The Best 7 Free and Open Source Exam Software Solutions

Updated on :October 19, 2023
By :Sarah Rose Miller

Timed, supervised, and summative assessments conducted online have now re-invented test management. Many exam authorities in the schools, colleges and business organizations prefer taking e-exams over paper-based examinations. Web-based exam systems may seem bewildering at first, but they are developed to enable the examiners to conduct relevant investigations at their convenience. Backed by advanced exam software solutions, e-assessments have emerged as a great way to conduct exams and assessments at all levels, systems and categories.

Exam Online

This article emphasizes the role of exam software systems in present day’s competitively growing education and employment sectors. An exclusive list of the popular free and open-source exam software solutionsis also suggested to the users. Such solutions have a massive demand in the market due to their easy-to-operate, intuitive, and flexible nature.

What is an Exam Solution?

An Exam Software is a carrier for easy online assessment that helps in general academic evaluation or exploring specific abilities and characteristics for talent selection. These tools are absolutely fantastic to scrutinize and select suitable candidates for different jobs. The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), which is a standardized admission test to join a graduate school in the United States of America is the first exam to move online in 1993.

Online exam parameters

Here are certain parameters based on which an online exam is conducted:                 

  1. Type of Exam (Objective or Subjective)
  2. Question Navigation
  3. Schedule/Timer
  4. Subjects/Topics
  5. Difficulty Level
  6. Negative Marking
  7. Capture Candidate Photo
  8. Exam Result Processing         

How does an Exam Software System work?

An online examination system is quite convenient in comparison to the traditional ones. Free and open source exam software solutions can be instantly installed and used to conduct e-exams. They come with the modifiable source code and can work as per your requirements. The flexibility of customization and easy-to-operate facility makes them most preferred among the users. Therefore, they can be chosen as an option for your online assessment procedure. Apart from this, premium exam software solutions are there with some additional features. Though, they come with additional functionality, the demand for the free ones are always on rise in the market. The following guidelines will let the exam software work best for you :

  1. Install exam software and add a short description, including exam principles.
  2. Add images, audios, and videos to make the exam look livelier.
  3. Ensure that the explanation of the answers is displayed after completing the exam.
  4. Schedule the start date and end date for the participants to access the exam.
  5. Set the time limit for the exam attendees to attempt the entire examination.
  6. Put the test online using Internet set up a facility.
  7. Share the exam link with the participants to allow them to attempt the exam.
  8. View the progress of the participants after the exam completes.
  9. Check out the statistics per user or get the overall view of the performance of the group.

Who uses Exam Software?

The user range for exam software solutions can be categorized into three parts, and they are stated below in detail:

  1. Universities: Schools, colleges, and other training and skill development authorities utilize online solutions for examining the capacities of their students.
  2. Private and Public Selection Authorities: Private and public authorities organize exams to enter into the leading education institutes and conduct exams like GRE, CAT, GATE and so on. Similarly, online examinations are conducted to select suitable candidates for jobs in Civil Services, Engineering Services, and Railways, etc.
  3. Companies: Businesses and companies in the modern technology work sphere always want their employees to stay up-to-dateand so, promotional exams are conducted periodically.
  4. Short-Term Value Addition Tests: Even employees also prefer opting for some online courses to enhance their skill levels for which, online examinations becomes the easiest option to get certified soon.

What are the Benefits of Exam Software?

Online Examinations have plenty of advantages when conducted via Exam Software:

Benefits of Exam Software

What are the objectives behind using Exam Software?                

Exam software fulfils various objectives for an education institute, exam authority, a business organization, or even a student. Few of them are listed below:

# User-friendly system
# Responsive-design
# Offers several types of questions
# Auto-publishing of exam document for records
# Automatic and instant checking of answers for quick results
# Group report performance analysis

What is an Online Proctored Exam/Test?

A proctored examination process involves the role of an ‘E-Proctor’ – a supervisor or a person who monitors students during the examination process.

Virtual proctoring space is gaining immense significance in global e-learning and examination technology today. Online video proctoring facilitates monitoring the candidates online during the test duration using a webcam, a microphone, and access to the screen of the candidates. It can be possible from remote locations and proceeds in three possible ways:

  1. Live Online Proctoring – by using an audio-video and screen share feeds in real-time.
  2. Recorded Proctoring – by recording audio-video and screen share feeds of the test candidates.
  3. Advanced Automated Proctoring – by monitoring the feeds for any suspicious activity using advanced video and audio analytics.

Proctoring Online Exams

Now, let us check out the list of the most promising free and open-source exam software solutions that help conduct a test system online, quickly and convincingly.

List of Software

The table given below will give an insight into the listed free and open source exam software solutions.

Exam Software Comparison Chart

Let us discuss all of them in detail.

1. TCExam

TCExam is one of the best open source Computer-Based Assessment systems. It enables the trainers and educators to schedule, author, deliver and report on the online quizzes, tests, and examinations. It is a web-based system that is platform-independent, language-independent, and supports all W3C standards and guidelines.

TCExam

(Source: TCExam)

Features:

  • TCExam open-source software comes with features like easy adaptability, quality, innovation, and security.
  • It is a GNU-Linux Operative System, supported by Apache Web server, MySQL Database Management System and PHP programming language.
  • The software requires a LAMP platform and the flexible technical requirements that let it become downloadable on almost any computer and run on any web server.
  • The software uses Open Standard protocols for data filing and interchange: TSV, XML, and PDF.
  • It uses a standard mark-up language for adding images, text formatting, multimedia objects like audios and visuals, and mathematical formulas.

