ExamSoft

"Great for Higher Education"

Overall: At the beginning of the year, my school required us to buy this software in order for us to take our exams. I was not happy about spending 40 dollars for exam software, but I have gotten my moneys worth. I have exams 2-6 times a week and with over 150 students in my class, no one has that kind of time to grade paper tests. Before using examsoft, I had always went to schools that used paper tests, but I am thankful for the quick grading that examsoft provides; I no longer have to wait 2 weeks for my professors to grade my written exams. If you have the review password, you can also review your exams afterwards to see exactly what you missed. This is helpful to learn from your mistakes.

Pros: As a medical student, I feel like I spend more time with examsoft than I do with my friends. Thankfully, its super easy to use. I like how you can go to the website and you can download a report from the exam that shows you which question numbers that you missed. I like how you don't have to have internet during the exam; for example, one morning, internet was down at the school, so we we all downloaded the exam before we came to school and as long as the exam is downloaded, you can take it without internet. The downloading and uploading the exam are the only parts that require internet. Exams can either be timed or untimed and people who receive academic accommodations can also receive time and a half if the administrator sets that person's exam to 150%.

Cons: I don't think that ExamSoft "likes" Macs. I have a Mac computer and the majority of the time that I use Examsoft, it logs me out of the internet. It also sometimes messes with my apps on my computer, like word and powerpoint, and I have to end up pressing "force quit" on them before I can reopen them after using examsoft.

"Decent classroom exam software"

Overall: Overall, the software has always performed well with little to no issues with exam access or upload. During my classroom experience, no one was able to hack the software and access a test ahead of the designated testing window. Users attempting to take tests off campus were easily identified using ExamSoft.

Pros: ExamSoft is a fairly intuitive product that can be used on multiple operating systems for secure testing. A benefit of the ExamSoft setup is the ability to download the test ahead of time and complete the test offline with internet access only needed for test download and submission. This is beneficial for large classroom testing environments as the internet infrastructure is not overwhelmed by large user traffic but only when users submit results. Test security is controlled by time frames and a release password for access to the test. The program can also detect IP addresses and can determine if a user is utilizing a locations internet or not (useful in classroom environments for test takers trying to take tests remotely).

Cons: ExamSoft does require preparation by the user prior to use by downloading exams ahead of testing rather than a question by question internet-based setup. This requires more coordination prior to test time so that users are prepared when the exam time starts. While accessing testing materials ahead of testing time would require hacking the test file, some users are disconcerted by test takers downloading the test ahead of time rather than at the time of testing.