Online classes have become one of the most recent and budding trends when it comes to finishing courses and earning degrees. Its growing popularity among students, from fresh high school graduates to working professionals, is primarily attributed to the vast array of advantages associated with online learning. Aside from offering more affordable tuition costs compared to most traditional universities in the country, other benefits range from avoiding the dreadful traffic/commute to better flexibility and convenience of the entire academic experience. Considering the feasibility of online courses as alternatives to traditional face-to-face education, approximately three million students are currently enrolled in full-time online courses and the number is estimated to increase in the succeeding years.

Advantages of Online Classes

            The comfort and leniency of the learning environment, on the other hand, have allowed the possibility of online writers to take the course in lieu of the student himself. Advertisements that promote the benefits of online classes by featuring students learning at home, in their pajamas while eating snacks or playing with their pets, merely show the surface of the massive benefits of online education. Along with the popularity of online courses comes the expanding approval for online writers to “represent” the student and be the one to comply with the requirements of the course from start to finish.

Though this allows the student to delegate his academic responsibilities, the success of this scheme, nonetheless, primarily lies on the effective communication between the student and the writer. Thus, a reliable and trustworthy mode of correspondence between the two parties involved must be established before the writer takes over. Moreover, the writer should be familiar with the rudiments of the course’s dashboard (like accessing important messages and reminders from the professor) and constantly update the student about his progress.

Remotely Proctored Online Exam: How does it Work?

            Some online schools incorporate quizzes into their curriculum in order to assess the progress and improvement of their students. These exams, more often than not, are equipped with software tools that can remotely proctor the student while taking the exam, similar to a classroom set up where a teacher can directly observe the students during a test. Proctorio, for example, combines machine learning and facial recognition in order to evaluate the students during exams and ensure honesty and integrity.

The students are instructed to upload a photo ID to confirm his identity during the exam. Moreover, this tool also uses a video recording of the exam which can be later reviewed if the student was “flagged” down as doing suspicious actions while taking the test. These actions include, but are not limited to, looking away from the screen, taking screenshots, talking with other people, looking down at notes, opening other browser windows, among others. If any of these parameters were proven to be violated, then the student will instantly get a 0 on the exam.

A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed!

            Fortunately, there are strategies on how students and writers can successfully ace a remotely proctored online exam. All you need is a dependable (and patient!) friend who can assist you while taking the exam. Since you are glued to the screen and any unnecessary movements can result to being flagged by the exam tool, your friend will do most of the tasks, such as 1) taking pictures of the question, 2) sending the questions to the writer, and 3) showing the writer’s answers to you- while being very careful to stay out of the computer’s camera. Here are some tips and strategies on how to ace an online exam.

1. Take CLEAR and READABLE pictures of the questions. This is very important since most exams have a time limit, thus, an unclear question will prompt your friend to take another one and resend it to the writer, wasting precious time.
2. Send the questions CONTINUOUSLY. Do not wait for the writer to send his answer for a particular question before sending the next one. If the writer has already sent an answer, skip it first and continue to send pictures.
3. After successfully sending all the questions, review the conversation and look for the answers sent by the writer. If the exam tool has no audio recording, you can directly say the answers out loud. If it comes with an audio recording, then carefully place the answer on the screen so that the student can see it without him looking away from the screen.
4. Mind the TIME. This set up basically has two persons taking the exam- the student and the writer. As a consequence, the process of sending the questions and waiting for the answers can take a huge chunk of the allotted time for the exam. Thus, both parties must be aware of and work within the time limit.
5. Be PREPARED. Before the exam, you can practice the set-up with your friend. Open the camera of your computer and let him find his spot that is not within the camera’s view. Have a systematic run through on how the pictures will be taken.
6. PLAN with the writer. You should develop a mutually agreed plan with your writer in order to ensure that there will be no glitches on the actual day of the exam.