Online or face-to-face exam? - The pros and cons

You are now spoilt for choice - online or in paper form? Let us help you make that decision!

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At the beginning of 2022, PeopleCert had announced that in future exams would only be offered as an “online exam”. A few months later, this decision was revised: since January 2023, the customer has had the choice. You can now:

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either: Take the “paper” exam at the end of the training, i.e., in the case of a face-to-face course, the lecturer will hand out the examination documents to you at the end of the course. In the presence of the examination supervisor (usually the course lecturer), you have a fixed amount of time (usually 60 or 90 minutes, depending on the type of examination) to write the exam. You then hand in the examination documents. The audit inspector can give you an initial assessment of whether you have passed; PeopleCert will usually give you the official result within 48 hours.
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or: Take the exam online on your computer at an appointment of your choice. After we have signed you up for the online exam with PeopleCert, you can log in to PeopleCert and book an exam date of your choice. You need a computer with a camera and a stable Internet connection and the ability/permission to install the “ExamShield” software on this computer. ExamShield is available in the Microsoft Store, meaning it has successfully completed Microsoft's strict app certification process and can be easily installed on most corporate computers thanks to its availability in the Microsoft Store. An examination supervisor will accompany you during the exam via webcam and loudspeaker. Please note that the examination must be taken within one year of the voucher purchase. Further details about the online exam can be found here:
For Windows: OLP Guidelines | PeopleCert
For Mac: OLP Guidelines | PeopleCert

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Advantages and disadvantages of the individual examination formats:

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Benefits of the online exam:

great flexibility: When and where you take the exam is entirely up to you. The exam can usually be taken within a few hours of booking and is easy to postpone should your plans change. The exam vouchers are valid for 1 year — enough time to find a suitable date.
Safe and reliable: PeopleCert's expertly trained online supervisors use patented, cutting-edge software (ExamShield) to guide you through the audit process.
You can deepen/rework the material from the seminar afterwards and then decide individually when you feel ready for the exam.

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Disadvantages of the online exam:

Software must be installed (the so-called “Exam Shield”), this may cause problems. In some organizations, for example, the IT policy is very strict and installation is impossible or only difficult.
Depending on the character/external circumstances/workload in the job, it happens time and again that taking the exam is postponed - so that a lot of time has elapsed between training and examination at the end. This is not ideal from a pedagogical point of view, as the teaching content then has to be repeated in a time-consuming manner. It should also be noted that the examination voucher expires 1 year after purchase if the examination has not been passed by then.

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Benefits of paper-based testing:

The exam is taken immediately after the course - the knowledge is still fresh “in the head”, time-consuming repetitions at a later stage are omitted and “everything is done” right after the course.
You don't have to worry about technical issues such as software installation, webcam compatibility, etc.

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Disadvantages of paper-based testing:

Between course and exam, there is no time to review the seminar content again. Some candidates find this unfavorable, but in our experience, the exam results are no better if the participants repeat the content again after the seminar.

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A note: If you have purchased the “Take2" exam insurance, please note that any repeat examination always takes place online, regardless of whether the first examination was an online or face-to-face examination.

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