What online proctoring is, and how Proctorly runs it
Online proctoring (you may also hear remote proctoring, e proctoring or virtual proctoring) is the supervision of an exam taken on a computer or mobile device away from a hall. There is no invigilator walking the rows. The exam session checks who is sitting the paper, records what happens and raises flags when something needs a closer look. For the plain definition, read our page on proctored meaning. If you’re used to hall exams, our page on invigilation explains how the two roles compare.
With Proctorly, the exam itself runs inside Proctorly. Candidates sit the paper on the same platform that proctors it, which keeps the attempt, the answers and the evidence together. You don’t need an ERP, an LMS or any other campus system to run a proctored exam. To build and deliver papers on the same platform, see our online exam software.
Five steps from paper to decision
- Prepare. Build the paper or pull it from your question bank, pick an assurance level and schedule the sitting.
- Verify. The candidate’s face is checked at the start and through the session. Photo ID capture is set per exam.
- Sit. The exam runs in a locked browser session with randomized questions, and Proctorly watches for known threats.
- Review. AI raises flags with clips and snapshots. A trained reviewer looks at every flag and records a decision with a reason.
- Decide. Your institution sees each reviewed case with its evidence, makes the call and can export the record for an appeal or an audit.
No automated flag fails a candidate or imposes a sanction, at any of the levels below.
Choose an assurance level for each proctored exam
The same platform runs a weekly quiz and a licensing exam, and you set the level for each proctored exam.
| Level | What happens | Who reviews | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recorded | Identity check, recording and automated flags. Your staff review cases in the reviewer console. | Your institution | Quizzes, internal assessments |
| Every flag reviewed | Everything in Recorded, plus a Proctorly reviewer who looks at every automated flag and records a decision. Only reviewed cases reach you. | Proctorly | End-semester exams, entrance exams |
| Live pop-in | Everything in Every flag reviewed, plus a proctor watching a group who steps in by chat or audio when a signal fires. | Proctorly | Higher-stakes sittings |
| Live dedicated | A proctor watches a small group throughout, with a live check-in and identity confirmation. | Proctorly | Certification and licensing |
“Every flag reviewed” covers every flag. It does not mean someone watches every minute of every recording.
Recorded: record and review with your own staff
At the Recorded level, Proctorly checks identity, records the session and raises automated flags. Your own trained staff open each case in the reviewer console and record their decision. It suits quiz proctoring, practice tests and internal assessments where your faculty already know the candidates. For practice or very low-stakes tests, you can also run record-only sittings, which record the session without raising flags.
Every flag reviewed: a Proctorly reviewer looks at each flag
Here a trained Proctorly reviewer looks at every automated flag before it reaches you and records a decision with a reason. Your exam office gets reviewed cases instead of a raw list of alerts. Most universities choose this level for end-semester and entrance exams. Read more about how human review proctoring works.
Live pop-in and live dedicated: a proctor watching in real time
In higher-stakes sittings, a proctor watches a group of candidates and steps in by chat or audio when a signal fires. For certification and licensing, a proctor watches a small group throughout, starting with a live check-in and identity confirmation. Both live levels still review every flag and keep the same evidence record. Our live proctoring page explains how the service is staffed and run.
Full-session review
Some institutions want a person to watch every minute of every recording as well as the flagged moments. Full-session review as a separate option is planned.
What exam proctoring watches for, and where it stops
Cheating has moved off the webcam. AI assistants, screen overlays, second devices and remote-control tools all get past a camera-only check, so Proctorly also watches the screen, the browser and, where an exam needs it, the computer itself. No proctoring product sees everything, and each card below says where ours stops. Our guide to AI proctoring explains what the AI does and doesn’t do.
AI assistants and chatbots
Proctorly detects known generative-AI tools from a maintained list. The limit: a camera and a screen recording can’t see every way a candidate might get help.
Second devices
Phones and other devices in view of the camera are flagged. The flag prompts a reviewer to look. It is not a finding.
Remote control, virtual machines and extensions
Proctorly detects remote-assistance and screen-sharing tools, as well as virtual machines and browser extensions.
Overlays and agentic browsers
Known overlay apps and AI browsers are detected.
Leaving the exam
The browser lock, tab and window events and extra-monitor detection show when a candidate leaves the exam window or adds a display.
Unusual audio and movement
Audio and movement are raised as signals for a person to review in context, never as findings. Reading aloud, assistive tools, household noise and disability-related movement are not misconduct.
