The connection drops mid-exam
Students keep answering. Each answer is saved on the computer the moment it is chosen and sent to the server when the connection returns. If an older answer arrives after a newer one, the newer answer is kept.
Exam-day reliability
Built for the lab you actually have
Power cuts, a shared connection, computers that have seen a few sessions. An exam has to survive all of them, so the platform was designed and tested around them.
When something goes wrong
What happens, and what the student sees
The power goes off
Answers already saved on the computer survive. When the computer is back on, the student signs in and continues on the same computer, with every saved answer in place.
A computer fails completely
Move the student to a spare computer, where they sign in and resume with everything that had reached the server. Anything still on the old computer is sent when it is turned back on and the exam page reopened.
Time runs out while offline
Time is kept by the server, not the computer, so changing a computer’s clock changes nothing. Answers made before time ran out and received shortly after are accepted within a short grace period, and flagged so staff can see it.
A student forgets to submit
When a student’s time is up, their paper is submitted for them and marked, with every answer they saved.
Someone opens a second tab
Only one tab answers at a time. A second tab shows that the exam is open elsewhere and can take over only after the first has saved everything, so answers never conflict.
Lab computers
No new computers needed
The exam screen is designed and tested for the machines most school labs already have. Nothing is installed: it runs in the browser.
| Screen | 1366 × 768, and usable down to 1024 × 600 |
|---|---|
| Memory | About 4 GB |
| Processor | Dual-core, tested with the processor slowed four times |
| Browser | Chrome or Edge 111 and later; Firefox 115 ESR on Windows 7 and 8.1 |
| Connection | One shared line; tested at 2 Mbit/s with 300 ms delay and 3% packet loss |
| Storage | A few hundred MB free for the browser |
A check before every Start
Before a student can press Start, their computer is checked. Problems that would put answers at risk stop the start; smaller ones show a warning the invigilator can fix.
| Check | Result | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Local answer storage | Must pass | Answers have to survive a dropped connection. |
| Network | Must pass | Starting needs the server; after Start the exam tolerates outages. |
| Space for the paper | Must pass | The paper and its pictures are stored on the computer at Start. |
| Browser version | Warns | Points older Windows computers to Firefox ESR. |
| Screen size | Warns | Asks the student to maximise the window or reset the zoom. |
A slow, shared line
The exam doesn’t wait on the internet
- Open your school’s address once on each computer before exam day, and the exam screen loads from the computer itself on the day.
- Each paper, pictures included, is downloaded once when the student presses Start.
- After that, the connection only carries small answer updates.
Getting a lab ready takes an afternoon. Read the lab checklist.
Run a practice sitting with us
We’ll help you prepare the lab and run a short practice exam with one class before your first real one.