Online Exams - Getting into the mindset

Online Exams – What are they? How do I get ready?

By Victoria Clout (School of Accounting, UNSW Sydney)

Welcome to the world of online exams! This article will take you through two common online exam varieties you may encounter in your UNSW Business School course and an introduction in how to get ready for an online exam. Online exams come in lots of different varieties. Here are two of the most common types of online exams, deployed via Moodle, that you may face in your course:

·      An open-book, open-internet take-home exam where you have either an extended or shorter duration to answer questions (e.g. ranging between 24 hours to 2 hours)

·      A closed-book, webcam video recorded invigilated exam (e.g. through Examity AI).

What are they?

Let’s consider the first type of exam. It would be shown to you using a quiz link or some template to download. You would be given the parameters for how long you have to complete your exam. You can have your notes and also the internet is open to access. Remember the usual conditions about academic integrity apply where any sources you quote or where appropriate referencing should be used. The exam would be typically deployed to you on the course Moodle site. You would have a set period to complete the exam and sometimes within set parameters, e.g. you get 2 hours within a 24-hour period to complete the exam. 

Now let’s consider the second type of exam. The closed-book exam with a webcam. This video recording would be performed by via a webcam and the video footage is examined later on by artificial intelligence (AI) such as Examity AI. What is Examity AI? This invigilation is not a human watching you during the exam but rather Examity will be using AI to view the footage of you sitting the final exam and also your computer screen just like a human invigilator would under a normal exam. This AI will flag any potential irregularities in a photo of you taking the exam, such as two people in the photo, if you leave the computer for an extended period of time (5 minutes is allowed for a toilet break), if you looking off to the side of the webcam for a long duration, a another person switching places with you when you are undertaking the exam. The footage that is flagged for a human to check on the video recording of your final exam. This video recording is encrypted and will not be provided to any third parties. Examity AI will ask you for only two pieces of information: (1) It will take a photo of your student ID card; and (2) It will ask for a phone/mobile number which is to be used only in the very rare event of an emergency of you getting disconnected from Examity AI and the final exam. This phone number would be phoned to check if you are ok and log the technical incident so you could later rely on this information to apply for Special Consideration. There are three reasons why a course Lecturer-in-Charge would choose to use Examity AI: (1) It ensures the integrity of the final exam is preserved because you are completing your own final exam by yourself. You are using your own course learned knowledge to answer the questions. (2) Equality is preserved as all students participate under equal exam conditions. (3) In order to ensure that this course remains accredited by the professional bodies. This ensures that for students who are seeking to become a professional accountant you will continue to be eligible for entry to either of the two professional bodies programs. 

How do I get ready?

For both types of online exams, it is important to get mentally prepared just as you would for a normal exam on campus. Setup a timetable for yourself of study periods. Get yourself mentally focussed. Be sure you take regular breaks when studying as and when you need them. Getting fresh air and regular exercise is just as important for your mind as for your body. If you are feeling anxiety you can use strategies to help reduce this as well as fresh air, regular exercise, regular breaks, you can also reach out to friends or family by phone have a chat with them, even a quick chat about how you are going can help reduce feelings of anxiety. Try making lists of things that you are concerned about or a list of areas to study. Give yourself a set daily routine for studying. Make sure you have plenty of sleep the night before your exams. For open book exams pretend that this is a closed book exam do you study to an equal extent. This is because looking things up can be time consuming during the exam. Have a good breadth across the course knowledge will help you start addressing the question and then know where to look up extra information. It is also to idea set yourself up a notes organisation system such as binder folders with labelled tabs. The labelled tabs will speed up the need for looking up items of information. For online exams make sure you read carefully all the instructions provided by the Lecturer-in-Charge on the Moodle site. Some online exam may have security features such as: password protected quiz entry; and no-go-back where you can only answer questions in sequence and move forward. It’s better to be aware of these features prior to the exam than during the exam. Avoid sending emails to your Lecturer-in-Charge during the exam because this could eat up valuable time during the exam. In an open internet, open-book exam focuses your time on the exam, leave sending emails until later unless it is very urgent. Be even more focussed than usual about reading all the announcements on Moodle about the conditions of the exam to find out about passwords or no-go-back type options or other security features.

For an online exam you may need to also take care of your computer equipment and check that it is healthy and operating at its best for the exam day. Here are some tips for improving the health of your computer/laptop by:

·      Upgrade your computer/laptop operating system to the latest version.

·      Increase the memory to at least 8 GB.

·      Tidy up to have at least 20 MB Free space on the computer. Delete those old files and applications that are unneeded.

·      Upgrade to Office 365. Did you know this is available free for all students? Yes you can download from myIT UNSW website.

