The submission flow — Theta Docs

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:

Mode	What it means for you
Practice	The standard mode. You can usually take multiple attempts and review your scores afterward.
Exam	A stricter mode your instructor set up. Attempts and result visibility may be limited.

Some lessons are locked until you finish their prerequisites, or only open during a set availability window. If a lesson shows a lock or a "not yet available" message, the page tells you what unlocks it or when it opens.

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).

On a lesson with limited attempts, you can't delete or hide a finished attempt to reclaim it — each start counts. On unlimited-attempt lessons you can remove an in-progress attempt you don't want to keep.

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.

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.

You'll only see the elements meant for you. Some lessons include hidden helper elements (for example, an audiogram used only to drive a speech test behind the scenes) — those don't appear as tabs.

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:

Item	Meaning
Lesson name	The lesson you're working on.
Saving indicator	A brief "saving…" toast appears each time your work is recorded.
Mode badge	Practice or Exam, matching the lesson page.
Timer	A count-up clock on untimed lessons, or a count-down clock on timed ones.

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:

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

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

As you work, Theta quietly keeps an action trail — a record of the steps you took (tones presented, levels changed, and so on). This lets your instructor see how you arrived at a result, not just the final number. You don't have to do anything to enable it.

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 restores the last good value and you can try the change again.

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.

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. Reloading the page can't buy you extra time; an expired timer finalizes the attempt on the server.

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.

Back on the lesson page, each finished attempt shows up under Completed with:

a status badge (submitted or graded),
the date and time you took it,
your score as a percentage,
View Scores — opens a breakdown of how each element was graded,
PDF — downloads the full report (what you saw plus a comparison table of your answers against the designed values).

Your instructor can lock results. When results are locked, your completed attempt shows "Score locked by instructor" instead of a score, breakdown, or PDF — your work was still recorded and scored, you just can't see the outcome yet.

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.

From the same list you can delete an in-progress attempt you no longer want (on lessons that allow it). Deleting can't be undone, so Theta asks you to confirm first.

Quick reference

You want to…	Do this
Begin a lesson	Open it in the course → Start New Attempt
Switch between tests	Click a tab (sidebar on desktop, top strip on mobile)
Move in order	Back / Next (bottom bar on mobile)
Save your work	Nothing — it saves automatically
Finish the lesson	Submit (the Next button on the last element)
Pick up where you left off	Lesson page → In Progress → click the attempt
See your result	Lesson page → Completed → View Scores or PDF