Frequently Asked Questions
Short answers to the questions schools ask most, each pointing to the guide that says more.
Do we need to install Safe Exam Browser to use online exams?
No. Online exams run in an ordinary browser, and Safe Exam Browser is optional, chosen exam by exam. Without it you still have the "Screen rules" card — an exit limit that submits a pupil's exam after they leave the exam screen a number of times, and "Require full screen" — live monitoring of every sitting, optional webcam photos, and the monitor's own actions: pause, add time, end a sitting, withhold a result. Safe Exam Browser adds a full lock on lab computers for the papers that matter most. See Exam Security and Safe Exam Browser.
What are the steps to run an exam with Safe Exam Browser?
Six steps, all from the exam's "Safe Exam Browser" card under "Exam-day security": generate the exam file with a quit password; download it; install Safe Exam Browser on every lab computer and copy the file to each; open the file on every computer and sign in with your staff account, until the check says "This computer passes." on each; tick "Require Safe Exam Browser" and save, which can only be done before the first pupil starts; then, on the day, each pupil signs in to their portal in an ordinary browser, opens Exams and presses "Open in Safe Exam Browser" on the exam — Safe Exam Browser opens the exam already signed in, and the link works once, for five minutes. A pupil can instead open the exam file itself and sign in on the page Safe Exam Browser shows. See Exam Security and Safe Exam Browser.
Does Safe Exam Browser work on a Mac or an iPad?
Not proven yet. Tocademy has been tested with Safe Exam Browser 3.10.2 for Windows, which is what most school labs run. The exam file is built for the Mac and iPad versions too — it asks them for their modern web view — and "Open in Safe Exam Browser" is wired for them, but no sitting on a Mac or an iPad has been recorded. A sign that the exam file is not in force: Safe Exam Browser opens a blank page, or shows a banner that its classic web view is deprecated, which means it started on its own settings rather than the exam's. On a Mac, download the exam file and open it directly in Safe Exam Browser rather than relying on the button, and treat Mac and iPad as untested until a practice paper passes on every such computer through "Test a lab computer". See Exam Security and Safe Exam Browser.
Do exam security and Safe Exam Browser work for entrance exams?
The screen rules do: on an exam for applicants you can tick "Require full screen" and set an exit limit on the "Screen rules" card, and the monitor works as it does for pupils. Safe Exam Browser does not yet: its card does not appear on an exam for applicants, and the switch is refused. Webcam photos can be turned on, but only before anyone is invited. For an entrance exam that matters, hold it at school and invigilate the room. See Online Entrance Exams.
How does a pupil get an exam invitation?
A pupil is never invited — there is no invitation to send. Once an exam is assigned to their arm and published, it appears on the pupil's exam list under Exams in the Student Portal, with the time it opens and closes, the venue and "Start exam" once it is open; if you later move a published exam's time, the pupil is told in their portal inbox and the list says the time has changed. What a pupil needs is a Student Portal login — see the next question. Only applicants sitting an entrance exam are invited: under "Invite shortlisted applicants", tick each applicant and press "Invite and send codes", and each applicant's parent is e-mailed a private access code and a link. See Online Exams (CBT) and Online Entrance Exams.
How do I give a pupil access to the Student Portal?
Open the pupil's record and, in the "Student Portal" box, press "Issue sign-in code" with the pupil in front of you. If the pupil has no login yet, the same press creates it. A dialog shows the code with the school code and the pupil's admission number; it works once, for 15 minutes. The pupil opens the school's sign-in page, follows "Pupil with a sign-in code?", types those three things and a new password twice, and presses "Set my password"; from then on they sign in with their admission number. The same button gives a new code when a password is forgotten. The old button that invited a pupil to the portal is gone — a pupil has no e-mail address to invite. If you cannot see the button, ask a colleague who can issue sign-in codes. See Parent Portal.
How does Assignments under Communication work?
Communication → Assignments is where a teacher sets homework for one arm in one subject: a title, instructions, a due date and time, an optional mark it is out of, and up to five PDF or image files. Saved as a draft it is invisible; pressing "Publish" puts it on each pupil's Student Portal and each family's Parent Portal and tells them — pupils in their inbox and by push, families by e-mail, and by text only where your school has switched on "Text families about homework", paid from your SMS units. Pupils type their answer and press "Hand in"; the teacher marks it with a score and feedback or returns it for changes, and work handed in on paper is recorded and marked from the same page. A mark or a return tells the pupil and the family the same way. See Assignments and Homework.
Still stuck?
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