·      Use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox web-browsers. Or if you prefer another browser then check it is the latest version of that browser. 

·      Close any applications or browser windows that are non-essential. This will increase the available RAM and internet speed on your computer.

Let’s talk about internet for a moment. Do a test of your internet speed and see what the score is. Here are some tips for improving your internet speed, it could be your modem slowing down your speed: https://www.wikihow.com/Increase-Internet-Speed Get in touch with your internet provided and ask them to offer you their best deal. VPNs do not necessarily increase your internet speed. Test your speed with and without a VPN. Also check your calculator is alive and healthy prior to the exam. If you have had your calculator for a long time, consider checking the type of batteries it uses and get some replacement batteries for standby in case they go flat.

 On the Day of the Exam:

Treat the online exam exactly how you would a real invigilated exam where you would come on campus. This way you will be in the right mind frame to take the exam. When talking with students who have undertaken online exams, they have most commonly told me their one regret is to be too relaxed when doing an exam at home. You are in a comfortable environment at home and you are going to need to be self-disciplined and self-motivated to get into the right mental headspace ready for your exam. Here are some tips:

Tell your housemates you are doing an exam:

If you live with housemates tell them the day before or in the morning of the exam that you are taking an exam that day. You could put a sign up on your bedroom or study door saying something like: “Exam in Progress, do not disturb”. 

Eat healthy:

Have a healthy breakfast on the day of the exam.

Get setup early and then you can relax by being prepared:

Get your computer/laptop awake between 1 hour to 30 mins prior to the exam. Get yourself a clear plastic bottle of water or clear glass of water to be on your desk during the exam. 

Silence distractions:

Turn your phone to silent and place face-down away from you. Also close all messenger programs and logout on your computer from social media accounts. This is so you don’t get distracted from either your phone or social media alerts. Research suggests that mental recovery after a distraction can take up to 25 mins to recover from that distraction. The sign on your bedroom or study door will reduce distractions from any of your housemates during the exam. This is valuable time that a distraction steals should be avoided. 

Online Exams - Getting into the mindset

For longer take-home exams have a game plan:

If you have a 24-hour exam, make sure you have a schedule for the whole exam time period worked out in advance. Make sure you add in some regular breaks for example a 5-minute screen break and during that time try moving around. Such as a quick walk around the room can help be more mentally alert. Have your lunch or dinner already prepared ready to be eaten during a break. For open-book exams have your notes close to hand and in an organised order, for example in a binder with labelled tabs or a computer folder and each topic within a sub-folder. 

 For timed exams:

For timed exams make sure you have a timer counting down until submission for the exam, so you know how long you have left. For Moodle quizzes this will provided on screen. Divide the number of questions or marks for each question into the total time to work out roughly how long to spend on a question. Avoid eating during short duration timed exam, for example a 2 hours exam. It will eat into your overall time. If your exam is during a mealtime make a plan to either eat a light meal beforehand or eat a regular sized meal after the exam is finished. 

For closed-book webcam exams:

For webcam closed-book invigilated exams you will need to have similar conditions to those outlined above, such as being in a room by yourself and not being disturbed during the exam by housemates or by your mobile phone, with the added feature that you will are being videoed. Be sitting in your seat ready for the exam to start no later than 15 minutes prior to the exam. Only have the Moodle site open on your computer. You will need to login to Moodle and enter into the Final Exam section at the bottom of your course Moodle site. Get your desk and room ready in the 30 minutes prior to the exam. Post up a sign on your room door such as “Do not disturb, Exam in progress”. Make sure you clean off your desk of all materials except those permitted for example you may be allowed 2 A4 blank pieces of paper, pen, calculator and/or formula sheet. Read on the course Moodle site and announcements about the specifics of what you are allowed during the exam and also any required technology such as a digital pen input device. If you have dual monitors, you will need to un-plug one of these during the exam. Take any post-it notes off the sides of your computer/laptop. Have a small hand or pocket-sized mirror to show the edges of the computer/laptop screen is clean of notes. If you need a toilet break that is ok but only 5 minutes and empty your pockets in front of the webcam afterwards. The room where you take the exam doesn’t have to be tidy. If you have a window in the room, you can draw the curtains/blinds to protect yourself further for privacy of your location. When you are doing calculations on your calculator hold it up to the screen, so it is videoed as you do your calculations. Have a clear bottle of water on your desk in case you get thirsty. If you don’t have a webcam, consider reaching out to friends or family to borrow one for the day of the exam. Also, there are active UNSW student social media pages where you can reach out for help including the student societies. 

All the best for your online exams! Stay safe!