2. Kaldin

Kaldin is another popular open-source online examination software. It creates, schedules, and evaluates exams efficiently. It offers a relaxed and straightforward interface to the clients with a hassle-free test process. It is a fully customizable application that can be modified as per user’s requirements, as the feedback received from its customers.

Kaldin

(Source: Kaldin)

Features:

  • Kaldin software supports working on all popular browsers i.e., Firefox 3+, Safari 3+, Chrome 8+, IE 8+, Opera 9+.
  • Multiple users can be added for tests with instant result generated.
  • High security hosting for keeping user data and tests private.
  • Easy to import questions and re-use them in multiple sets.
  • It is web-based software that is based on programming languages JSP, Java, JavaScript, and database environment JDBC, MySQL.
  • It is licensed as per GNU Library or Lesser General Public License version 2.0 (LGPLv2), GNU Library or Lesser General Public License version 3.0 (LGPLv3).

 3. Papershala

Papershala is the most trustworthy online examination software that perfectly fulfils the needs of a coaching institute related to online papers, results, and students’ analysis. The software offers a pocket-friendly examination plan to small institutes and it is a powerful tool for the instant creation of online exams.

Papershala

(Source: Papershala)

Features:

  • Papershala exam software comfortably works on all devices such as desktop, mobile, iPhone, laptop or tablet.
  • It offers a multifunctional question bank with full customization features.
  • A separate student dashboard is offered involving a graphical interface for different information related to the tests.
  • It is a browser-based and cloud-based software solution that comfortably works even on the low RAM devices.
  • Powerful admin panel covers all the important functions that are necessary to take an online exam from the administrator’s end.

 4. TAO

TAO Testing is a project by Open Assessment Technologies and the platform delivers maximum interoperability, flexibility, and security to the users. It came into existence in late 2002 and it is the only platform that is built on the open standards. The firm designs and deploys multi-lingual assessment solutions and TAO software system is a standard-compliant, open-source assessment system that works as per client-specific functionality.

TAO

(Source: TAO)

Features:

  • The TAO testing software runs on the Apache 2.4 web server with PHP 5.6 to 7.1 installed and databases supported MySQL 5.7, Maria DB 10.1, PostgreSQL 9.5 or newer versions.
  • It supports almost all recent browsers, and recommends using a Linux distribution such as Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, or similar, macOS and macOS Server, and Windows as well.
  • The TAO Community Edition 3.3 is the latest version released and can be downloaded instantly.
  • It is licensed as per GNU General Public License.

5. R-Exams

R/exams offer the open source package exams with a one-for-all approach. Dynamic exercise templates are used by the company to create different types of personalized exams, tests, and quizzes. R/exams software is flexible enough to use freely and extended as per the user requirements.

R-Exams

(Source: R/exams)

Features:

  • Exercise templates are available along with their PDF and HTML versions.
  • The software works on Windows and Mac OS X and Linux accompanying ‘Rtools.’
  • Shell, Emacs, or dedicated graphical user interface are a wide variety of interfaces to use R for Windows and OS X.
  • The R package exam system can be installed easily and interactively from within R using a single command.
  • R/exams software internally uses the typesetting system LaTeX to produce PDF output.

6. Edu Expressions

Edu Expressions is a white label solution for businesses of all sizes and budgets. This open source exam software solution is though a paid one, but it helps in managing and conducting almost all kinds of online examinations with ease. It is a native mobile app for android based systems developed by Zuxus Business Solution Pvt. Ltd.

Edu-Expressions

(Source: Edu Expressions)

Features:

  • Edu Expression is one of the unique examination systems that come as White Label App.
  • It is based on the CakePHP framework.
  • The software of this system comes with an advanced dashboard and multiple options like website configurations etc.
  • Edu Expression online exam PHP script comes with easy configuration panel.
  • Triffort.com manages all the payments and provides required support facility.

 7. PESofts

Started in 2014, Pesofts is among the leading online test conducting software system developed by efficient and striving team from India. It is a reliable platform that offers best and very responsive, website panel, and mobile app panel that supports all desktop, android, and iOS devices.

PESofts

 (Source: PESofts)

Features:

  • Expandable features with mobile and tablet support.
  • Theme and brand customization facility is available using virtual classrooms.
  • Changeable interface language is possible just with a simple click.
  • Session recording is facilitated without installing any browser plug-ins or software.
  • The app comes with a secure socket layer security and it enables you to encrypt your customized host name fully.

Think Exam, Mettl Examine, Eklavvya, Testpress, Examsoft, Edbase, and QuizCV are some of the popular online exam software system available in the market today. If you have already used any of them, feel free to share your reviews here.

Conclusion

The market for exam solutions is expanding and is expected to grow more in the future. Exam Software solutionswith advanced assessment technologies offer exceptional facilities to conduct any type of exam easily and effortlessly.

Online examinations enable candidates to take the exams from anywhere, anytime and at any language. Remote internet access and advanced security measures have made official examination portals easily accessible to all examiners. It means anyone can attempt for e-exams from any location without any restriction. E-exams are becoming the premier choice of many university, business, or organization.

A recent survey of undergraduates conducted by Dresselhaus and Shrode at Utah State University found that 70.2% of the respondents liked to use their smart devices to access study materials and give exams online in comparison to traditional examinations. In fact, 54% of them have setup their academic needs and requirements across their smartphones only. This shows the popularity and preference of exam software solutions.

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Sarah Rose Miller
Sarah Rose Miller

She is an IT graduate, a research enthusiast, a  gadget lover and a tech writer. Sarah loves to explore every new innovation in the field of technology to help meeting quests of the readers regarding knowing about new gadget in the market, tech news and publications as well. She is a professional Research and Tech Writer at GoodFirms.co

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