NOTE
OpenEDG exams available via TestNow™ are administered worldwide in proctored and non-proctored formats. Before taking an exam, please read these Testing Policies and consult the applicable Exam Information to determine which delivery mode applies to your exam and to ensure that you comply with the Code of Conduct and the technical requirements.
Certain examinations may include speaking or writing sections that are graded using artificial intelligence. Where AI grading applies, candidates will be informed before beginning the examination. Please see Automated AI Grading of Speaking and Writing below.
OpenEDG exams may be administered worldwide in proctored or non-proctored formats through TestNow™, the OpenEDG Online Proctoring Service, the network of OpenEDG Testing Service Partners, or approved third-party testing providers. The applicable delivery mode and testing requirements depend on the examination and are specified in the relevant Exam Information.
The OpenEDG Online Proctoring Service is the default global proctored exam format offered to test candidates through TestNow™, an online exam delivery service owned, operated, and managed by the Open Education and Development Group. Certain examinations may also be delivered through approved third-party testing providers, including Pearson VUE or OnVUE Online Proctoring, where specified for the applicable examination.
The OpenEDG Testing Service Partner delivery mode is available to schools, colleges, universities, and certain organizations and institutions participating in OpenEDG partner programs. Due to specific test-delivery requirements that particular educational entities and organizations may be required to follow, OpenEDG may provide customized proctored exam instances and tailored exam-delivery solutions designed to comply with the policies and regulations applicable to those entities.
OpenEDG Online Testing Service:
OpenEDG Testing Service Partners:
Test Candidates must read and accept the applicable Non-Disclosure Agreement before taking an examination. Test Candidates agree to treat examination materials as confidential, not to copy, record, reproduce, disclose, or retain examination content, including exam questions and answers, and to comply with these Testing Policies throughout and after the exam session.
Refusal to accept the Non-Disclosure Agreement may result in termination or cancellation of the exam session. Where an examination voucher has already been redeemed or an examination has been launched, the voucher may be considered used and the examination fee may be forfeited, subject to applicable law and the terms governing the examination.
If you wish to reschedule a scheduled proctored exam, you must contact the applicable OpenEDG Testing Service Provider or testing facility not less than 24 hours before your exam appointment, unless different rescheduling conditions are specified for the applicable examination.
Non-proctored exams do not normally need to be rescheduled. If your exam voucher has not expired and its applicable conditions permit later use, you may take the exam at a later time. Please check the validity and status of your voucher before attempting to launch the examination.
OpenEDG will endeavor to provide reasonable examination accommodations where required and appropriate. Candidates must submit accommodation requests before taking the examination and should allow sufficient time for the request to be reviewed. All special examination conditions must be approved before the applicable exam appointment or exam attempt.
Available accommodations may include:
Contrast adjustment and font-size adjustment features may be available by default. No automatic time extension is provided solely because a candidate resides in a country where English is not the primary language or because the candidate's first language is not English.
Candidates who use assistive technology or whose accommodation may affect a speaking, writing, recording, transcription, or other AI-graded component should request the accommodation before taking the examination so that appropriate assessment arrangements can be considered.
To request special examination conditions, please contact OpenEDG Customer Service.
When a candidate fails an exam, they must normally wait 7 days before being permitted to retake the same examination. A new voucher may be required to launch a retake session. Unless different rules are specified for a particular examination, there is no limit to the number of retakes of a failed exam.
To submit a request regarding an exam retake voucher, please contact OpenEDG Customer Service.
Test Candidates should take exams in a quiet, well-lit environment that is free from unnecessary noise, interruptions, and distractions and that satisfies any additional requirements specified for the applicable examination or delivery mode.
The following Code of Honor and rules for taking the exam must be respected throughout and after the exam session:
The Test Candidate declares that they will not participate in any cheating incident, security breach, or other behavior that may compromise the integrity or confidentiality of the examination. Prohibited behaviors include, but are not limited to:
Certain OpenEDG examinations use artificial intelligence systems to grade speaking and writing responses. Where automated AI grading applies to an examination, candidates will be informed before beginning the applicable examination or assessment.
For a speaking response, the AI grading system may process the candidate's audio recording, generate a transcript, analyse relevant characteristics of the response, and evaluate the response against the applicable assessment rubric. Depending on the examination, rubric-related criteria may include task completion, intelligibility, pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, grammar, language use, and organization.
For a writing response, the AI grading system may analyse the submitted text against the applicable assessment rubric. Depending on the examination, relevant criteria may include task completion, relevance, organization, vocabulary, grammar, language accuracy, and other rubric-defined characteristics.
The AI grading system normally determines the candidate's score for these sections without an individual human assessor reviewing the response before the score is issued. An automated score may contribute to the candidate's component score, overall examination score, proficiency level, pass or fail result, and eligibility to receive a certificate or digital credential.