The computer itself: the Windows desktop agent
For exams that need it, a small Windows app checks for remote-access and recording tools, screen overlays, extra or mirrored displays, USB devices, Bluetooth earphones, virtual machines, VPNs, extra browser windows, tabs and extensions, and open office apps. It notes that an app is open but never reads the candidate’s documents. Each check is a signal for review, not proof.
Gentle reminders before anything is flagged
Before anything is flagged, on-screen nudges remind the candidate of rules such as staying in view. Every nudge is logged, so a reviewer can see the candidate was reminded.
Identity checked from first login to submission
Impersonation is one of the oldest exam risks, and a proctored exam is only as good as its identity check. Proctorly matches the candidate’s face at the start and continuously through the exam, and it rejects photo or video replays. You can ask candidates to show a government or institutional photo ID before they begin, and high-stakes exams can add a short active liveness challenge. A failed check goes to a person, never to an automatic fail.
The full detail is on our page about identity verification for online exams.
AI flags, people decide
Most proctoring disputes aren’t about whether a flag fired. They turn on what happened next and who decided, and Proctorly is built around that question.
- Reviewer console. Each case opens at the flagged moment, with webcam, screen and events on one timeline. Reviewers make one-key decisions with a required reason and can escalate in one step.
- Review priority score. Each candidate’s score shows the signals behind it and is labeled a priority for review, never a finding.
- Malpractice workflow. Confirmed incidents go to a recorded committee decision, and no penalty applies before it.
- Tamper-evident audit trail. Every view, decision and change is logged.
- Evidence pack. One export per case, with clips, timeline, decisions and audit entries, ready for an appeal panel or an auditor.
- Exam-day control room. Your exam office sees every online sitting live: who has started, who has been flagged and who needs help.
Five evidence labels (Observed, Suspected, Blocked, Unobservable, Unavailable) are planned. They will keep a technical failure, such as a camera or upload that stops working, in its own category and out of the integrity score.
See how human review proctoring turns flags into reviewed evidence.
Proctoring services when you need people as well as software
Some institutions have a trained team to review cases. Others need people as well as software for an exam season, and Proctorly works for both.
- You review. Proctorly supplies the software, and your trained staff review cases at the Recorded level.
- We review. With Proctoring as a Service, our trained proctors and reviewers handle the review or live proctoring for your exams. Reviewers work 24×7 during exams, in English, with one reviewer for every 40 candidates, and they review 95 of every 100 flags within 5 minutes. The rest are still reviewed, just later. Institutions can set their own turnaround.
In both cases your institution names who makes the final decision and how candidates appeal. Our services team can also run the wider exam cycle with you, from scheduling to exam-day candidate support and results. See our live proctoring and exam services.
Remote proctoring for each kind of exam
With remote proctoring, candidates sit the exam from home, a hostel or a workplace, and your institution doesn’t have to book a center in every city. How you set it up depends on the stakes.
- Universities and colleges. End-semester exams usually run at Every flag reviewed. Add the Proctorly Examination module (formerly ExaminationOS) for timetables, halls, on-screen marking and results, and run online candidates beside hall candidates with one seat plan and one set of results. Proctoring inside the hall itself is not offered yet.
- Entrance and admissions exams. Proctored entrance and admissions screening exams run on the Proctorly core today, usually at Every flag reviewed or Live pop-in, with photo ID capture. The full Entrance Examination and Selection module, from application to offer, is planned.
- Certification and licensing. Live dedicated, with photo ID capture and active liveness, puts a proctor on a small group and produces a defensible case record. Some boards still require in-person sittings for certain exams, and we’ll tell you if remote delivery isn’t the right fit.
- Online and distance learning. Recorded or Every flag reviewed, depending on the stakes, for proctored assessments that learners take on a standard laptop wherever they log in from.
What candidates need to sit a proctored test
Candidates need a laptop, desktop, tablet or mobile phone with a camera and microphone, running Chrome, Safari, Edge or Ulaa. Their connection should give at least 512 Kbps download and 128 Kbps upload. Some exams also ask candidates to install the small Proctorly desktop app on a Windows computer, and the exam link will say so.
Candidates are told what will be captured before a proctored exam starts. During exams, support is available 24×7 through the help link on the exam screen. Anyone can run a public system check without logging in.
Share our candidate guide, what is a proctored exam, with your students before exam day.
A proctoring platform that works on its own
Proctorly needs no LMS or ERP to run an exam, and you can buy the core on its own. It covers hosted exams, identity verification, AI monitoring, and human review of every flagged incident. Moodle monitoring with OAuth and LTI 1.3 is live and supports Canvas, Blackboard, and other learning platforms.
- Hosted exams. Single and multiple choice, numeric, short answer, essay, matching, ordering, hotspot, file upload and more, with section timers, randomized delivery from item pools and self-booking of slots.
- Question bank. Build papers from your question bank and run them in Proctorly.
- Monitoring inside Moodle. Proctorly can watch an exam that stays in your Moodle course, in any browser, with sign-in and exam launch through Moodle’s own login. Canvas, Blackboard, D2L Brightspace and other learning platforms connect through LTI 1.3.
- Optional modules. Add Proctorly Examination when you’re ready. It is 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. A proctored exam behaves the same whether or not a module is licensed.
Single sign-on with Microsoft accounts and an API for in-house systems are planned.
Online proctoring in India and worldwide: privacy, data and honest limits
Proctorly is built by TatvaOne.AI for institutions in India, the USA and elsewhere.
- Where data lives. Data is hosted in the client’s geographic location by default. Institutions can choose any AWS region or keep data in their own S3 bucket.
- How long it is kept. Your institution sets retention in each exam policy. A documented deletion process across live storage and backups is planned.
- What it is used for. Candidate recordings and data are not used to train AI models unless your institution opts in.
- Laws we design for. India’s DPDP Act, GDPR, FERPA and biometric laws such as Illinois BIPA.
- Security. Vulnerability assessment and penetration testing by an empanelled auditor, with a summary available on request.
We publish our commitments. An AI flag is never a finding, and we don’t infer emotion, personality or intent from a candidate’s face or voice. Monitoring is never hidden: candidates are told what is captured before the exam starts. We never claim to catch every form of cheating, and our Trust center has a published summary of what each setup can and cannot observe.
How to choose an online proctoring solution
Whichever vendors you shortlist, put the same five questions to each.
- Who decides the outcome? Look for a process where a person reviews each flag and your institution makes the finding.
- Can you change the level per exam? One setting for every exam usually means over-watching quizzes or under-watching high-stakes papers.
- What does the record look like in an appeal? Ask to see an evidence pack with clips, timeline, reasons and an audit trail.
- What can the setup not see? A vendor should tell you where its view ends.
- Where is candidate data stored, and for how long? Ask for the default region, the retention options and the deletion process.
Our full buyer guide to online proctoring software covers the criteria in more depth.
Explore online proctoring
- Identity verification for online exams: face verification, photo ID and liveness through the session.
- Human review proctoring: how flags become reviewed cases and evidence packs.
- Live proctoring: proctors watching in real time, plus our other exam services.
- AI proctoring: what the AI flags and what a reviewer decides.
- Online proctoring software: a buyer guide for institutions.
- What is a proctored exam: a guide for the person sitting the exam.
- Proctored meaning: what proctor, proctored and proctoring mean.
- Invigilation: how invigilation and proctoring compare.
Frequently asked questions
Does AI decide whether a candidate cheated?
No. AI raises a flag when it sees a known threat or an unusual signal. A trained reviewer, from your own staff or from Proctorly, looks at each flag, decides whether it is an incident and records why. Your institution then makes the final finding through its own process, such as a malpractice committee. No automated flag fails a candidate or imposes a sanction on its own.
Can online proctoring guarantee that no one cheats?
No proctoring product can. Proctorly detects a published set of known threats, records what happened during the exam and tells you where its view ends, since a camera and a screen recording can’t see every way a candidate might get help. What we offer is a consistent process: people review the flags, the evidence record is clear, and your institution reaches a decision it can explain.
What is the difference between remote proctoring and live proctoring?
Remote proctoring covers any proctored exam taken away from a hall, whether it is recorded and reviewed afterward or watched live. In Proctorly, the Recorded and Every flag reviewed levels rely on recording, automated flags and human review. Live pop-in and Live dedicated add a proctor watching in real time who can step in by chat or audio. You can choose a different level for each exam.
Do we need an LMS or ERP to use Proctorly?
No. Exams run inside Proctorly, so you can deliver and proctor an exam without any 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. These integrations are optional, and you don’t need one to get started.
What happens when a candidate’s camera or internet fails?
A dropped connection or a camera problem is a technical issue, and the record should show it as one. Candidates can reach support 24×7 during exams through the help link on the exam screen. Five evidence labels are planned to keep technical gaps in their own category and out of the integrity score, so a failed sensor is never treated as misconduct.
How long does it take to set up proctored exams?
That depends on how many papers, candidates and sittings are in your exam calendar. Share the calendar and rough candidate numbers with our team, and we’ll propose an assurance level for each exam and a setup timeline before you commit. There’s no free trial, because every exam needs setup, but you can watch a full walkthrough first.