Online examination, also known as e-examination, enables examiners to conduct examinations through the internet or a company-wide intranet for remote candidates. Most online exam systems include answer processing modules, which allows evaluators to issue results as soon as candidates finish the test. This fully automated system evaluates the examinee thoroughly and presents the result in less time. Unlike traditional pen-and-paper exams, it is possible to conduct open-book exams on an online exam system. 

In an online exam, a candidate can answer the questions in a given time, and the test window collapses once the exam is over, and evaluators keep answers ready for evaluation. The evaluator assesses responses, whether it be through an automated or manual process, and the result will be conveyed to the candidate either by mail or information available on the website. Many companies are resorting to online examination software as their preferred medium of choice for assessing professional capability and career adaptability.

How are Online Exams Conducted?

Step 1: The users of e-assessments can be classified into three broad categories:

Supervisors:

The ones who manage the system users, the tests, system back-up, and recovery are the supervisors.

Conductors:

The ones who prepare the subjects, tests, and questions are the conductors.

Test-Takers:

The ones who sit for the assessment to get evaluated are the test-takers.

Step 2: The testing environment is set up, and the question sets are uploaded to the environment by the test conductors.

Step 3: The test takers are given test IDs using which they can log on and attempt the test. The tests are usually monitored automatically and can be proctored for high stakes examinations.

Step 4: Once the user submitted the test, it is evaluated by the system/conductors depending on the types of questions.

Step 5: Participants are sent their test scores if needed.

How Online Examination Systems Work?

The online examination system is a software solution that allows any institute or industry to plan, organize, and administer examinations through the internet/intranet and Local Area Network (LAN) environments. Since conducting manual examination can become a strenuous undertaking when issues are encountered, such as delay in result processing, difficulty in filing and filtering of records, and more. Besides, the possibility that extremely crucial information might get lost during recordkeeping is evident. Moreover, system maintenance is also a time consuming and resource-intensive process. On the contrary, the new-age examination system is efficient, agile, and less resource-intensive.

In an online exam, a teacher or examiner creates various kinds of questions (Multiple Choice Questions[MCQ] or free text questions) and adds them to the test. Then the students receive the link to the online exam with which they can sign up and take the test. Soon after, they get the exam results. Here is a step-by-step process on the working of online examination: