An online proctored exam runs through six stages: system check, identity verification, room scan, monitored session, flagging, and review. Software records your webcam, microphone, and screen from start to finish. A human reviewer – not an algorithm – makes the final call on any flagged event.
How Do Proctored Exams Work Online?
An online proctored exam runs through six stages: system check, identity verification, room scan, monitored session, flagging, and review. Software records your webcam, microphone, and screen from start to finish. A human reviewer – not an algorithm – makes the final call on any flagged event.
What Is an Online Proctored Exam?
An online proctored exam is a timed test taken remotely while software, a live person, or both confirm your identity and watch your session. The system records your webcam feed, audio, and screen activity throughout. A non-proctored exam skips all of this – no ID check, no recording, no monitoring.
Three actors run every online proctored exam. The examinee sits at their computer and takes the test. The proctor – human, AI, or both – watches the session in real time or reviews the recording after. The institution or testing body sets the rules and receives the final report.
The word “proctored” traces back to the Latin proctor, meaning an agent who supervises on behalf of another. Online proctoring applies that same idea through a webcam instead of a classroom. Before the session opens, the system confirms you’re the right person in the right environment – and that process starts with a technical check.
What Is the 6-Stage Process of an Online Proctored Exam?
Online proctored exams follow one consistent process across providers. The platform may change – Canvas, Blackboard, Pearson VUE – but the six stages run in the same order every time.
Stage 1: Does Your System Pass the Equipment Check?
The system check confirms your computer meets minimum requirements before the exam clock starts. It tests your webcam, microphone, browser version, operating system, and internet speed. Providers like Honorlock and Proctorio run this through a browser extension; others require a standalone application.
Run this check at least 24 hours before your exam, not five minutes before. Students who fail the check on exam day miss their window entirely. The most common failures are camera permissions blocked by the browser, a VPN client running in the background, and an unsupported browser version.
Close every unnecessary application before launching the lockdown browser. Slack, Discord, Spotify, and cloud sync tools all create flags even before the exam opens.
Stage 2: How Does Identity Verification Work?
Identity verification requires you to hold a government-issued photo ID to your webcam. Accepted documents include a driver’s license, passport, or state ID. The system captures a still image of the ID alongside a live photo of your face.
Some platforms add facial recognition on top of the ID check. Your live image gets compared against your enrollment photo or a previously stored candidate profile. A mismatch pauses the session until a human proctor clears it.
This step takes 60-90 seconds on most platforms. The verification image stays on file with the testing provider as part of the session record. After identity clears, the system moves to the environment scan.
Stage 3: What Happens During the Room and Desk Scan?
The room scan requires you to rotate your webcam in a 360-degree arc showing the full room: walls, desk surface, ceiling, and floor. The proctor or AI checks for notes, phones, second monitors, and other people.
Your desk should hold only what the exam explicitly permits. A scratch pad and pencil are allowed on most exams; a calculator depends on the subject. Everything else comes off the desk before the session starts.
Some institutions require a phone as a secondary camera angle. If yours does, the instructions will specify where to position it. After the room scan clears, the monitored session begins.
Stage 4: What Does the System Monitor During the Exam?
Three feeds run simultaneously during the exam. Your webcam captures your face and the visible room. Your microphone picks up all audio – background voices, your own speech, notification sounds. Screen sharing captures every pixel on your display.
The lockdown browser adds a separate control layer on top of the proctoring feed. It blocks new tabs, prevents copy-paste, disables application switching, and stops split-screen or dual-monitor setups. Think of proctoring as the proctor watching you, and the lockdown browser as the walls of the exam room.
Both run together on high-stakes exams. Students who want to sharpen performance before a proctored session often work through targeted practice with expert tutoring support so the monitored session itself runs clean. The webcam feed and audio are what get reviewed if a flag fires – and knowing what gets flagged is worth understanding before you sit down.
Stage 5: What Gets Flagged During a Proctored Exam?
Flagging is automatic and immediate. The system timestamps events that fall outside normal test-taking behavior and adds them to an incident report. Eight categories generate flags consistently across providers: gaze deviation, audio anomalies, application switching, browser tab changes, secondary devices in frame, additional people entering the room, extended absence from camera, and copy-paste attempts.
A flag is not a verdict. It’s a timestamped clip sent to the reviewer’s queue. In a Georgia Tech OMSA course running on Honorlock, a student announced a bathroom break to the camera before leaving. The proctor reviewed the timestamp, saw the explanation, and cleared the session. Silence during an absence looks worse than an explanation on camera.
After the exam closes, every flag and the full session recording moves to the review stage.
Stage 6: How Do Reviewers Decide the Outcome?
The reviewer – an instructor, exam authority, or proctor staff – watches flagged clips, not the full recording. Context determines the outcome, not the flag count. A single flag for looking away once gets cleared in seconds. Multiple flags for the same event in a short window get deeper review.
Possible outcomes run from no action taken through warning issued, exam withheld pending review, result invalidated, and re-sit required. The institution decides – the proctoring vendor only provides the report.
Results release follows the institution’s timeline. For non-proctored components of the same course – quizzes, assignments, discussion posts – students on platforms like Canvas and Blackboard often get expert quiz help to keep their overall grade strong while preparing for the proctored final.
What Can a Proctored Exam Actually See?
Online proctored exams can see your screen, your webcam feed, and your microphone audio simultaneously. Most platforms detect phones that appear in the camera frame, tab-switching, and unauthorized application activity. What they cannot see is anything outside the webcam’s field of view or activity on a device that never appears on screen.
| What the system monitors | Visible? |
|---|---|
| Computer screen | Yes – screen share or recording is live |
| Webcam feed (face and room) | Yes – continuous |
| Microphone audio | Yes – background voices and sounds captured |
| Phone in the camera frame | Yes – object detection flags it |
| Phone held outside frame | No |
| Activity on a separate device | No |
| What you’ve memorized | No |
Students often assume proctoring sees everything in the room. It sees everything the webcam and microphone can reach – nothing more. A phone placed face-down outside the frame won’t appear in the feed, but most exam rules prohibit having it in the room at all, so the rule violation exists independently of the camera catching it.
Understanding what’s visible ties directly into the type of proctoring your exam uses. Each type covers a different level of the session.
What Are the Four Types of Online Proctoring?
Online proctoring runs in four modes: live, recorded, automated AI, and hybrid. Each type uses the same identity verification and room scan process. The difference is who – or what – watches the session as it happens.
What Is Live Proctoring?
Live proctoring puts a real person watching your webcam and screen throughout the session. The proctor can intervene through a chat window if you break a rule. It’s the closest equivalent to a physical invigilator and the most resource-intensive type, which is why institutions reserve it for high-stakes professional certification exams.
What Is Recorded Proctoring?
Recorded proctoring captures the full session – video, audio, and screen – and sends it to a reviewer after you submit. No one watches during the exam itself. Many university courses on Canvas and Blackboard use this format for mid-level assessments. Students often find it less stressful in the moment, though the recording is thorough.
What Is Automated AI Proctoring?
Automated AI proctoring monitors the session continuously without a human present during the exam. The algorithm tracks gaze direction, head movement, audio, and browser behavior. False positives occur more frequently here because the AI reads context the way a spreadsheet reads numbers. Looking at your keyboard registers the same as looking at your phone.
What Is Hybrid Proctoring?
Hybrid proctoring combines AI monitoring during the session with human review of flagged clips after. It reduces false positives compared to pure AI and costs less than fully live monitoring. Honorlock’s default mode operates as hybrid – the AI flags, the human decides. This format covers most university-level online exams in 2026.
How Do Proctored Exams Work on Blackboard and Canvas?
Blackboard and Canvas don’t proctor exams on their own. They integrate with third-party tools that handle the identity check, room scan, and session monitoring. The six-stage process runs the same way regardless of which LMS the exam lives inside.
Canvas pairs most often with Respondus LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor. Blackboard integrates with Honorlock or Proctorio across most US universities and programs including Georgia Tech’s OMSA. Moodle uses SMOWL or Proctorio plugins.
The LMS handles the exam content – questions, timer, submission. The proctoring tool handles everything else. Students switching between platforms mid-degree often find the proctoring experience more consistent than the LMS experience. Honorlock behaves the same inside Canvas as it does inside Blackboard.
For students managing multiple proctored courses across these platforms, the non-proctored parts of each course – weekly assignments, homework sets, discussion posts – carry significant grade weight too. Getting expert assignment help on those components keeps the overall grade stable while preparation goes toward the proctored sessions.
How Do You Set Up Your Home Space for an Online Proctored Exam?
Setting up correctly for an online proctored exam means a quiet private room, a clear desk, stable internet, and a tested camera and microphone. Most technical failures and environmental flags come from skipping this preparation, not from the exam difficulty itself.
Lighting matters more than most students expect. Place a lamp in front of your face, not behind you. A backlit face creates shadows the webcam reads as obscured, which triggers a review flag before you’ve answered a single question.
Disconnect or turn away any second monitor. Remove phones, tablets, notes, and textbooks from the desk surface. Run the provider’s official system check tool the day before – not on exam day. A wired ethernet connection beats WiFi for stability; if WiFi is your only option, sit within three meters of the router.
Frequently Asked Questions About Online Proctored Exams
Can a proctored exam see your screen?
Yes. Screen sharing or recording activates the moment the exam session opens. The proctoring software captures everything on your monitor, including any attempt to open a new tab or switch applications.
Can online proctored exams detect phones?
Yes, if the phone appears in the webcam frame. Object detection algorithms identify phones, earbuds, and visible notes. A phone out of frame doesn’t appear in the feed, but most exam rules prohibit having it in the room regardless.
What is flagged during a proctored exam?
Eight event types generate flags: looking away repeatedly, a second voice, another person entering the frame, application switching, tab changes, copy-paste attempts, extended absence from camera, and prohibited objects in frame.
How do proctored exams work on Canvas?
Canvas integrates with Respondus LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor, or Honorlock. The LMS handles the exam content; the proctoring tool handles identity verification, the room scan, and session monitoring. The six-stage process runs identically regardless of platform.
Can you take a break during a proctored exam?
It depends on the exam rules. Some exams allow breaks with proctor permission and pause the timer; others don’t permit breaks at all. Check the specific exam instructions before starting. If a break applies, announce it clearly on camera before leaving the frame.
