Most exam offices we speak to already know which of their exams worry them. The hard part is turning that instinct into a setting a whole season of papers can follow. On Proctorly, that setting is the assurance level, and you choose it per exam. Below are the questions we suggest your exam office answers first. For the full description of each level, see our page on online proctoring.
The levels in brief
| Level | What happens | Who reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Record-only | The session is recorded without raising flags. Useful for practice tests. | Nobody, unless you open a recording |
| Recorded | Identity check, recording and automated flags | Your own staff, in the reviewer console |
| Every flag reviewed | As Recorded, and a Proctorly reviewer records a decision on every automated flag | Proctorly, then your institution decides |
| Live pop-in | As Every flag reviewed, and a proctor watching a group steps in by chat or audio when a signal fires | Proctorly |
| Live dedicated | A proctor watches a small group throughout, with a live check-in and identity confirmation | Proctorly |
All four flagged levels are available. Whatever the level, no automated flag fails a candidate or imposes a sanction.
1. What happens to a candidate if this exam goes wrong?
Start with what is at stake for the candidate. A practice quiz that a student can retake carries almost no risk. An end-semester paper feeds progression and scholarships. A certification exam puts a professional title on the line. The more a result decides, the more you need a reviewed record behind every concern. An appeal panel will also look harder at who examined the evidence.
2. Who has time to review flags this season?
At the Recorded level, your own trained staff open each case in the reviewer console. That works well when faculty know the candidates and the volume is manageable. It works badly when the same small team is also running timetables, hall tickets and results. Be realistic about review capacity in the peak weeks, because flags that sit unreviewed hold up results.
At Every flag reviewed and the live levels, Proctorly reviewers do the first review. They work 24×7 during exams, in English, with one reviewer for every 40 candidates, and review 95 of every 100 flags within 5 minutes. The rest are still reviewed, just later, and you can set your own turnaround.
3. Does someone need to be able to step in during the exam?
Some sittings justify a person who can act in the moment instead of after the fact, competitive entrance tests and higher-stakes papers among them. Live pop-in puts a proctor over a group who joins by chat or audio when a signal fires. Live dedicated keeps a proctor on a small group throughout, which suits boards that expect someone to have watched the sitting. Our live proctoring page explains how those services are staffed.
4. How strong does the identity check need to be?
Every level checks the candidate’s face at the start and through the session and rejects photo or video replays. Beyond that, you decide per exam whether to capture a government or institutional photo ID and whether to add an active liveness challenge. As a rule of thumb, if impersonation is the most damaging thing that could happen to this exam, ask for photo ID and consider liveness.
5. What will an appeal panel ask for?
Picture the hardest appeal you could face on this paper. The panel will want to know what was flagged, what the reviewer saw, the reason they recorded and who made the final decision. Every level keeps a case record, a tamper-evident audit trail and an exportable evidence pack. What changes between levels is who produced the review and how quickly. Read how a flag becomes a reviewed case on our human review proctoring page.
6. What do candidates need, and what will they be told?
Higher levels do not ask more of the candidate’s hardware. Candidates need a laptop, desktop, tablet or phone with a camera and microphone, Chrome, Safari, Edge or Ulaa, and at least 512 Kbps download and 128 Kbps upload. Some exams also ask for the small Windows desktop app, and the exam link says so. Whatever you choose, tell candidates in advance what is captured. There is no hidden monitoring on Proctorly.
A pattern many institutions settle on
- Record-only sittings for practice tests, so students learn the exam screen.
- Recorded for weekly quizzes and internal assessments, reviewed by faculty.
- Every flag reviewed for end-semester and entrance exams.
- Live pop-in or Live dedicated for higher-stakes sittings and certification exams.
Mixing levels across a season is normal. The evidence record and the decision process stay the same at every level, so your malpractice committee always works from the same kind of file.
Frequently asked questions
Can we change the level for a single exam after setup?
Yes. The level is set per exam, so one paper can move up or down without changing the rest of your season. Change it before candidates book slots so the notice they receive matches what is captured.
Does a higher level mean more cheating is caught?
No proctoring setup can promise that. A higher level adds people and speed to the review, but a camera and a screen recording still have limits, and we describe them on our coverage page.
Is full-session review available?
Every flag reviewed means every flag, not every minute of every recording. Full-session review as a separate option is planned and not available yet.
Want a recommendation for your own calendar? Share your exam list and candidate numbers and we will propose a level per exam. Book a demo.