Overview
HackerRank for Work allows Recruiters or Hiring Managers to monitor candidates' focus on the Test screen during a Test attempt. This is referred to as Proctoring. Through proctoring, recruiters can assess a Candidates' authenticity and note any suspicious activities or malpractices during the test.
Before a Candidate takes the Test, Proctoring prompts the Candidate to enable the webcam. With the Candidate's consent, periodic images of a Candidate are captured till the test ends.
Recruiters in HackerRank who review Candidates' Test performance can also view the recorded snapshots of their activities during the test and note any forbidden activities.
Note: To avail the Proctoring ability for your HackerRank Tests, contact HackerRank Support.
Enable Proctoring for HackerRank Tests
Before sending the Tes invite, you can enable Proctoring for a HackerRank Test. After the Candidate completes the Test, you can view the recorded snapshots of the Candidate's activities in the Proctor tab of the Candidate's Summary page.
This section guides you on how to enable Proctoring for a Test in HackerRank and the Candidate experience when Proctoring is enabled.
Prerequisites
You must have the Test Proctoring ability on your HackerRank for Work account.
Note: The Proctoring settings were earlier present in the Test Access tab.
Perform the following steps to enable the Proctoring feature:
- Log in to HackerRank for Work and click the Tests tab.
- Select the test for which you want to enable proctoring.
- Ensure you have added the required Questions, made necessary settings, and published the test.
- Go to the Settings tab of the Test and click Test Integrity from the panel on the left.
5. HackerRank offers these types of Proctoring:
The Candidate's consent is taken before starting a Test for all these types of Proctoring.
The Candidate's consent will be taken to turn on their webcam to enable the Proctoring. Once taking consent from the candidate is done, Proctoring feature will automatically enable their webcam and record periodic snapshots of a Candidate until the test ends.
Copy/Paste Tracking
The Copy/Paste tracking in the Proctoring settings is enabled by default for all the tests.
If a Candidate pastes a copied code in the assessment, you can view that pasted code in the Candidate's test report. Also, if the Candidate tries to paste the code from other sources, it will be captured in HackerRank's plagiarism model. The Candidates can also be notified of their copy-paste activity through a caution popup.
However, we do not recommend showing this caution within the product because it might alert candidates and may lead to resorting to other means of cheating (apart from copy-pasting). Thus, we have switched the prompt setting off by default under the settings. There are three possibilities for using these settings:
- Use the default settings: You want to capture the copy-paste activity of candidates as part of the plagiarism model.
- Disable the copy-paste toggle: You do not want to capture the copy-paste activity of a candidate, or you are fine with the candidate's copy-paste activity.
- Enable the prompt toggle: You want the copy-paste activity to be captured as part of the plagiarism model, and you also want to show the prompt to the candidates within the test.
The Copy-Paste Frequency column in the CSV report helps you to track the number of times a Candidate tries to copy-paste a piece of code.
Tab Proctoring
The Tab Proctoring option in the Proctoring settings is disabled by default for all the tests.
Candidate Experience
When you enable the Tab Proctoring option, you can monitor if the candidate switches between the tabs during a test. This prevents the Candidates from trying any malpractice while taking the test. When a candidate tries to open another tab in their browser during the test, a warning message is displayed on their screen that the test is being proctored. It will be reported to the interviewer if they still try to move between tabs.
If a candidate toggles between the tabs, the summary report will display this. For example, the image describes a Candidate's attempt to toggle between tabs.
In the CSV report, you can review the Out of window duration and Number of window exits columns to get more information on the tab switch activity of candidates.
View Proctoring Details in the Candidate's Report
- Open a Test and click on the Candidate's name.
- Click the Timeline tab.
- Click Show complete event list below the timeline chart.
- This will open a complete report of the candidate's activities during the test. In this report, you can check if the candidate has pasted any code or switched between the tabs during the test.
Photo Identification
The Photo Identification in the Proctoring settings is disabled by default for all the tests.
Candidate Experience
Enabling Photo Identification helps you to assess if the same candidate is taking the test. When you enable this option, the system automatically takes the Candidate's photo before starting the test. The Candidate will be notified with a prompt message to allow webcam access.
Note: Candidates can take Proctored Tests only using Chrome or Firefox browsers.
When Candidates enable to access the webcam, they can log in to the test.
The Photo Identification feature captures an image of the candidate but does not flag Candidates based on this image; the identity verification has to be done manually.
The Candidate is navigated to the confirmation form for providing their details and agreeing to the norms. When the Candidate clicks Agree & Start, they are again prompted to take a picture to verify their identity.
After the Candidate takes a picture, they can submit and start the test or can re-take the picture.
Note: You cannot enable the Photo ID and Image Proctoring options at the same time. You can select either of them at a given time.
Image Proctoring
The Image proctoring feature records the images of the candidates and displays them on the Candidate's report.
By default, the Image Proctoring option is disabled. When you enable the feature on the Test Settings tab, the Candidate's images are captured to detect suspicious activity.
You can also capture images to detect if Candidates are involving multiple people (Multiple faces and Secondary faces detection) for Tests or if they are cheating without having the appropriate conditions (No faces) for a Test. The Image Analysis feature helps you to detect this. For more information, see Detect Suspicious Activity Using Image Analysis.
Candidate Experience
Before taking the Test, the Candidate is notified about the Image Proctoring and to enable webcam access.
When the Candidate enables webcam access, a message is displayed to the Candidate for a better experience of Image proctoring.
When the Candidate clicks Continue, the Candidate's images are captured as periodic snapshots at one-minute intervals for the complete test duration or until the candidate submits the test.
The Image Proctoring feature captures images of the candidate but does not flag Candidates based on these images. The identity verification has to be done manually.
Note: You cannot enable the Photo ID and Image Proctoring options at the same time. You can select either of them at a given time.
Checking the Image Proctoring Results
- Log in to your HackerRank for Work account and open a Test.
- Click on the Candidate's name to open the Candidate Summary report.
- Click the Proctor tab.
Note: The PROCTOR tab is available under the Candidates Summary page only if Proctoring is enabled for a Test.
Snapshot was taken before the test for Photo Identification.
Snapshots are taken in the one-minute interval during the test for Proctoring.
You can use the scroll bar in the Proctor tab to scroll through all the snapshots and note any suspicious activities or malpractices by the candidate. Malpractice such as if the Candidate has moved away from the Test or someone else is taking the Test, and so on.
Tip: In your Test email invite, you may indicate the purpose of Proctoring in the Test and add a recommendation for your Candidates to use Firefox or Chrome browsers for a good Test experience.