Online exams are essential in today’s digital era as they offer convenience, flexibility, and scalability. They allow for remote assessment and efficient evaluation of large numbers of test-takers. However, online exams also face challenges regarding exam integrity and cheating. Cheating can undermine the credibility of the assessment process, compromising the fairness and accuracy of results. Examination organizers must develop robust measures to prevent and detect cheating, such as advanced authentication methods, secure exam platforms, and sophisticated anti-cheating technologies, to ensure the integrity of online exams.
We will provide our readers with a few common types of cheating in several online exams in this article, so follow me and read what follows if you are interested.
- Seriousness of cheating on examinations
- 5 common cheating behaviors and their solutions
- Why we need an Online Exam Maker?
Seriousness of cheating on examinations
The seriousness of cheating in online testing cannot be ignored. Cheating undermines the fairness and accuracy of the test, weakens the assessment of a candidate’s true ability, and reduces the value of the training as well as the test. This can have a negative impact on recruitment and promotion or damage the reputation of the training organization. In order to ensure the authenticity of test results, organizations conducting online exams should learn more about common online exam cheating practices and how to deal with them.
5 common cheating behaviors and their solutions
1.Others taking the exam on behalf of the candidate
Substituting for an exam means that a candidate asks another person to take the exam in his/her place in order to get a higher score to pass the exam.
Solution:
In order to prevent the occurrence of the phenomenon of substitute examination, before the start of the online examination, the examination organizer can carry out face recognition of the candidates through the online examination system, and only the candidates who have successfully passed the face recognition can enter the examination.
2.Plagiarism
Plagiarism refers to the practice of copying and pasting other people’s answers in the online test to deceive the test organizer.
Solution:
The test organizer can turn on the “No Copy and Paste” function in the online test system to prevent candidates from transmitting their answers when preparing for the test.
3.Use of cheating tools
In online exams, commonly used cheating tools include communication software, remote software, shareable screens, etc. They may use these tools to find answers.
Solution:
It is necessary to stop candidates from using these tools in online exams. You can try the “Full Screen Exam” feature in Online Exam Maker. With this feature turned on, candidates need to turn off communication software, remote software, shareable screens, etc. before entering the exam. During the exam, they will answer in full-screen mode, and can only exit full-screen mode after submitting the paper.
4.Seek help from others
The most straightforward way to take an online exam is to seek help from others who are in the exam room.
Solution:
Generally speaking, candidates need to show the environment of the examination room before the examination, and make sure that the examination room is only one person before entering the examination. Exam organizers can use multi-camera proctoring in the exam system to observe the candidate’s exam environment and prevent the candidate from requesting help from others. In addition, sound detection in the exam system can be enabled to prevent candidates from talking to others.
5.Use of external resources
It is common for candidates to use unauthorized external resources to access answers or reference materials during an exam.
Solution:
To stop candidates from going through materials, the exam organizer can turn on real-time monitoring. On the monitoring screen, the invigilator can see all of the candidate’s exam behavior. If suspected cheating is detected, the invigilator can send a cheating warning to the candidate or even force the candidate to submit his or her paper.
Online Exam Maker helps anti-cheating a lot
Online Exam Maker is an advanced online testing system designed to ensure exam integrity. With robust anti-cheating measures, it offers secure exam delivery, preventing unauthorized access and content leakage. Features like randomized question order, question shuffling, and time limits minimize collusion and cheating attempts. Intelligent monitoring detects suspicious behavior, such as excessive browser activity or switching, ensuring fair and reliable assessments. Online Exam Maker provides a trusted platform for conducting online exams, upholding academic integrity and delivering accurate results.
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