I Just Took a Proctored Exam in my PJs

This morning, I took and passed a 1-hour proctored exam for the ITIL Foundation certification while sitting in my Pajamas at home.

The proctor was in Greece, and she was watching me through my webcam.

She was also checking my every move using remote monitoring software to make sure I didn’t cheat while I was in my home office in Boston.

As a matter of fact, I bought the ITIL book, attended a live course, interacted with the instructor, reviewed the materials and did the test without stepping a single step outside of my house.

Here’s how it happened

Step 1: Bought the book online

I bought the book from the same place I’ve been all buying books in the past few years: Amazon.com.

In the Amazon search bar, I searched for the ITIL keyword and looked at the different book options that popped up. I read a bunch of reviews, picked one that people said great things about, used the one-click buy button, and the book showed up 2 days later at my doorstep (I use Amazon Prime).

Yes, I know Amazon has been around since the 90s, so this is not earth-shattering technology, but five years ago, I would have bought the book by walking up to a Barnes & Noble bookstore, and picking one that I liked the most.

The biggest advantage of Amazon isn’t that it saves a ton of time (and money) from a trip to a bookstore, but it’s the fact that it gives me access to over 70 honest reviews that tell me what people  really think of the book. Convenience plus advantage.

Step 2: Registered for a $1000 course

I then registered for a $1,000 4-day ITIL course online through the Cisco learning portal.

Cisco, the company I work for, constantly invests in its employees, so it paid for the course (another reason why I love working there). However, because the course was quite expensive, I needed manager approval, so my request had to go through an approval chain to get sign offs from different individual across the US (none of them live in Boston).

The entire process was 100% electronic. No papers, no faxes, no physical signatures. Just a few clicks by management and I was approved to take the course within a few hours. Beautiful.

Step 3: Attended the live course online

The course was given by an IT training company called Pink Elephant, and it was delivered over a 4 day period while I was sitting at home.

The instructor was sitting in his own home office in Canada, and the rest of us (around 15 in total) were scattered all around the world.

The instructor was great – he distributed the material ahead of time (in downloadable pdfs), went through the lecture slides at a great pace, and made sure he kept us all engaged. He also gave us sufficient time off for coffee breaks and lunch.

He relied on Cisco WebEx Training Center, which allows you interact with the presenter and classmates as if you were sitting in class with them. You can raise your hand to ask a question, un-mute the mic to talk, or type a comment in the chat box where everyone can see your feedback. You can even turn on video cameras if you want (we didn’t use that feature though).

Here’s a screenshot of what Cisco WebEx Training Center looks like:

It genuinely felt as if I was in a real classroom.

You might ask: Was it boring sitting in front of the screen for 8 hours a day, 4 days in a row studying IT stuff? Definitely.

Would I have preferred a classroom experience in a physical office instead? Not really.

That’s because during those 4 days, we got hit with a snowstorm, and I wouldn’t have enjoyed shoveling snow and getting stuck in traffic to get to an office.

Step 4: Took the exam at home

This was the best part.

I’ve done all of the above several times before, but this was my first time I took a proctored test while sitting at home.

A company called PeopleCert conducted the test. I had to pre-register with them,  and pick a time and date that was most convenient for me through their online scheduling system. I chose Saturday morning at 7:45am (today).

I woke up at 7:00am, made a fresh cup of coffee, and then downloaded a software package called ExamShield, which is a remote monitoring application that I had to install.

Before the test, I had to make sure that:

• My desk was clear of any books or notes
• I had a webcam that rotated 360 degrees
• My phones were deactivated
• I had an ID with me (passport or driving license)

At 7:30am, I logged into ExamShield using my username and password. Almost immediately, every open application on my PC (Chrome Browser, MS Word, Outlook) got shut down, and all I could see was the ExamShield window.

This was to ensure that I couldn’t open any other notes or files on my PC while taking the exam.

A few seconds later, the proctor, a nice lady with a Greek accent, said hello and gave me a quick overview of the process.

She then asked me to turn on my webcam (I couldn’t see her, she only could see me), and to hold up my ID close to the camera so she could take a picture of it. I also had to verify all the information I had previously provided to PeopleCert.

She then asked me to rotate the camera 360 degrees around the room so she could see if there was anyone else was in the office with me. After that, I had to show her a close up of my desk area to make sure that there weren’t any notes or other computers close by.

This is part of what she saw:

She noticed my phone was a little too close to me, and asked me to move it away.

I then had to share my screen with her, which meant that she could see everything that I was doing while taking my test, while still seeing me physically through my webcam.

She then asked me to start the test, and to make sure I didn’t read the questions out loud (apparently so that any hidden listening devices couldn’t pick up the test questions).

The test process went really well. There was a minor glitch during the exam (my firewall mistakenly thought the software was trying to mess up with my PC, so it temporarily shut it down), but it was sorted out fairly quickly. The proctor was nice enough to pause the test so I didn’t lose any of my actual exam time while I worked on the issue.

I got done with the exam in under an hour, submitted my answers, and got the results that I passed with an 88% score (yay). I did a little victory dance before thanking the proctor and closing out the software.

That was it.

Now think back with me for a second here. For a highly reputable ITIL certification, I bought the book, registered for the course, attended it, studied the material, and passed an exam. All. From. Home.

I don’t know about you, but to me, this is really cool.

– Hassan

P.S. I recently published a new YouTube video where I talk about the Future of Work, and I discuss the ITIL certification process there as well.