All You Need to Know About Online Exams and How to Tackle Them

Online education has become an integral part of the education system of the world and has found its place in many homes, schools and even in kindergartens. The advent of the internet and computers have made it possible to learn anything from anywhere at any given time. The influence and discussion, innovation and progress surrounding e-education and e-learning is so vast and big, so much so that the eLearning sector single handily covers around more than $100 billion. E-learning is such a vast subject to cover, especially today as several aspects of it are facing rapid progression and several other aspects of it are being implemented in to daily school life, curriculum and administration. Delving into this topic will need some amount of prerequisiteknowledge of the basics of which we will give a short run through. It is important to have some amount of knowledge on the eLearning and education field because of its paramount importance and the influence of the same on online AI and so on of today.

What is an online test?

Starting off with the obvious questions, what exactly is an online test? The answer is quite simple. Imagine writing a test in a classroom, now the concept is the exact same, except the test is over the internet or involves the internet directly throughout the duration of the test. All the rules that are in place for a classroom, written test apply here as well- no cheating, no late admission and so on and so forth. What online exams do differently is provide the candidates the freedom of taking the exam in the convenience of their own homes or wherever they so wish, at their own comfortable location. This is especially helpful for those who live in remote location or do not have easy access to a lot of test centers. It saves them precious time and money and resources as well. Furthermore, this makes things easier for the business or administrative side as well as they will not have to entirely focus on finding the right location, then the right venue, then fix a time and deal with students who might have problems, turn up a little too late or just a shoddy, lackluster turnover. For recruiting companies and university qualification tests, this is a huge loss as the organizations are missing out on talented and very incredible talent just because they find themselves in a pickle about the location of their qualifying exam! In all of these regards, the online examination system has done wonders. They’ve alleviated a lot of common place problems and made it incredibly easy, efficient and resource-friendly as well. In return, the organization receives tones of talent and prospective employees/students without the restraint of a location.

When it comes to smaller scale situations like for example, a class test, how do online tests help with them?

Suppose a teacher announces a test, he/she preferring to have it taken online can make things simple. Here’s why- online tests greatly reduce the time spent in typing up a question paper, photocopying it several times, and dealing with absentees. The biggest part in which online tests come in handy is when you have to go forth with the correction, assessment and evaluation of the candidates’ tests. Having a system with customizable parameters set to correct papers with precision and errors is a great way to reduce time and attend to children’s needs better. It slots a lot of time to find each child’s strengths and weakness and as it is because of a machine correcting it, there is less bias and mishaps caused due to sleep depraved last minute evaluations!

However, this amazing system has its fair share of disadvantages as well and they are including but not limited to the following:

  • Online

These tests are online. This is their very nature. This means that everyone associated absolutely needs access to a compatible device connected to the internet. Furthermore, these systems need to be online throughout the entire duration of the test.

  • Strict and straight

The corrections or questions made by the tool one uses for the online test all works through parameters and set preferences. This means that one has very little human touch in this entire process. Sometimes during manual correction of exam papers, one is able to excuse certain answers by finding meaning in a convoluted response- this still stands as a correct response. However, it may not be the same for a computer, if it’s not exactly as specified, then it’s out.

So, who takes these tests besides students?

College and school students alike take these tests on a regular basis. Who else takes tests online? There are, indeed, other individuals who rely on online tests. Several businesses and companies now hire their employees through recruitment tests that happen to be online. This is a clever move that is employed in order to reach out to a larger pool of talent and not be looking within the constraints of a written test in one specific location that may not be convenient to everyone at all times. The correction tools all help to easily shortlist and highlight the required or the best talents in the arena. This saves a lot of time, money and resources for the employers and they are not always held back by the thought of not enough people trying and not getting enough varied talent.

Most online tests share the same question-answer format as most written, offline tests. Some online tests may require candidates to attach a document containing their answers or observations and some may require the candidates to do it on the interface or page on the computer itself without having to do it on another application.

With these basics, one will have all the beginner knowledge needed to cover some ground on the field of eLearning and education and how online tests have made up an important part of the same.