The AI grading system analyses the candidate's response using assessment criteria associated with the relevant examination and assessment rubric. The system combines relevant assessment indicators to determine component scores and an overall score for the response.
OpenEDG may use confidence thresholds, consistency checks, technical-quality indicators, and other assessment-quality rules to determine whether a response should be referred for additional review. The precise factors, models, thresholds, and weighting used may vary according to the examination version and applicable assessment rubric. OpenEDG does not disclose technical or assessment information where doing so could compromise examination security or facilitate manipulation of the grading process.
An automatically graded response may be referred to a trained human assessor when the AI grading system or OpenEDG's assessment procedures identify circumstances requiring additional review. These may include:
OpenEDG may also select responses for human review as part of quality assurance, system validation, accuracy monitoring, fairness monitoring, or examination-security procedures.
When a response is referred for human review, an authorized assessor will evaluate the candidate's original response against the applicable assessment rubric. The assessor may confirm, increase, or decrease the AI-generated score.
A candidate may request a human rescore of an AI-graded speaking or writing response within 14 calendar days after the applicable examination results are released.
During a human rescore, an authorized assessor will review the candidate's original response against the applicable assessment rubric. The assessor conducts an independent assessment and is not required to accept the AI-generated score. As a result, the assessor may increase, decrease, or confirm the original score.
The candidate may submit information relevant to the review, including details of a technical issue, an approved accommodation, or another circumstance that may have affected the response or automated assessment. Information submitted by the candidate does not replace the applicable assessment rubric and will be considered only to the extent relevant to the review.
Human rescore requests must be submitted to OpenEDG Customer Service at services@openedg.org. Any applicable rescore fee will be disclosed to the candidate before the request is confirmed. OpenEDG will normally communicate the result of a human rescore within approximately 10 business days after receiving a complete request and any applicable payment.
More time may be required where the review involves a technical investigation, accommodation issue, suspected examination irregularity, or other circumstance requiring additional investigation. Unless otherwise required by applicable law or the rules governing the applicable certification program, the result of the human rescore is final.
The AI grading system is intended to evaluate examination performance against the assessment criteria defined in the applicable examination rubric. It is not intended to determine or infer a candidate's emotions, personality, ethnicity, nationality, disability, health status, political views, religious beliefs, or suitability for employment.
OpenEDG does not intend automated speaking or writing assessment to be used as a general evaluation of a candidate's personal characteristics. Scores represent performance on the applicable examination tasks under the conditions and assessment criteria defined for that examination.
Candidates who use assistive technology or require an accommodation that could affect an AI-graded component should follow the accommodation-request procedure before taking the examination.
Where automated grading is used, OpenEDG may process information necessary to deliver, grade, validate, and review the examination. Depending on the examination, this information may include audio recordings of speaking responses, written responses, transcripts generated from audio, examination questions and assessment rubrics, response identifiers and submission metadata, rubric-related assessment indicators, automated scores and component scores, confidence indicators, system-review flags, technical-quality indicators, and records associated with human reviews or score changes.
OpenEDG may use contracted AI, transcription, cloud-hosting, and assessment-technology providers acting on OpenEDG's behalf to process examination responses. Such providers are required to process candidate information only for authorized purposes and in accordance with applicable contractual, confidentiality, security, retention, and data-protection requirements.
OpenEDG does not authorize its contracted providers to sell identifiable candidate information or to use identifiable examination responses to train unrelated general-purpose or publicly available AI models for their own purposes.
Speaking recordings and written responses used for automated assessment will normally be retained for 24 months following the examination or, where applicable, the completion of any related rescore, appeal, investigation, or legal claim, whichever occurs later.
Automated transcripts, component scores, confidence information, review flags, technical-quality information, and related assessment records will normally be retained for 24 months. Information may be retained for a longer period where reasonably necessary to resolve an active review, investigation, dispute, legal claim, accreditation requirement, or examination-security matter.
Final examination scores, certificates, credentials, and essential examination records may be retained for longer periods where necessary to verify credentials, prevent fraud, satisfy accreditation or regulatory requirements, maintain examination records, or respond to candidate requests. Personal information will be deleted, anonymized, or otherwise handled in accordance with OpenEDG's applicable Privacy Policy and legal obligations when it is no longer required.
OpenEDG conducts monitoring intended to evaluate the accuracy, consistency, reliability, and fairness of automated grading systems. Depending on the assessment and available information, these activities may include:
Additional information about automated decision-making, personal-data processing, service providers, international transfers, retention, and candidates' applicable data-protection rights is provided in the OpenEDG Privacy Policy.
Test Candidates found to have violated the Testing Policies may be subject to penalties. Depending on the nature and severity of the violation, these may include: