What an online assessment platform should include
Online assessment covers a lot of ground, from a five-question check at the end of a lecture to an end-semester paper sat by thousands of students. When the result counts toward a grade or a rank, the platform has five jobs to do, all on one record:
- Deliver the online assessment exam with the question types, timers and rules the paper needs.
- Confirm who is sitting it, at the start and throughout.
- Watch for the known ways candidates get outside help.
- Put a person in front of every flag before anything reaches a decision.
- Keep the evidence in a form an appeal panel or auditor can read.
Spread those jobs across separate tools and the record breaks at every handover. Proctorly keeps them on one platform.
What you get with the core
You can buy the Proctorly core on its own.
The exam runs inside Proctorly
Candidates sit the exam in Proctorly, so the attempt, the answers and the evidence stay in one place, and you need no ERP, LMS or campus system. Papers can use single and multiple choice, true or false, numeric with tolerance, short answer, essay, fill in the blank, matching, ordering, hotspot and file upload questions. There is a maths editor, along with section timers, adaptive testing and randomized delivery from item pools.
Identity, checked through the session
Face verification runs at the start and continuously during the exam, and it rejects replays. Photo ID capture and an active liveness challenge can be switched on for each exam. If a check fails, it goes to a person and never to an automatic fail.
Monitoring for known threats
Proctorly locks the browser and detects AI tools, second devices and remote-access software, along with audio and behavior signals. It also detects screen recording, extra monitors, virtual machines and browser extensions. On Windows, an optional desktop agent checks running apps, overlays, displays, USB and Bluetooth devices, VPNs, browser windows and tabs.
Human review
Your staff can review cases in the reviewer console, or a Proctorly reviewer can look at every flag first. The console opens each case at the flagged moment with webcam, screen and events on one timeline, and no decision can be saved without a reason.
Evidence and audit
Each candidate gets a case record. A tamper-evident audit trail logs every view, decision and change, and a one-click evidence pack is ready for appeals and audits.
Two optional modules on the same platform
- Proctorly Examination. A complete examination management system covering timetables, hall tickets, on-screen marking (OSM), results, and transcripts. You may know it by its previous name, ExaminationOS. It also handles the question bank, registration, halls, revaluation and accreditation evidence.
- Entrance Examination and Selection. Applications, eligibility, slots, the proctored entrance exam, merit lists and offers. This module is planned, but proctored entrance and admissions screening exams already run on the core today. See the online entrance exam page.
You can run the core alone, add a module later or run all three. A proctored exam behaves the same whether or not a module is licensed.
Choose the assurance level per exam
A weekly quiz and a licensing exam need different levels of care, but you shouldn’t need a different product for each. You set the level per exam.
- Recorded. Identity check, recording and automated flags, with your staff reviewing. Suits quizzes and internal assessments.
- Every flag reviewed. A Proctorly reviewer looks at every automated flag and records a decision, and only reviewed cases reach you. Suits end-semester and entrance exams.
- Live pop-in. A proctor watching a group steps in by chat or audio when a signal fires. Suits higher-stakes sittings.
- Live dedicated. A proctor watches a small group throughout, with a live check-in and identity confirmation. Suits certification and licensing.
Practice and low-stakes tests can use a record-only sitting, which records the session without raising flags.
Two ways to operate it
- You review. Proctorly supplies the software, and your trained staff review the cases.
- We review. Proctorly supplies the people as well, either reviewing every flag or proctoring live. Our reviewers work 24×7 during exams, in English, with one reviewer for every 40 candidates. They review 95 of every 100 flags within 5 minutes, and the rest are still reviewed, just later.
In both cases your institution names who makes the final decision and how candidates appeal. An automated flag never turns into a sanction on its own.
Principles we do not trade away
- People review, and the institution decides.
- We never score candidates for emotion, personality or “suspicion”.
- We never claim to catch all cheating. We detect a published set of known threats and tell you where our view ends.
- Candidates are told what is captured before the exam starts. An on-screen indicator showing when the camera, microphone or screen is being captured is planned.
- A sensor failure is never treated as misconduct. Recording it as a separate technical gap in every report is planned.
- We collect what the chosen level needs and delete it on the schedule you set. A documented deletion process across live storage and backups is planned.
- Data is hosted in the client’s geographic location by default, and institutions can choose any AWS region or their own S3 bucket. Candidate data is not used to train AI models unless your institution opts in.
Online assessment tool or platform?
For low-stakes digital assessment, such as practice questions, attendance checks and quick feedback, an online assessment tool like a quiz builder is often enough. These tools usually stop at delivery and scoring.
E assessment that carries weight needs more. Ask whether the online assessment software can show who sat the paper, what happened during the sitting and who made each decision. If it can’t, the result will be hard to defend when someone challenges it. Once results feed grades, ranks, admissions or licenses, a full platform earns its place.
Who uses it
- Universities and colleges use it for internal assessments and end-semester exams, online or alongside hall sittings with the Proctorly Examination module.
- Entrance and admissions teams use it to screen applicants across the country without booking a center in every city.
- Certification and licensing bodies use it for remote exams with live proctors, photo ID and active liveness.
- Online and distance learning providers use it for exams learners take from home on a standard laptop.
Frequently asked questions
What is an online assessment platform?
It is software that builds, delivers and records assessments over the internet. For high-stakes use it also checks identity, monitors the sitting and keeps evidence. Proctorly puts all of this on one record. The exam runs inside Proctorly, identity is checked through the session and every flag goes to a person, so your institution makes the final decision with the evidence in hand.
Do we need an LMS or ERP to use Proctorly?
No. Exams run inside Proctorly, so you need no LMS, ERP or campus system. If you do use an LMS, Moodle monitoring with OAuth and LTI 1.3 is live and supports Canvas, Blackboard, and other learning platforms. Moodle exams can stay inside Moodle and be monitored in any browser.
Can we start with proctoring and add exam management later?
Yes. The core runs on its own. You can add the Proctorly Examination module later for timetables, registration, halls, on-screen marking and results, or run the core and both modules together once the Entrance module is available. Adding a module doesn’t change anything about the sitting, because a proctored exam behaves the same whether or not a module is licensed.
Is there a free trial of the online assessment platform?
No. Every exam needs setup first: papers, assurance levels and review rules. Our walkthrough video shows a real exam from check-in to review, including what your exam office receives. When you want to see it with your own paper, book a demo and share your exam calendar and candidate numbers.
Does AI decide the outcome of an online assessment?
No. AI raises flags with clips and snapshots, a trained reviewer looks at every flag and records a decision with a reason, and your institution makes the final call. Each review priority score shows the signals behind it and is labeled as a priority for review, never as a finding. No automated flag fails a candidate or imposes a sanction.