Online exams are now common. There is no teacher to invigilate the remote exam, but online examination system will provide anti-cheating methods, and the online exam can also be proctored.

Non-proctored online exams offers candidates greater flexibility and reduced costs than proctored exams. However, non-proctored exam raises a number of concerns, most importantly cheating. Some researches have examined differences between proctored and non-proctored exam performance.

So what’s the difference between proctored and non-proctored online exams?

Non-Proctored Exams

Non-proctored exams are unsupervised. Many times they are online assessments that a candidate takes from home.Remote assessments have several advantages in that they are easy to administer, candidates can take them at their convenience.

However, the risk with some non-proctored assessments is there is always a chance that the candidate solicited outside help. Therefore, it is difficult to guarantee the fairness of online examinations under unproctored environment.

Proctored Exams

In proctored online exams, candidate is hard to find outside help. Online examination systems can provide a variety of anti-cheating ways to invigilate exams. For example, if the candidates want to copy and search answers, exam organizer can set the page to be unable to copy and paste. Online Examination system also provide webcam invigilators to prevent candidates from seeking help.

In general, Proctored exams equate to having teachers invigilating how exams in real time, leaving candidates with no likelihood of cheating, and guarantee the fairness of online exams.

Anti-cheating measures provided by Online Exam Maker:

• Face recognition: the test can only be conducted after verification.
• Limit the number of times that candidates can switch screens or interrupt the exam page
• Video surveillance: administrators can monitor the candidates in the background in real time, and take snapshots at random.
• Forcibly Occupy the Whole Screen: candidates cannot switch the screen.
• Random test questions: the system randomly assigns test questions to candidates, so that each candidate has different questions and random answer orders.
• Limit the time for answering:  if times up, the page will automatically jump to the next question.
• Account access settings: the same candidate account can only be logged in on one device at the same time.

Generally speaking,compared with non-proctored exams, proctored exams are more fair, and the exam results are more reliable. Therefore, proctored exams are more recommendable.

If there is need for proctored exams, welcome to use Online Exam Maker!

Click to create your proctored exam now

Candidate Authentication

The first step of a candidate taking an exam in an online examination system is to verify his/her identity. A candidate must pass the face recognition process to begin the exam. The face of a candidate must match the photo uploaded beforehand by the administrator. Otherwise, he/she will not be able to take the exam.

Remote Proctoring

1.Camera surveillance

Camera surveillance is provided by the online examination system. When it is set, the candidates will be proctored by the webcam during the exam. There is no need for physical proctor and photos of candidates will be captured during the exam which can be viewed by the administrator after the exam to see if there are any abnormal behaviors of the candidates.

2.Live proctoring

The exam can also be proctored by teachers during an online examination, which will greatly restore the offline proctored exam scenario.

3.Intelligent anti-cheating monitoring

If the intelligent anti-cheating monitoring is set up, the online examination system will detect any abnormal behaviors. If multiple faces, face mismatch or little moves of candidates, such as bowing or turning their heads, is detected by the system, the system will hand in the paper automatically therefore the candidate will not be able to carry on the exam. Also, the system will detect the sound of the exam environment, and if the sound sensitivity is reached, the paper will be handed in.

No Copying or Pasting

During an online examination, candidates are not allowed to copy the questions of the exam to search for the answer; also candidates are not able to paste the answer during the exam.

Full Screen Mode

Candidates will enter a full screen mode while taking an exam, and he/she will not be able to exit the full screen mode until the paper is handed in. Therefore, the candidates will not be able to switch the pages to look for answers.

Screen Switching Limit and Interruption Limit

Screen switching and interruption limit can be set up in online examination system. Therefore, the times that candidates are able to switch the page and interrupt the exam will be limited. And the papers will be submitted by the system as long as the times is reached.

Exam Timer for Each Question

In online examination system, users can set a timer for each question. Candidates must finish each question during the time duration of each question and if the candidates are unable to attempt the question during the time duration, the system will move on to the next question. It will prevent candidates from cheating in an online exam to some extent.

Random Order of Options and Questions

Users can also create an exam with random questions, or set up exams with options or questions in different order for candidates.

As a professional and powerful online examination system, Online Exam Maker(OEM) has all the anti-cheating features mentioned above to meet users’ needs to create a proctored exam. If you are interested in the online examination system, welcome to have a free trial of OEM.

Click here to sign up for free

Here to recommend online examination system, Online Exam Maker, which has professional and powerful anti-cheating functions. With advanced anti-cheating functions, OEM ensures the fairness and is trusted by users.

How to organize an online proctored exam with Online Exam Maker?

There are only four steps to creating the test: Basic information — Select questions — Settings –Finish

Step 1: Fill in the basic information
Fill in the exam title, exam category, description, key words, introduction, etc.

Step 2: Add  questions
When selecting questions, two modes can be chosen: pre-selected questions and random questions. For users who need to prevent cheating, it is recommended to use “random questions”, set random questions and random options, which can prevent cheating to some extent.

Step 3: Settings

This is a crucial step in organizing a proctored exam. After setting the valid period, test time, rules, comments and so on,
and anti-cheating functions can be set to proctor the exam.

1. Limit the times of interruptions and switching screen

Set the limit number of interruption, if exceed the limit, the mandatory submission will be enforced. Users also can set the limit of screen switching, the system will send out a warning, if exceed the limit, candidates will be forced to hand in their exams.

2. Face recognition

After face recognition is turned on, the candidates need to confirm the identity information. Face scanning and recognition will be carried out according to the candidate’s photos. The candidates can enter the exam if the match is successful.

3. Video surveillance

OEM support the function of  video monitoring. Users have to enable the video surveillance function first and snap photos during the exam. If the suspected cheating behavior exceeds the limit times,  the exam of the candidate will be forced to hand in. The exam with intelligent anti-cheating monitoring function will also be handed in if the candidate’s face is not in the camera lens for more than 10 seconds. If face recognition is enabled at the same time, the examinee can also be identified during the video invigilation.

4. Forcibly occupy the whole screen

When taking exams on the PC side, the online test will forcibly occupy the whole screen so that candidates couldn’t switch the screen.

5. Time Limit and Account Permission

There are endless ways of cheating, but with Online Exam Maker, the cheating problems can be eliminated by turning on the anti-cheating functions such as face recognition, camera invigilation and anti-cutting screen and so on.

As shown above, it is quite easy to create a proctored exam by Online Exam Maker. If there is a demand for online proctored exam, welcome to use our online examination system. Click to sign up for free!