The submission flow

A submission is your attempt at a lesson. You open the lesson, work through its elements one at a time in the simulator — running tests, plotting results, answering questions — and then submit. Theta saves your work as you go, scores it when you submit, and turns it into a report.

This page walks the whole journey end to end. For the controls of each specific test, see Running each element.

Finding and opening a lesson

Lessons live inside courses. From your space, open the course, then open the lesson you want to attempt. Each lesson has its own page where you choose to start a new attempt or pick up one you've already begun.

A lesson page shows a Practice or Exam badge:

Starting a submission

On the lesson page you'll see a Before you begin panel — read any instructions your instructor left there — and a big Start New Attempt button.

Click Start New Attempt to begin. Theta creates a fresh attempt and drops you straight into the simulator. If the lesson uses template elements, the patient is generated just for this attempt, so your case may differ from a classmate's.

Attempt limits

If your instructor capped the number of attempts, the page shows how many you have left — for example, "2 of 3 attempts remaining." Once you've used them all, the Start New Attempt button is replaced by a message saying you've reached the maximum. The same thing happens if the lesson's availability window has closed: you can't start a new attempt, though you can still finish one already in progress (depending on how the lesson was set up).

The limit holds however the starts arrive: pressing Start twice, or in two tabs at once, creates one attempt when only one is left. The other start is refused: Theta says it couldn't start a new attempt and refreshes the page, which then shows you've reached the maximum (on the Certified Exam, the attempt that did start, to continue).

The Skill Assessment's Monthly Ranking is a new case every month, and each month's round is its own lesson with one attempt — its own page in Play (Skill Assessment → Monthly Ranking) says which month's round it is, offers Play this month's round (or Continue) and says when the next one opens. Its Certified Exam gives one attempt per purchase: the page reads "1 of 1 attempt remaining with this purchase", and once that attempt is submitted it offers Buy another attempt — never while it is still in progress.

When starting an attempt would use the last one on an exam, Theta asks you to confirm first, because it counts from the moment it starts and can't be undone.

The working-submission layout

Once you're in, the screen is built around one simulator at a time, with navigation to move between the lesson's elements.

Element navigation

Every visible element in the lesson appears as a tab:

• On desktop, the tabs sit in a left sidebar as a vertical list — a kind of table of contents for the lesson. The active element is highlighted.
• On phones and tablets, that sidebar collapses into a horizontal scrolling strip of tabs across the top of the content, plus a back arrow to leave the lesson.

Tap or click any tab to jump straight to that element. You don't have to go in order — you can revisit an earlier element at any time before you submit.

Back, Next, and Submit

To move through the lesson in order, use the Back and Next buttons:

• Back returns to the previous element.
• Next advances to the following element.
• On the last element, the Next button becomes Submit — pressing it finishes the whole lesson.

On desktop these buttons live at the bottom of the left sidebar. On phones and tablets they sit in a sticky bottom bar that stays put as you scroll the simulator, so Back / Next / Submit are always within thumb's reach.

The header

A slim header runs across the top of the content area and shows:

Sim and panel stacking on small screens

Many elements pair a simulator (the audiogram plot, the otoscope view, the tympanometer trace) with a control panel (the dials, buttons, and result fields). On wide screens these sit side by side. On a phone or narrow tablet they stack into a single column that you scroll top to bottom, so nothing is squeezed off the edge. Every test is fully usable by touch.

Working through an element

For each element you:

1. Read the prompt — what you're being asked to test or answer.
2. Perform the test in the simulator — present tones, look in the ear, run a trace, play a word list, and so on.
3. Record your result — plot a threshold, classify a finding, type a value, or pick an answer.
4. Move on with Next (or jump via a tab) and repeat.

The exact controls differ per element — see Running each element for each one.

How your work is saved

You don't save manually. Every time you record something — plot a point, change a value, classify a finding — Theta writes it to your attempt automatically and flashes the saving indicator in the header. Your progress is tied to this attempt, so you can safely leave and come back.

If a save ever fails (for example, you briefly lost connection), Theta keeps the change: your next change to that element sends it again, and so does Submit.

Some changes are saved a moment after you stop making them — typing, or a run of quick adjustments — rather than on every keystroke. Nothing waiting that moment is lost: moving to another element, pressing Submit, and a timed lesson's countdown reaching zero all save it first, so your last change is always part of what's scored.

