eSAM and exam regulations
eSAM addresses every requirement in JCQ Appendix 1 that software can address. The rest, who is sitting there, how the room is laid out, how many invigilators are watching stay with the centre, and eSAM tells you exactly which those are.
What eSAM does during an exam
A candidate opens the quiz in Moodle and chooses Start secure exam. eSAM takes over the PC, checks it is fit to sit an exam, and holds it on the exam until the attempt is submitted.
While the exam runs, the PC can do the exam and nothing else. Other programs will not start. Copy, paste, printing and screenshots are off unless the tutor turns them on. USB sticks cannot be written to. The network is held to the exam and whatever the tutor has allowed. A second screen, a virtual machine or a remote-desktop connection is detected before the candidate begins, and again if one appears mid-exam.
The invigilator watches a live dashboard: every candidate, what state they are in, their latest screenshot, and anything that needs attention. They can message a candidate, pause and lock a screen, add time back, raise a candidate's hand, or end the exam.
When the attempt is submitted, eSAM puts the PC back as it was desktop, Start menu, Task Manager, network. If the PC crashes or loses power, that reversal happens by itself at start-up.
Nothing about the exam is configured on the PC. Everything arrives in a signed package at launch, so a candidate cannot change what their own exam allows.
JCQ Appendix 1, requirement by requirement
Clause numbers refer to JCQ Instructions for conducting examinations, 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2026, Appendix 1.
|
Clause |
Requirement |
How eSAM addresses it |
|---|---|---|
|
2.1, 2.2 |
Security systems prevent unauthorised access to exam materials |
Exam settings and documents travel in a signed package. Documents are fetched by the client under session credentials and are not reachable from the course page |
|
2.4 |
Candidate passwords held securely and issued at the time |
No exam passwords exist. A session is bound to the signed-in Moodle account by a single-use launch link |
|
2.7 |
Confidentiality of candidate responses and details |
Answers are saved in Moodle as the candidate works. eSAM stores no responses |
|
2.8 |
Prevent unauthorised communication between candidates |
Browsers, messaging, remote-access and screen-sharing tools are blocked. Clipboard is off or restricted to the exam. Network access is held to the exam |
|
3.2 |
Access restricted to the test window |
A launch outside the quiz's open and close times is refused. The signed package expires |
|
5.1 |
Workstations fit for purpose, checked before use |
Pre-flight checks each PC before the candidate begins and names anything that fails |
|
5.2, 5.3 |
A control centre monitored by an invigilator or IT |
The live dashboard shows every candidate, their state, screenshots and alerts, on one screen |
|
7.2 |
Technical help available throughout |
Every refusal carries a support code that finds the exact record. Candidates can collect diagnostic logs themselves. An offline release code frees a PC that has lost its connection |
|
7.4a, 7.4e |
No access to AI tools, email, internet, social media or spreadsheets |
Blocked by category. Only apps the tutor has allowed for that exam may open, matched by publisher signature rather than by name |
|
7.4c |
No access to data stored on the hard drive |
Blocked outside allowed apps, and allowed apps run without access to the file system |
|
7.4f |
No portable storage media |
Writing to USB and removable drives is blocked for the exam |
|
8.2 (BS17.1a) |
Pause and secure the room during an evacuation without closing the software |
Pause and lock, per candidate or for the whole exam. The screen locks and the questions are hidden |
|
8.2 (BS17.2.1) |
Hardware or software failure: continue elsewhere or later without losing working time |
The session survives a crash or reboot and restrictions revert by themselves. Answers are already in Moodle. The candidate signs in and continues |
|
8.2 (BS17.3) |
Invigilator controls the restart and resets timing |
Time is added back on resume, and extra time granted from the dashboard becomes a Moodle quiz override, so the attempt does not close on the candidate |
|
9.1 |
Candidates' work saved and secure from unauthorised access |
Answers are held in Moodle throughout |
|
9.3, 9.4 |
Common user areas cleared of work saved during the exam |
Candidates cannot save to the disk or to removable media during the exam, so nothing is left behind |
The evidence an exam produces
Every attempt leaves an integrity report, held in Moodle against that attempt. It is what turns a question about an exam into something answerable from record rather than memory.
A report carries:
- when the exam started and ended, why it ended, and which version of eSAM ran it
- the pre-flight results what the PC was found to be before the candidate began
- every alert raised, in order, with its severity, how many times it recurred, whether an invigilator acknowledged or dismissed it, and any note they left
- the restrictions actually in force, and the apps and documents that exam allowed
- whether the evidence is under a legal hold
Screenshots are taken roughly every thirty seconds and held alongside it. A separate audit trail records what staff did who paused whom, who granted extra time, who allowed an app.
