How do online exams work? Every step, from login to result

The short answer

Most proctored online exams go through five stages.

1. Prepare. The institution builds the paper, sets the rules and schedules the sitting.
2. Verify. The candidate logs in and has their identity checked.
3. Sit. The exam opens in a locked session, and the system watches for known threats.
4. Review. Anything unusual gets flagged, and a person looks at each flag.
5. Decide. The institution weighs the evidence, makes any decision and publishes results.

The rest of this guide takes each stage in turn.

The main types of online exam

Online exams aren’t all watched the same way. So how does online examination work at each level? There are roughly four types.

• Unproctored. The candidate opens the test and answers it, with no identity check and no monitoring. This works for practice questions and self-checks.
• Recorded. The session is recorded with identity checks and automated flags, and the institution’s own staff review the cases afterward.
• Recorded with every flag reviewed. The same, except a trained reviewer from the proctoring provider looks at every automated flag first, so only reviewed cases reach the institution.
• Live proctored. A human proctor watches as the session happens. Depending on the setup, they step in when a signal fires or watch a small group the whole time.

Proctorly maps these to four assurance levels (Recorded, Every flag reviewed, Live pop-in and Live dedicated). There are also record-only sittings for practice tests, where the session is recorded but no flags are raised. You choose the level for each exam.

Before the exam

For the exam office

Work on an online exam starts long before exam day.

• Build the paper. Pick your question types. Proctorly offers multiple choice, numeric with tolerance, short answer, essay, matching, ordering, hotspot and file upload, along with a maths editor.
• Set the rules. Decide on section timers, whether candidates can go back to earlier questions, the instructions for each section, and whether questions and options are shuffled from item pools.
• Pick an assurance level. The amount of watching should match what is at stake in the exam.
• Schedule. Set a fixed sitting time, or let candidates book their own slot within the times your proctoring capacity allows. Proctorly supports self-booking.
• Tell candidates. Send them the exam link, device requirements, rules and a note of what will be captured during the exam.

For candidates

Sitting an online exam? Check these things before the day.

• Your device. You need a laptop, desktop, tablet or phone with a working camera and microphone.
• Your browser. Proctorly exams run in Chrome, Safari, Edge or Ulaa. Other systems may require a specific browser or a separate lockdown browser.
• Your connection. Proctorly needs at least 512 Kbps download and 128 Kbps upload. Stability matters more than speed.
• The system check. Run it from your exam link ahead of time so any problem turns up early.
• Your ID. Keep it handy if your institution asks for photo ID.
• Your room. Find somewhere quiet and well lit where nobody will interrupt you.
• Any installs. Some exams ask you to install a small desktop app on a Windows computer, and your exam link will tell you if so.

During the exam

Check-in and identity

Once you open the exam, the system confirms you are who you say you are. Proctorly checks your face at the start and keeps checking it throughout the exam, and it rejects photo or video replays. Your institution may also ask for a photo ID, or a short liveness challenge for a high-stakes exam. A failed check goes to a person, and a failed match never means an automatic fail.

Before you begin, you’ll see what will be captured. Depending on the rules your institution set, your face, audio and screen may be recorded.

The locked session

The exam opens in a locked browser session, which limits what you can do on the device while the exam runs, such as opening other tabs, switching windows or copying text. Our guide to what is a lockdown browser explains this in full.

Your questions may come in a different order from the person next to you, and answer options may be shuffled. Some sections have their own timer. When navigation is locked, you can’t go back to a section after you leave it, so read each section’s instructions.

If the paper needs handwritten working, Proctorly lets you photograph your rough work on a phone and attach it to the question for the marker.

What monitoring looks for

Monitoring is built to catch known ways of getting outside help. On Proctorly that covers generative-AI tools, second devices in view, remote-access and screen-sharing tools, screen recording, extra monitors, virtual machines, browser extensions, overlay apps and leaving the exam window. Audio and movement are raised as signals for a person to review in context. Reading aloud, assistive tools, household noise and disability-related movement are not misconduct.

On-screen nudges may remind you of a rule, such as staying in view, before anything gets flagged.

Monitoring only raises flags, and the decisions are left to people.

After the exam

Once you submit, your work moves on to review and marking.

• Flag review. On Proctorly, a trained reviewer opens each flag at the moment it was raised, with webcam, screen and events on one timeline, and records a decision with a reason. At the Every flag reviewed level, this all happens before any case reaches the institution.
• The institution decides. Your institution is the only one that decides the outcome of a case. No automated flag fails a candidate or imposes a sanction. Confirmed incidents go through the institution’s own process, such as a malpractice committee.
• Marking. Objective questions can be scored automatically, while essays, short answers and handwritten working go to markers.
• Results. The institution publishes results on its own calendar. If you disagree with an outcome, ask about your institution’s appeal process. Every Proctorly case keeps an evidence pack that an appeal panel can review.

Common online exam rules

Each institution sets its own online exam rules, so always read yours. These are the most common:

• Stay in view of the camera for the whole exam.
• Keep the room quiet and don’t talk to anyone.
• Don’t open other tabs, windows or apps unless the exam allows it.
• Keep phones and other devices out of reach and unused, unless the rules say otherwise.
• Don’t use AI assistants, chatbots or other people for help.
• Use only permitted materials, such as a calculator or notes, if the exam lists them.
• Have your ID ready in case you’re asked for it.
• If anything goes wrong, contact support through the help link on the exam screen instead of leaving the exam.

The rules are there so every candidate is assessed on the same terms, and an honest result never needs defending.

How to conduct online exams for students: a checklist for institutions

Conducting an online exam for the first time? Work through these ten steps.

1. Decide the stakes. A weekly quiz, an end-semester paper and a licensing exam each need a different level of watching.
2. Choose the assurance level to suit: recorded with your own staff reviewing, every flag reviewed by the provider, or live proctors.
3. Design the paper for the format. Item pools and shuffling mean candidates don’t all see the same paper. For take-home or resource-allowed formats, write questions that test application over recall.
4. Write the rules down and send them with the exam link, covering devices, browsers, permitted materials, what is captured and how to get help.
5. Ask candidates to run the system check a few days ahead.
6. Plan for accommodations such as extra time, and record them before exam day.
7. Staff the exam day. Someone in the exam office should keep an eye on the live view of who has started, who has been flagged and who needs help. Proctorly has an exam-day control room for this.
8. Define the review process. Settle who reviews flags, how quickly, and who makes the final decision.
9. Define the appeal process and explain it to candidates before the exam.
10. Keep the record. Decide how long recordings are kept, and make sure you can export each case for an appeal or an audit.

What happens when something goes wrong

Technology fails. Cameras freeze, uploads stall and home connections drop. If it happens to you, contact support right away through the help link on your exam screen. Proctorly support is available 24×7 during exams.

For institutions, the principle to hold on to is that a technical problem is not misconduct, and a person should look at every case before anyone decides anything. On Proctorly, the reviewer can see a dropped connection in the session timeline. Resuming the exam after a dropped connection, buffering answers offline and recording technical gaps in their own category are planned features.

Frequently asked questions

Next steps

If you run exams, see how Proctorly delivers, proctors and records an exam on one platform. If you’re a candidate, read your exam link carefully and run the system check early.

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