Submitting

When you're ready, press Submit — it's the Next button on the final element, and it also appears in the sidebar / bottom bar. You'll be asked to confirm, since submitting finishes the attempt:

• Your attempt's status moves from in progress to submitted.
• It's then scored automatically (see below).
• You're returned to the lesson page, where a short "what's next" prompt may point you to the next lesson.

Before it submits, Theta makes sure everything you did has reached it — your last answers and the record of your testing, which an assessment is graded on. If something hasn't (your connection dropped, say), Theta tries once more, and if that fails too it doesn't submit: it says some of your work hasn't reached it yet and keeps you on the attempt, with that work still waiting to be sent. Press Submit again once you're back online.

If Theta can't submit it — your access to the course has lapsed (your Pro ended, say), the lesson has been locked, or the request didn't get through — it tells you why and keeps you on the attempt. Nothing is submitted: your attempt stays open, with your work saved, and you can press Submit again once the reason is gone.

A submitted attempt is final. From that moment Theta accepts no further changes to it — not to your answers, not to the record of your testing, and not to its status — so it can't be reopened, changed and submitted again. To try the lesson again, start a new attempt (if the lesson allows another). An attempt your instructor voids is closed the same way. A voided attempt you hadn't finished leaves your In Progress list, and opening it takes you back to the lesson, which says it was voided; it doesn't count toward your attempts, so you can start a new one. If it's voided while you're working on it, the next time your work is saved Theta tells you — Your instructor voided this attempt… — and takes you back to the lesson the same way.

Timed lessons

If the lesson is timed, the header shows a countdown. It turns red in the final minute. When it hits zero, Theta auto-submits your attempt exactly as it stands — no confirmation — so finish your most important findings first. (If some of your work hasn't reached Theta at that moment, the attempt isn't submitted and Theta says so, as above.) Reloading the page can't buy you extra time; an expired timer finalizes the attempt on the server, with the work it has.

After you submit: scoring and the report

Once submitted, Theta compares the values you recorded against the values the lesson was designed with, element by element, and produces an overall score. Only the parts your instructor marked as scored count toward it; items marked report-only appear in the report but don't affect the score.

On an assessment that says so — the Skill Assessment's exams and their practice cases — a threshold entered without testing counts as wrong: Theta keeps a record of the tones you present, and a final threshold with no tone behind it at that point is marked wrong whatever its value — and so is its masking. A required frequency you never test earns nothing, its masking included. See How scoring works.

My submissions

Every attempt you've ever made lives on one page, My submissions — the Theta Platform's daily, weekly and practice cases, your own workspace, and every organization you've worked in. Down the left (a dropdown on phones) you can show them all, or just one of those places; filters narrow it further by course, lesson and status, and the search box finds a lesson or course by name.

Every "my submissions" link in Theta opens this page already narrowed to where you were: View all attempts on a lesson page (with a count of your finished attempts) shows that lesson, My submissions in a course's left rail shows that course, and Submissions in an organization's menu shows that organization. A Back link at the top returns you to the lesson, course or organization you came from.

Each attempt is listed with:

• its lesson — click it to open the attempt (or Resume one still in progress),
• a status badge (submitted, or draft while in progress),
• your score as a percentage,
• the date and time you finished it,
• View scores — opens a breakdown of how each element was graded,
• Download PDF — the full report (what you saw plus a comparison table of your answers against the designed values),
• Archive attempt — moves it out of your list (your instructor still sees it; not offered on lessons with an attempt limit). Tick Show archived to see archived attempts again, and Restore to put one back.

An attempt your instructor voided stays on the list, marked Voided: it no longer counts toward your attempt limit or scores. You can still see its scores and report, but it can't be reopened.

Resuming an in-progress submission

Left a lesson half-finished? Nothing is lost. Return to the lesson page and look under In Progress — every unfinished attempt is listed with when you started it. Click one to jump right back into the simulator exactly where you left off, with all your recorded findings intact.

An attempt holds the lesson as it was when you started it. If your instructor adds a part to the lesson after that, it isn't in the attempt you already have open — a note under the header says so — and any new attempt you start includes it.

From the same list you can delete an in-progress attempt you no longer want (on practice lessons without an attempt limit — see Attempt limits above). Deleting can't be undone, so Theta asks you to confirm first.

Quick reference