Test-taker’s Guide

1. System assignment

The proctoring system is designed to validate the independence of passing online assessments (exams or tests) in distance learning systems (LMS). It verifies the identity of the participant and monitors in real time to identify possible violations.

2. Technical requirements

Technical requirements of the proctoring system are given in the table below.

Before the assessment, you should check the compatibility of the computer with the proctoring system on the dedicated page on OctoProctor

Additionally, you can check the webcam, microphone and network here:

• Webcam test
• Microphone test
• WebRTC test
• Check the internet speed

3. Registering for the assessment

Depending on the scenario chosen by the organizer, you may need to register for the assessment first. There are two fields to fill in:

• Your login is a unique and unchangeable identifier of the participant consisting of Latin letters and numbers (sometimes it is already filled in, in this case it does not need to be changed);
• Your password should be a minimum of 12 characters, at least one uppercase, one lowercase and one number;
• The assessment identifier is a set of Latin letters and numbers indicating a specific assessment.

Your login and identifier information is supplied by the organizer of your assessment in advance

4. Assessment rules

To start an assessment with proctoring, you should get familiar with its rules and consent to the conditions of the proctored assessment.

The system automatically evaluates credibility in the assessment results based on the indicators listed below. Abidance with the following rules during the whole assessment session would help you to get the highest credibility in the assessment results:

• You give your consent to the audio and video recording and subsequent storage of the entire assessment;
• The webcam must be placed strictly in front of your face, no cameras may be placed on the side;
• The head should be fully framed, and no partial or complete exit from the camera's field of view is permitted;
• The face should be in the center of the webcam's field of view and occupy at least 10% of the space captured by the camera during the entire session;
• The face must be lit evenly and the light source must not be directed into the camera or illuminate only one half of the face;
• Hair, clothing, hands or anything else should not cover the face area;
• It is not permitted to wear sunglasses, glasses with transparent lenses are only allowed to be used;
• There shouldn't be any other people in the room;
• It is prohibited to leave the workplace during the assessment;
• There shouldn't be voices or noise in the background, it is most preferably if the assessment is held in silence;
• The assessment should be passed in a browser with a full screen window, you cannot switch to other applications (including other browsers) or minimize the browser, you cannot open third-party tabs (pages);
• All programs that use the webcam should be disabled on your computer, except for your browser;
• Ensure a stable internet connection;
• The materials and contents of the assessment may not be recorded in any way or passed on to third parties;
• Do not use any audio, visual or any other prompts;
• If an attempt to deceive the system or the proctor is detected, the results of the assessment are invalidated.

One or more participants can be present during the session (proctors or observers). At the same time, the session can be run without any other participants, or with the participation of a virtual proctor. In this case, the evaluation of the assessment credibility will be carried out either by the proctor once the session is over (based on the protocol) or by the system automatically.

5. Planning the assessment time

Some assessments do not have a specific date and time, in which case you will need to independently select the date and time from the proposed options. The interface of this step is presented in three stages:

1. Selecting a date via the calendar interface.
2. Selecting a time slot from free ones.
3. The ability to change the date and time before the start of the assessment.

Once you select your date and time, you can move on to the next step.

6. Equipment check

Computer and Internet connection check that allows identifying possible technical problems before the start of the assessment is conducted at the start of each session. The check is run automatically, so the user's interference is needed only in case problems are identified.

Equipment check stages are the following:

1. At the browser compliance check stage, the system checks whether your browser complies with the minimum requirements of the proctoring system; browser window should be switched to full-screen mode.
2. At the webcam check stage, you should enable camera access in the browser, if such a request is made. If the camera works correctly, then you will pass the webcam check.
3. At the microphone check stage, you should enable microphone access in the browser, if such a request is made. If the volume of your microphone is enough, then you will pass the microphone check.
4. At the screen check stage, you should give access to the entire screen. If access is given only to a part of the screen, or an additional monitor is installed, then the check will result in an error.
5. The connection test phase checks that a web socket connection to the server is possible. The test will be successful if this type of connection is not blocked.
6. The connection test phase checks that video traffic can be transmitted on your network using WebRTC technology. The test will be successful if the traffic is not blocked.

Potential issues and their solutions are listed in Table below.

Potential Issues and their Solutions

7. Filling in the profile

If your name is not yet specified in your account, you will need to fill in your full name at the corresponding step.

8. Face photo

The proctoring system may ask you to take a picture of your face using a webcam. The face photo stage is a part of an identity verification procedure

9. ID photo

The proctoring system may require your identification document (ID), which should be done via webcam or uploaded to a JPEG file up to 5 MB from your PC. In case a scan is uploaded, the image should contain only the side with your photograph placed horizontally. The document is automatically checked by the proctoring system to be correct and clear, and the ID photo is verified with your face. An ID photo is the part of your identity verifying procedure.

10. Recording the overview of the workplace

The process can involve filming an overview of the workplace before the assessment starts. There is a separate step for this:

1. Make sure that the camera picture is displayed on the screen.
2. Press the "Start Recording" button.
3. Within 60 seconds slowly rotate the camera as if you were taking a panoramic picture, so that you can see the entire workspace and the room.
4. If you manage to show the entire room faster, press the "Stop recording" button.
5. The recording you just made will start playing back and watch it.
6. If the recording clearly shows the whole workplace and room, press the "Save" button.
7. If the recording fails, press the "Retry" button and start the recording again.
8. You can record the overview with your smartphone camera by pressing the "QR code" button, scan the code with your smartphone camera and open the resulting link in the browser on your smartphone.

11. Mobile camera connection

Sometimes you may need to connect your smartphone camera for a better view of the workplace and the room during the assessment, to do this you need to scan the QR code displayed on your computer screen with your phone and then open the link obtained from the code in the browser on your phone. If the camera has been successfully connected, you should see "Camera successfully connected" on the screen of your phone.

A QR code on Android should be scanned using the standard "Camera" app or the "QR & Barcode Scanner" app. To do this, scan the QR code, copy the resulting link and open it in the Google Chrome ****browser. On iOS, you should use the standard camera app and open the resulting link in the Safari browser.

12. Start of the assessment

Before you begin an assessment task, a dialogue is usually displayed with information about the assessment and a "Start" button. If the time of the assessment has not yet arrived or has already passed, or if there are no available proctors at the moment, a message will appear. If all is well, the proctoring will go into supervision mode and the assessment page will open.

13. Taking the assessment

Once the previous steps are successfully completed, the assessment page will open. The assessment page opens in the central part of your window, and a small circle is displayed in the lower left corner with the image from your camera. During the proctoring session, you can communicate with the proctor watching the assessment procedure, if they are online. Chat with the proctor opens on the right side of the screen. In some cases, the proctor may connect via video and audio, then video from the proctor's camera appears above the chat. During the assessment, make sure your face is fully placed in the circle and well lit. Notifications may appear next to the circle if any rules of the assessment are not followed turning the preview circle yellow or red

Clicking on the preview circle will open a menu where there may be useful tools for passing the assessment.

14. End of assessment

Once the tasks provided by the assessment are completed, finish the assessment inside the LMS. Once the assessment is completed, it will no longer be possible to restart it. In case of violations and infringements of assessment rules, the proctor has the right to cut the session off, then the assessment procedure is stopped, and its results are canceled. Also, the completion occurs automatically after the end of the time allotted for your assessment. All audio, video and text messages, as well as recorded violations, are stored in the system and linked to your proctoring protocol. After a while, the results are checked and the final proctoring conclusion is given, which is transmitted to the LMS