If you change anything about an exam -- the main exam node itself or any of the question nodes -- the system will indicate that any exams that have been started but not completed are 'failed'. And we do seem to have quite a few users who take days or weeks to finish an exam. Therefore we should avoid changing exams if at all possible. That said, changes are sometimes unavoidable.
There are two options for dealing with in-progress exams. The first is to erase any partial results and make those users start over -- a clean technical solution but frustrating for users. The second is to fudge the exam records so that they indicate the user is taking the most recent version of the exam -- potentially scoring the changed questions inappropriately. Both of these techniques require direct database access using a tool such as the mysql command line client or phpmyadmin.
Erase partial results as follows:
- Get the node ID ("nid") of the exam in question by visiting the exam page, clicking on the Edit tab, and examining the URL (must be logged in as an Editor or Administrator).
- Issue the following SQL command: DELETE FROM quiz_node_results WHERE nid=nnnn AND time_end = 0 AND uid NOT IN (SELECT uid FROM quiz_node_results WHERE nid=nnnn AND time_end > 0);
Fudge the records as follows:
- Get the node ID ("nid") of the exam in question by visiting the exam page, clicking on the Edit tab, and examining the URL (must be logged in as an Editor or Administrator).
- Get the latest revision number by issuing the following SQL command: SELECT vid FROM node_revision WHERE nid=nnnn ORDER BY vid DESC LIMIT 1;
- Issue the following SQL command: UPDATE quiz_node_results SET vid=vvvv WHERE nid=nnnn AND time_end = 0 AND uid NOT IN (SELECT uid FROM quiz_node_results WHERE nid=nnnn AND time_end > 0);
Note: Both of these procedures are untested and may require some revision.
