Exam Management

The Exam module is a separate, dedicated system built for formal, high-stakes assessments. While it reuses the same 14+ question types as quizzes, exams add critical features: multi-section structure with content context (reading passages, listening materials), proctoring and security controls (camera, screen share, tab-switch prevention), formal scheduling with start/end times and registration deadlines, attempt management with configurable retake policies, instructor/proctor assignment, and automatic certificate issuance on passing. Quizzes are lightweight assessments embedded in courses; exams are standalone assessment events with their own schema, lifecycle, and administration workflow.

Noova supports five exam types: (1) Independent - standalone assessments not tied to any program, ideal for periodic competency testing or organizational benchmarking, (2) Training Program - exams linked to training programs as mid-term or final assessments to validate learning, (3) Recruitment - standardized candidate screening exams for objective hiring evaluation, (4) Certification - formal certification exams with passing requirements and automatic certificate issuance, (5) Other - custom exam types for specialized assessment needs. Each type appears in its own filtered view in the Exam Manager dashboard.

Exams can be divided into multiple sections, each functioning as a self-contained segment of the assessment. Each section has its own name, description, and ordering. You can attach content context like reading passages or listening materials via quizSection. Each section has independent configuration: time limit, allow skip, allow review, and shuffle questions. Questions can be added manually, auto-generated from the question bank using rules (by tags, difficulty, question type, and count), or pulled from quiz groups. This allows you to create complex exams like TOEFL-style tests with separate reading, listening, and writing sections.

The Exam module includes built-in proctoring controls: (1) Camera requirement - examinees must enable their webcam during the exam, (2) Screen share requirement - monitors examinee screen activity, (3) Tab-switch prevention - detects and flags when examinees navigate away from the exam window, (4) Context menu disabling - prevents right-click copy/paste and browser shortcuts, (5) Question shuffling - randomizes question and choice order to create unique exam variants for each examinee. Proctoring data is captured and stored with each attempt record for post-exam review by instructors.

Exams use a dual grading approach: (1) Automated grading for objective questions (single choice, multiple choice, true/false, matching, sequence, fill-in-blank, etc.) with instant scoring upon submission, (2) Manual grading interface for subjective questions (short answer, long answer/essay) where graders assign earned points and provide written feedback per question. Graders can also provide overall feedback for the entire exam attempt. The system calculates total score (0-100 scale), determines pass/fail based on the configured passing score threshold, and records grading timestamps. Exam statuses progress from IN_PROGRESS to SUBMITTED to GRADED.

Yes. Each exam can be configured with issueCertificateOnPass enabled and linked to a certificate template via certificateId. When an examinee achieves the passing score and their attempt is graded, the system automatically generates and issues the digital certificate. This is particularly useful for Certification-type exams where credentialing is the primary outcome. Certificates can be customized with organization branding and are accessible through the employee portal.

The Exam module provides comprehensive scheduling controls: (1) Start time and end time to define the exam availability window, (2) On-air toggle to instantly make the exam available or unavailable, (3) Deadline with option to allow or block late submissions, (4) Registration deadline to set a cutoff for exam sign-up, (5) Global time limit for the entire exam duration, (6) Per-section time limits for granular time allocation within the exam. You can show or hide the time limit display to examinees. The schedule system supports both fixed-window exams (everyone takes it at the same time) and open-window exams (available within a date range).

Yes, retake policies are fully configurable. You can set the maximum number of attempts (default is 1 for formal exams), enable retakes with allowRetake, and control the minimum interval between attempts using allowRetakeTime. Each attempt is tracked separately with its own attempt number, answers, scores, timestamps, and status. This allows you to implement policies like 'maximum 3 attempts with 24-hour cooldown between each' for practice exams, or strict single-attempt policies for certification exams.

The Exam module integrates across the Noova platform: (1) Training Programs - exams can be attached as assessments within training program workflows, (2) Recruitment - recruitment-type exams link to the hiring pipeline for candidate evaluation, (3) Certificates - automatic certificate issuance on passing, (4) Question Bank - reuses the shared question bank with 14+ question types, tags, and topics, (5) Instructor Management - assign instructors as exam supervisors, (6) Cross-app delivery - exams are administered through noova-classroom for learning contexts and noova-employee for self-service exam taking, (7) Organization units - exams can be assigned to specific departments or teams.

The Exam module provides comprehensive tracking: (1) Attempt-level detail with answers, scores, time spent, and status for every examinee, (2) Pass/fail rates across all attempts, (3) Score distribution and average performance metrics, (4) Time tracking showing when each attempt started, was submitted, and was graded, (5) Proctoring data review for flagged behaviors, (6) Filtered views by exam type (Independent, Training, Recruitment) in the Exam Manager dashboard, (7) Integration with training program reporting for assessment-based progression tracking. All data is exportable for compliance documentation and audit purposes.