Are you Looking for free tools and software for organizing online exams and quizzes? In this guide we are going to share a number of free and open source tools that you can use in your school, college or university for holding safe and secure exam.
The world has changed after the pandemic. Therefore, colleges and universities are more inclined on switching to the online mode of education. It is also being considered that most universities might even be permanently converted to online universities.
Above all, Secondary and Higher education departments have started to think about the possibilities of holding secure online exams, assessments and quizzes.
Is is possible to Secure online Examination System?
Yes, absolutely. Fortunately, many organizations have been working on this task for quite some time. There are a good number of online exam software solutions available that you can install in your institution easily. There are usually two types of software systems available:
- Online Exam and Assessment services (Hosted by 3rd parties)
- Assessment software for Offline Deployment (Self-hosted)
Online software that are hosted by different companies are a good option for institutions that do not have suitably skilled IT workforce. However, such solutions usually charge fees for providing online services and it may consume a significant portion of the budget.
Offline exam solutions are more suitable if you do not want to pay heavy fees. These are idea if you have skilled IT staff who can deploy and manage the software within the college / university premises.
Good news is, there are some non-profit organizations who develop such software that you can use and deploy freely. Those are the software that we want to share with you in this guide.
List of Free and Open source Exam Management Software
Here are some of the most trusted and recognized free and open source software that you can use for holding secure examinations and assessments:
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TCExam
TCExam is an open source system for Computer based Assessments (CBT). It has been developed by a non-profit organization to provide an efficient self-hosted exam solution for institutions.
The software is web based, developed in PHP programming language. To deploy this software, you need to have suitable IT and Web skills. However, if you don’t have the skills yourself, you can recommend it to your institution’s IT team.
TCExam automates all phases of exams and assessments: Authorization, Scheduling, Delivery and Reporting. The software itself is very light-weight and can run on any Computer machine with decent specifications.
Documentation and Tutorials can be viewed HERE.
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VirtualX
VirtualX is a fully automated exam management system which is completely open source and free to use. It is under the LGPL license category. With this tool, you can easily conduct online examinations with few clicks. VirtualX supports five types of feedback and reporting mechanisms.
The software support 12 types of questions. These include Multiple choice, Fill ups, True or False, Drag and Drop, Image based questions, Matching, Ordering, Descriptive and a couple of others.
It automatically generates graphical reports for detailed analysis.
Demo can be viewed HERE.
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TaoTesting
TaoTesting is a very popular online exam platform that allows you to host and manage exams, quizzes and tests with an extremely user-friendly interface.
They are a paid service. However, they also offer a free open source version of their software for everyone. The best thing about TaoTesting is the ease of installation and use. They provide a Windows based installer that automatically installs the web server and CMS for you. All you need to do is create accounts and manage exams.
You can browse the list of features HERE.
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SavSoft Quiz
SavSoft quiz is an online Enterprise quiz and exam management system. With this software, you can create and manage quizzes, tests and exams with an easy intuitive interface. It has the following features:
– Create users and manage them with groups
– Support for 5 types of questions
– Create Question banks and manage them under categories and levels
– Create unlimited exams with different parameters
– Detailed reporting including Obtained score, Percentage, Percentile and ChartsThe software is built with PHP programming language. You can deploy it on any operating system including Windows and Linux.
Download the Free version HERE
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Numbas
Numbas is a free and open source e-assessment tool developed by Newcastle university. It;s primary purpose to create and manage Maths exams but can be useful for other subjects as well.
The best thing about Numbas is it allows you to customize the interface however you want. You can change the theme and add videos, images and audio to your tests.
The software works both online and offline. In addition, you can integrate your tests with e-learning systems including Moodle and Blackboard.
View the Demo HERE
View the detailed Guide HERE
In conclusion, you can use these free software and tools to securely create and manage examinations. They give you the flexibility to hold tests and exams online without having students to come to the campus.
What about PaperShala.
PaperShala also offer free exams with premium features.
You could add QST (Quiz/Survey/Test) to this open source group also.
It is available from sourceforge.net and has all the features plus more of those listed.
Free and open source are not the same thing and it is misleading to list them together.
SavSoft, Tao and VirtualX open source versions are crippled versions of their commercial product. You will not find them very useful, as they are not intended to be full featured, but only to drive people to their commercial products (all have not added any new features in years). TCExam has not been updated nor added new features in many years also (as evidenced by it’s look).
With Numbas, the answers to the question can be seen by viewing the source code for the page in your browser.
I have downloaded and installed all the ones listed and will save you the time by saying they are not worth the effort.
Unfortunately these reviewers do not take the time to do the same and just mirror what is said on the websites.
The Free ones are also feature limited to the extent they are not useful and only are offered to attract you to their paying services.
Open source quiz/exam software is all like this with the exception of QST (noted by another person above), which appears to be the only one which is actively being developed and rivals the commercial offerings of the others above.
You will not see it shown on any list of open source quiz/exam software and i do not know why not?