Online Remote Proctoring: Prevent Candidates From Cheating

Keerthi Rangan -

With the feature of remote proctoring in online exams for pre-employment assessments, employers can now stay one step ahead of the candidates who try to cheat. Proctoring plays an important role in ensuring the authenticity and credibility of pre-employment assessments and their results, and here is all you need to know about it.

What's included:

What is Online Proctoring?

Online proctoring  also referred to as remote proctoring is a digital form of assessment in which the candidate is usually monitored via a webcam, audio mic, or access to the screen of the candidate during the assessment.

Online proctored exams allow candidates from any location to attend assessments while maintaining the quality and credibility of such assessments. Proctoring solutions are not just restricted for candidates who take pre-employment tests but also for e-learning test-takers, where remote proctoring products are used by colleges and other educational institutions for online assessments.

To take an online proctored test candidates need the following:

  1. A suitable device. This can either be a Desktop PC, a Laptop, or even a Tablet. It is often recommended to not use a mobile device.
  2. A good Internet connection.
  3. A functional webcam and a mic for audio and video proctoring.
  4. A compatible browser for running the platform.

The need for Online Proctoring solutions

  1. It is easy for candidates to cheat and others to impersonate if online tests are conducted without proctoring solutions. Methods of cheating like taking help from a friend or referring to a textbook or using smartphones can easily be caught using online proctoring solutions ensuring the authenticity of the test results.
  2. Qualified human proctors are hard to find for offline exams making it hard to ensure the quality of proctoring.
  3. Offline proctoring methods have no records available to cross check whether the proctor did his/her job properly.
  4. Due to the global pandemic, educational institutions cannot conduct offline tests.
  5. There has been an increase in the demand for e-learning solutions and platforms.

Types of Online Proctoring solutions

There are 3 types of online proctoring solutions:

Live Proctoring

Live proctoring allows qualified proctors to monitor the real-time audio-video and screen share feeds of the test candidates. Live proctoring is the most expensive type of proctoring and is deemed not scalable.

Recorded Proctoring

Recorded Proctoring solutions do not require real-time monitoring of audio and video feeds. Instead, the audio and video feed along with the screen share feeds of the candidates are recorded during the test. These recorded feeds can then be cross-checked for any suspicious activity during the test.

Automated Proctoring

AI-based Automated proctoring uses the real-time audio-video and screen share feeds of the test candidates during the test to monitor for any suspicious activity during the assessment. Automated proctoring utilizes advanced video and audio analytics along with face recognition to flag cheating activities during the test. It removes the factor of involving humans for proctoring.

Advantages of using Online Proctoring Solutions

  • Prevents cheating in all forms.
  • The candidate's location is not a restriction.
  • Time flexibility.
  • It can be used for all sorts of online exams.
  • Prevents impersonation during assessments.

Disadvantages of using Online Proctoring Solutions

  • Standalone proctoring solutions can be quite expensive on a per-candidate basis.
  • Online proctoring is still a new thing and hasn't been widely accepted, making candidates uncomfortable.

Remote Proctoring Features

Assessment providers, like Adaface, employ various kinds of remote proctoring features for pre-employment assessments for employers to choose from.

  • Automatic disabling of COPY-PASTE mechanism to curb plagiarism. Candidates are not allowed to copy code from the Web or the local computer and paste it on the code editor. In addition to this, the platform also disallows candidates from copying assessment statements from the question library and sharing it on the internet.
  • Real-time Video proctoring. Using the candidate’s webcam, their visual responses during the test are recorded and are available for test administrators to cross-check. Enabling video proctoring during the test ensures that the candidate focuses solely on the test and abstains from using unfair means to pass the test.
  • Webcam monitoring with candidate snapshots. Using the candidate’s webcam, the Adaface platform takes snapshots of the candidate at regular intervals during a test. All the images are logged and are appended in the report for the employer, in the candidate dashboard. Our powerful image analysis provides a detailed scorecard for the employer and red flags are marked if the candidate has used any unfair means during the test which may also include other users trying to impersonate the candidate while taking the assessment.
  • Real-time Webcam image proctoring. Real-time web image proctoring captures the images of the candidate using a face detection system during the test. The automated system raises a flag if the candidate has used unfair means while attempting the test. The system can capture multiple faces during the test along with the candidate's eye contact and movements. A detailed timeline report is generated in the dashboard for the recruiter encompassing all the actions of the candidate.
  • Advanced window monitoring capabilities with session recordings. Adaface platform works on all browsers without any extra installations or plugins. The platform can monitor a candidate's tab and window switching activities. Adaface’s platform issues a warning each time a candidate tries to leave the assessment environment, and this is measured by the number of tab switches made by the candidate, which is logged into the scorecard of the candidate. The platform also provides session recordings of the candidate during the assessment. Recruiters can view the number of times and the duration for which the candidate has attempted to go out of the test environment.
  • Advanced IP monitoring of the candidate during the assessment. Adaface platform also has a feature to track the IP addresses of the candidates taking the assessment. With this feature, the employer can track the locations of the candidate and also check if a single candidate has taken the test from different systems/ IP addresses. Employers can also set the IP ranges from which the test can be attempted. This feature is mostly useful during campus recruitment and bulk-hiring where the tests are restricted to a few preselected IPs.

Remote Proctoring with Adaface

Online proctoring is a two-faced affair - on one side you have the candidate taking the assessment and on the other end is the proctor. Below is a quick summary of how you start your Adaface test and how it ends.

  • As the assessment begins, based on the type of proctoring selected by the employer, the webcam or audio mic or session recording of the screen starts and the candidate is ready to be proctored.
  • Based on the type of online proctoring selected, the activities of the candidate are logged in set intervals. Any suspicious movement on the candidate’s side is first notified to the candidate and is subsequently logged in the database.
  • Once the exam time is over, the assessment gets submitted automatically.
  • Lastly, the employer is presented with the candidate's result which is a comprehensive report with a question-by-question analysis.

In a nutshell, once the assessment begins the platform begins to log every activity of the candidate and generates a report for the employer to check.

Such highly adaptive platforms are easy to set-up, are completely secure, and allow for remote delivery and proctoring of the assessments.

💡 Pro-Tip: To take your hiring efforts to the next level, check out Adaface.