds within the next half minute.
A test already taken
A “once only” opening, like the attempt of a class session, can be used only once. Once the test is finished, the card shows “Done”. The menu entry may stay active as long as the opening is running, but a second start is refused (“Second attempt blocked: the one-time access was already used.”).
Two cases do not use up the attempt. A test the student left with “Leave the test” does not count. A test that stopped before fifteen answers is not counted either (“Your test stopped too early to give a result. You will be able to take another one.”). In both cases, the card stays on “Now” and the student can start again as long as the opening is running. An “as many times as you like” opening shows “Now” even after a finished test.
If the start is refused although the menu responds
The menu entry is active, but a message appears after a click on “Start the test”. In all three cases, the answer is the same: talk to the teacher or the school.
- The question bank is missing (“No question bank is available for you. Please contact your teacher.”).
- The school has no tests left (“Insufficient test credits.”).
- The “once only” attempt has already been used (“Second attempt blocked: the one-time access was already used.”).
If the opening closes between the page being displayed and the click, the screen simply goes back to the Home page, with no message. The “My test” card then shows the current situation.
Related articles
- How do I add the test appointment to my calendar?The “Add to my calendar” button puts the test appointment in Google, Outlook or iCal. You will find it on the “My test” card on the Home page and on each line of the “Calendar”.
- How long does the test last, in lightning mode or in precise mode?The teacher chooses the mode of your child’s test: lightning, with one minute per question and 35 minutes at most, or precise, with no timer. The “Start test” screen announces the mode before the test starts.
- What does my child see during the test?Your child first reads a welcome screen, then answers one question at a time, with four buttons, a skill and a current level. The questions always stay in French, whatever the language of the screen.
- Why is my child’s sign-in refused?When sign-in is refused, a red message appears above the form: incorrect password, account not yet activated, too many attempts or school not found. After five wrong passwords, TestFLE imposes a wait that starts at 30 seconds.