International Test Commission

International Guidelines on Computer-Based and Internet Delivered Testing

Detail the level of control over the test conditions

Document the hardware, software, and procedural requirements for administration of a CBT/Internet test.
Provide a description of the test-taking conditions required for appropriate CBT/Internet test administration.
Design the CBT/Internet test to be compatible with country-specific health and safety, legal, and union regulations and rules (e.g., time on task).

Detail the appropriate control over the supervision of the testing

Document the level of supervision required for the CBT/Internet test.
- Open mode – No direct human supervision required
- Controlled mode – Although direct human supervision is required, the test is made available only to known test-takers
- Supervised mode – Test users are required to log on a candidate and confirm that the testing was administered and completed correctly
- Managed mode – A high level of human supervision and control over test-taking conditions is required (as in a dedicated test centre)
Provide documentation for the testing scenarios for which the CBT/Internet test has been designed.

Give due consideration to controlling prior practice and item exposure

For high-stakes Internet-based tests, use software that tries to equate item exposure rates for items drawn from item banks.
Limit pilot testing of items on live tests, to minimize unnecessary exposure.
Make sure item banks are sufficiently large to permit making multiple parallel forms secure and to manage item exposure rates in adaptive testing.
When parallel forms of a test are created, undertake appropriate psychometric analysis to document their equivalence.
Contemplate delivery strategies that deter memorization of test content (e.g. by generation of unique tests for each candidate from item banks; or by use of computer adaptive testing.).
Control exposure of fixed forms in geographies where cheating is more prevalent by restricted administration to supervised or managed modes.

Give consideration to control over test-taker’s authenticity and cheating

Design features within the system (e.g., the facility for passwords and username access) that enables test publishers/users to have a level of control over access to various parts of the assessment system.