Caribou Help / FAQ
Please look for your question among the >200 questions in our FAQ before emailing us. Caribou aims to be 100% self-service. This helps keep our services affordable.
To use this Help Tree, choose the appropriate category and subcategories. If you are unable to find your question, use the Contact Us form located in the leaves of this tree. Thank you for your help.
Questions & Answers:
How do you know your results?
-
How do you know your results?
Answer:
The results are announced once the contest is completely over, usually around 8pm on the Thursday. To view their results, students must log in using their name and access code. They can access their results for individual contests or the Caribou Cup using the links on their Student Homepage.
Can a student know which questions they got right?
-
Can a student know which questions they got right?
Answer:
Yes, after the contest is complete. Students must log in using their name and access code. From the Student Homepage they can then use the link ‘My Contest Results’, and then select a specific contest. They can then view all their results, question by question. Additionally, they can view their ranking and print certificates.
When are contest results announced?
-
When are contest results announced?
Answer:
Student scores and rankings are made available on the evening of the 2nd contest day, approximately 8pm EST on Thursday. The results are available when the large red “START THE CONTEST” has disappeared from the homepage.
Why are results only ‘preliminary’ in the few days after each contest?
-
Why are results only ‘preliminary’ in the few days after each contest?
Answer:
The results are not “official” during the first few days to allow for the correction of statistics and ranking.
For example, it has happened (albeit rarely) that a contest creator or translator makes a mistake such that there are multiple correct answers. Additionally, to keep the competition fair, we run statistical tests to detect collaboration between students, which can lead to removal of results upon further investigation.
Who can see a student's results?
-
Who can see a student's results?
Answer:
Students can log in to view their personal results and ranking in a contest or the Caribou Cup out of all participants as well as in their school.
Coordinators can view the results and rankings of the students registered under their account.
A student’s rank is only visible to the public when they place in the top 50 in a contest or the Caribou Cup ranking. When this happens, their name, city, school and ranking will be listed on the page “Single Contest Statistics” or “Caribou Cup Standings” which are accessible in the sidebar under ‘Contests’.
Students and Coordinators can also see the top ranked students for their School Board, Province, and Country when they are logged in and viewing Single Contest Statistics or the Caribou Cup Standings. If a student appears in a top ranking, they will appear in bold on this Student’s account. For a Coordinator, students will appear in bold in these rankings if they are registered under their Coordinator account.
Can results be sent by email?
-
Can results be sent by email?
Answer:
After a contest, Caribou Coordinators receive an email summary of their students’ results. For privacy reasons we do not keep student contact information so we cannot send results to students by email. See the item Who can see a student’s results?
When I go to check contest results, some/all of the contests are missing.
-
When I go to check contest results, some/all of the contests are missing.
Answer:
If you have participated in contests but cannot see the results when you log in, it is possible that: 1) you participated with different access codes or 2) a Coordinator deleted your test entry. You should only have one access code for the whole contest year, else it creates two different accounts. If you participated with two different access codes, your Coordinator can merge the accounts.
A student wrote the contest but there is no record of it.
-
A student wrote the contest but there is no record of it.
Answer:
There are a few possibilities why this might be.
First, please confirm that you find no record of their test. If the student logs in with their name and access code after the contest, they should be able to see their results and print off certificates. The student’s Caribou Coordinator can also confirm by signing in to their Coordinator account and going to 'Manage & Print Access Codes', selecting the appropriate year and grade and ‘Edit Names and Credits'. Next to the student’s name and access code in this list it should give the number of tests written with this access code.
If there is indeed no record of the test, please verify the student is using the right access code to sign in. Ask the student which code they used to write the test (they agreed to write it down when they started the first contest) and compare this to the access code associated with the student’s name, under 'Manage & Access Codes' as explained above. For example, it is possible that the student is using a code associated with another student’s name (in this case, correct the name in 'Edit Names and Credits'), or that there are two codes for a single student (in this case the Coordinator can either remove the name from the unused access code in 'Edit Names and Credits' or if both were used to write tests, use the tool 'Merge Two Student Accounts'), for example.
If you are still unable to locate the record of this test for this student, there are a few more possibilities:- The student has another access code that is not associated with the right school/Coordinator account. If you think this is the case, Contact Us and we will attempt to locate the account.
- The student thought they were writing the contest but they were actually taking a past contest for practice.
- The student’s Coordinator accidentally erased the record of the test by using 'Remove Test Entry'.
- The student’s Coordinator used 'Remove Test Entry' to erase a false start (e.g. a fire drill happened right after the student logged in) but circumstances prevented the student from trying the contest again.
A student says that their option selections were not recorded correctly.
-
A student says that their option selections were not recorded correctly.
Answer:
There are a few reasons which may explain this :
- The student does not remember correctly. The order of questions and options are randomized which could confuse them.
- The student made a different selection by accident. All clicks are recorded and automatically saved and submitted.
- There was a problem with their connection to the internet which prevented their selections from being submitted.
- There was a problem with the Caribou servers which prevented their selections from being submitted.
Fortunately this is very rare, but when it does happen, the reason tends to be a spotty internet connection. You can see if the caribou website is down by going to uptrends.com. Where it says “I want to test” type “cariboutests.com”. It will then give you access times from servers around the world so you can tell whether it is just you or whether it is our servers having an issue.
A student cannot access their results.
-
A student cannot access their results.
Answer:
To see their results, the student must log in with their name and access code. On their Homepage they will see links for their Contest results and their Caribou Cup results.
Students can access their results for a contest only once everyone in the world has finished writing the contest, so on the evening of the Thursday. Similarly, the Caribou Cup results are only available when all the 6 contests in a Caribou Cup year have been written, so in May.
To see results from past years, you must sign in with your name and access code from that year.
On Contest Days, you cannot access contest results, even from past years. You will see the message “Contest results will be available after the current contest has ended.” This is because fetching the information from our system could slow down the website for contest participants.
The rank on the student’s account does not match the rank their Contact (teacher) sees.
-
The rank on the student’s account does not match the rank their Contact (teacher) sees.
Answer:
There are rankings for each individual contest as well as the Caribou Cup, so it is possible that the student and teacher are looking at different rankings. After the October contest, it is unlikely that a student’s contest rank matches their Caribou Cup rank.
How can I download or print Certificates as a Student?
-
How can I download or print Certificates as a Student?
Answer:
As a student participating in Caribou, you can download certificates of participation (no ranking) and achievement (with ranking) for all individual contests and for the overarching Caribou Cup (counts the best 5 out of 6 contests). Please note, you cannot print or download certificates, or view your results on a Contest Day, you will have to wait for the contest to be finished.
Individual Caribou Contest Certificates:- Sign in as a Student with your name and Access Code*
- On the Student Homepage, scroll down to icons and click on ‘My Contest Results’ for individual contests.
- You will see a list of links for the individual contests you have participated in. Click on the contest for which you want a certificate.
- Scroll down and you will see a form with drop-downs for customizing your certificate. You can customize your name, language, ranking type (none, school, school board, school board, province/state, country, world) and choose to include or omit the name of the ranking**.
- When you are happy with your selections, click ‘Print Your Caribou Contest Certificate’.
- A new tab should open with your certificate which you can download as a pdf or print.
Caribou Cup Certificates: To print certificates for the Caribou Cup, from the Student Homepage click on My Caribou Cup Results. You will see the same form to be able to customize your certificates. However, you can only print these certificates when the Caribou Cup is over (after the last contest in May).
* Please note, to print certificates for past Caribou Cup years, you must sign in with your name and Access Code from that year.
** If you need to customize the name of your school ranking, for example you participate in Caribou with a tutoring centre but you want your real school name on the certificate, ask your Caribou Coordinator who can customize this in their account. If they do not know how to do this, they should look at ‘How can I download or print Certificates as a Caribou Coordinator?’.
My child attends XXX school, but their registration/certificates say Caribou Virtual School. Please update the school name.
-
My child attends XXX school, but their registration/certificates say Caribou Virtual School. Please update the school name.
Answer:
The student is registered at the Caribou Virtual School, which is a school in our system for those who are participating separately from their real school or who do not have a physical school and do not want to register as one (e.g. some homeschoolers). It is not possible for you as the student to change the name of the school on the certificates.
- If your student’s school is running Caribou Contests : ask your child’s teacher (Caribou Coordinator) to log in and use “Move a Student to My Account” to move your child’s account to theirs. They will need the Access Code, first name, and last name that you have registered under.
- If your student’s school wants to sign up to run Caribou Contests, they can do so and then use “Move a Student to My Account”, even partway through the academic year.
How do I see results from previous years?
-
How do I see results from previous years?
Answer:
Students can see rankings and results from previous years by signing in with the previous year's access code. Past Caribou Cup coordinators will have access to this information. If you were registered under the Caribou Virtual School, you will need to ‘Contact Us’.
Did not find the answer?
Contact Us
Contact Us
Follow or subscribe for updates: