Credit Recovery Students

Quicklinks: Working in Your Course | Taking the Pretest | Scanning Handwritten Assignments | Submitting Work | Permitting Progress | Checking Progress | Accessing Dry Labs for Science Courses| Requesting an Extension

How to Navigate a Credit Recovery Course

Credit Recovery courses are managed by Illinois certified instructors responsible for grading identified key assessments. Students will first take a prescriptive pretest to identify what he/she has previously learned and areas that need addressed within each unit. Your individualized learning plan will be automatically generated based on your pretest results. You will want to take the pretest very seriously because it will determine your plan of study for completing the course. Because not all activities may be included in your learning plan, these courses are not NCAA approved.

You will have 12 weeks from the enrollment date to complete the course. You must complete all graded items prescribed by the pretest results and earn a minimum overall score of 60% on graded assignments in order to pass the course.

Below are videos and help guides that explain how to access and navigate your course, as well as show you how to use tools for submitting work, discussing with your colleagues, and checking your progress.

Accessing and Working in Your Course

You will need to allow pop-ups in your web browser to launch your course in a new tab or window.

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Launch and Access Your Course

Accessing Your Course Help Guide

Once your course is launched, you will land in the Apex Dashboard. Please watch the following video to learn how to access your course, navigate units, lessons and activities, and complete coursework:

Working in Your Course Help Guide

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Taking the Unit Pretests

You will be asked to complete a Pretest at the beginning of each unit. Pretests take about 30-40 minutes to complete, and you can only take each Pretest one time. Once you complete a pretest, your course outline becomes a study guide that shows which content you have mastered and which activities you need to complete. If you score high enough on a pretest, you will not have to complete every activity in the unit.

Please watch the following video to learn how to take a unit pretest:

To complete a Unit Pretest, follow these steps:

  1. In the course, click the name of a Unit Pretest and click the Start link
  2. Read the unit overview and click the Start link
  3. Complete the pretest by selecting your answer and clicking the Submit button for each question
  4. When you are finished, review your Pretest results and begin your coursework

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Requesting Access to Even Numbered Pretests/Final

Students are required to submit all written assignments in order to pass a Credit Recovery course.

Even numbered pretests are locked to allow you time to complete and submit written activities from previous units. You should review your Activity Scores Report to confirm all required written activities have been submitted. Once confirmed, you can request access to your next pretest by following the instructions provided below:

  1. Click the “+” sign on the right side of your Apex Dashboard to create a new message
  2. Select “IVS Technical Support” as the recipient.
  3. In the subject line, type the name of the pretest you would like to access.
    For example: “Unit 2 Pretest”
  4. Check the "Submit Homework" box located under the message field.
  5. In the dropdown menu for Course, select your course.
  6. In the Activity dropdown menu, scroll to the bottom and select “Request Pretest/ Final Access”
  7. Click Send

Request Access to Even Numbered Pretests and Final Help Guide

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Using Your Smartphone to Scan Written Work and Save as PDF

If you do not have access to a scanner to scan and save your hand written assignments, you can use an app to scan the pages of the assignment via your Smartphone. 

iPhone Users

You can use the Notes App to scan all the pages of a single assignment.  

You can find instructions here:   How to use iPhone Notes to scan documents 

Once scanned, you can email a .pdf file to yourself, then open your email on your computer and download the .pdf file to your computer.  Alternatively, you may be able to save it to a cloud location and download it that way.

Android Users

You can use the Google Drive App to scan the pages of a single assignment.  

You can find instructions here: How to use Android Google Drive to scan documents 

Once scanned, you can email a .pdf file to yourself, then open your email on your computer and download the .pdf file to your computer.  Alternatively, you may be able to save it to a cloud location and download it that way.

Remember, you will upload your file(s) to the Apex Message Center using the next video "Sending Messages and Submitting Written Work."

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Sending Messages and Submitting Written Work

You will use the Message screen often in your course to communicate with and send work to your teacher.

Please watch the following video to learn how to send your teacher a message, attach a file, and submit homework:

Sending Messages and Submitting Written Work Help Guide

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Getting Permission to Move to the Next Activity

You will need to score 60% or higher on the computer-scored assessment to move to the next part of your course. You will have three quiz attempts to do this. If you do not earn a 60% in three tries, you will need to submit a request to progress or move forward.

Request Access to Move to Next Activity Help Guide

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Accessing Dry Labs in Science Courses

You will be completing Dry Labs in the science courses. Please follow the directions below to learn how to access lab manuals and lab experiment worksheets in your course.

  1. Click on the lab activity in your course unit
  2. In the Pre-Lab area, read all course instructions and download the document
  3. Print the document and write your responses to all questions
  4. Page forward to the Dry Lab area (be sure to skip the Wet Lab page)
  5. Review all course instructions on the Dry Lab page(s) and click the Orange Flask icon to open the Dry Lab for download
  6. Print the document and write your responses to all questions, data tables, and calculations
  7. Scan all Pre-Lab and Dry Lab pages into one PDF.
    Note: See "Using Your Smartphone to Scan Written Work and Save as PDF." Use the Apex Message Center to submit the PDF to your instructor.

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Checking Progress

It is very important for you to meet deadlines and check progress to stay on track in your online course.

Please watch the following video to learn how to see your overall progress, find activity scores, and see activity due dates:

Checking Progress Help Guide

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Requesting a Course Extension

What Do I Do if My Course End Date is Near and I Need More Time?

Students must have 50% of the computer-based activities completed to request an initial extension of 3 weeks in the credit recovery course. In order to qualify for a second 3-week extension, a student must submit all activities up to the 80% course completion mark, which includes all written work up to that point. Exceptions are not made for the written work requirement.

Request an Extension Help Guide

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