This supports an awarding organisation's own obligations to prevent and investigate malpractice under Ofqual Conditions A8.1 and A8.2, and to satisfy itself that candidates worked under the required conditions (Condition G8).
One thing to say to anyone who will read these reports: a report is evidence, not a verdict. A focus alert can be a notification, a dropped connection or an allowed calculator. Read the screenshots around the moment before drawing a conclusion.
What stays with the centre
These are the Appendix 1 requirements no lockdown software can meet, whoever makes it. They are listed here so nobody discovers them during a visit.
|
Clause |
Requirement |
Why it stays with you |
|---|---|---|
|
2.5 |
The invigilator checks the identity of each candidate |
eSAM authenticates a Moodle account. It cannot tell who is at the keyboard |
|
5.7 |
A visible clock, centre number, start and finish times displayed |
The quiz timer runs on screen; the room's own display is yours |
|
6.1, 6.2 |
An appropriate assessment environment, and health and safety |
Physical |
|
6.3–6.6 |
Workstations arranged so unauthorised activity is detectable, with 1.25 m between screens or dividers or privacy screens |
Physical |
|
6.7, 6.8 |
Candidates seated in candidate number order and not moving seats |
Physical |
|
7.1 |
At least one invigilator per twenty candidates |
eSAM gives an invigilator more reach. It does not replace one |
|
7.3 |
Candidates not in possession of phones, watches, earbuds or other smart devices |
eSAM sees the PC. It cannot see the desk |
|
7.5 |
A signed record of the seating plan |
Yours |
|
8.1 |
Candidates closely supervised during an evacuation |
Physical |
|
9.7 |
Checking assessments have been uploaded to the awarding body, where required |
Between you and the awarding body |
Two more that are yours rather than ours:
Centre approval. Centres must be authorised by the awarding body to offer on-screen tests (Appendix 1, section 1). eSAM does not confer that, and it should be in place before eSAM is used for a regulated assessment.
Deciding the restrictions. eSAM gives a tutor fine control over what an exam allows. Whether a given setting meets a given qualification's rules is a judgement for the centre and the awarding body — including which apps are allowed, and whether the candidates could see one another's screens.
Where candidate information is held
eSAM is self-hosted. Screenshots, events and reports stay on the server the college or EssingtonITS runs. Nothing is sent to a third-party proctoring service, and no candidate data leaves the network the server sits on. For a college weighing up on-screen invigilation, that is usually the deciding difference.
Each Moodle site is kept separate on the server its own keys, its own storage, its own retention period, invisible to every other site.
What is recorded: screenshots of the exam screen, which window was in front, events such as a blocked program or a dropped connection, messages between candidate and invigilator, and — where Teams invigilation is used whether Teams, camera and microphone were running. eSAM does not turn on a camera or microphone itself.
Retention is set per site and defaults to 90 days after the exam closes, after which screenshots, events, alerts and messages are deleted. Evidence under a legal hold is kept until the hold is released. Check the default against what your awarding body requires, and change it if it is shorter.
Candidates are told. A privacy notice is shown before every exam begins; the wording is the centre's to set. Candidates can ask what is held about them, and the centre can produce a full export or carry out a deletion request a request that meets evidence under legal hold will say so rather than silently skipping it.
The centre remains the data controller, and the data protection impact assessment is the centre's to make.
What we do not claim
Being straight about this is what makes the rest of the document worth reading.
eSAM is not approved or certified by JCQ or Ofqual. Neither body certifies lockdown software. Ofqual regulates awarding organisations; JCQ publishes the instructions a centre follows. Whether eSAM is acceptable for a particular qualification is the awarding body's decision, and a centre should confirm it before relying on eSAM for a regulated assessment.
eSAM controls the PC, not the room. It cannot see a phone on the desk, a person out of shot or a second device. Remote and unsupervised exams still need a human watching.
It is not a remote proctoring service. There is no camera capture, no room scan and no record-and-review. Where a qualification requires those, an awarding body's own remote invigilation service is the right tool. eSAM supports Teams invigilation alongside the locked exam, which is a different thing.
It runs on Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit, only. No macOS, iPad or Chromebook. That needs settling with candidates well before exam day.
Several awarding bodies deliver on-screen assessment on their own platform, with their own secure client. Where that applies, eSAM is not in the path. eSAM is for assessment delivered through the centre's own Moodle.
Sources
- JCQ, Instructions for conducting examinations, 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2026, Appendix 1
- Ofqual Handbook: General Conditions of Recognition
Appendix 1 takes account of BS ISO/IEC 23988:2007, the code of practice for using information technology to deliver assessments; the BS17 references above are to that standard.
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