Exam day guide

We appreciate that exam days can feel very stressful, especially when everything is new to you. To help you prepare, we have collated this simple guide which takes you through the exam day, step by step.

1: Before your exam

Choosing your exam environment

A key benefit of online exams is that you can choose where to sit your exam, giving you more control over your environment.

Remember:

  • You must be alone for the entire exam
  • Sit the exam at home or in your office
  • Prepare a backup option if you choose to sit in your office*

*Where there is risk of local restrictions changing your plans at short notice, such as sitting the exam in your office, you should prepare an alternative location you can use and test Exam4 thoroughly before your exam day.

Software updates

You should:

  • Prompt general software updates to run before your exam starts (this can take some time)
  • Turn off any automatic updates for the duration of your exam.

Launch Exam4

You should launch Exam4 before your exam start time, so that you are ready to set up your exam, complete the ID verification (see below) and open your question paper to begin your exam.

Follow steps one to six in the Starting Exam4 guide or watch the Starting Exam4 video.

2: ID verification on the day of your exam

Before you open your question paper, there is a quick and easy ID capture process for you to complete using the webcam on your device.

Watch the Capturing your ID video which takes you through the process.

Remember:

You should start your exam on time, even if you cannot complete this process for any reason. For further guidance, email [email protected] after the exam ends.

3: Sitting your exam

Starting your exam

You can begin your exam and open your question paper at your exam start time.

Follow step 7 in the Starting Exam4 guide or watch the Opening your exam paper video.

Remember:

There is no separate reading time, so you can start typing your answers straight away. However, we do recommend that you set aside some time to thoroughly read each question and plan each of your answers.

Exam timings

You must start your exam within the 15 minute exam start window. Your exam time begins when you open your question paper.  

You will be managing your own exam timing so you must end your exam no later than 3 hours and 15 minutes after you begin. Aim to finish typing when you have 2 minutes left.

Remember, the exam will not end automatically. You are responsible for ending it at the correct time.

Using an alarm clock or watch

Why not set personal alarms on an alarm clock or watch to help manage your timekeeping?

Ending your exam

You must submit your completed answers at the time provided.

Follow the steps in our Ending your exam guide, or watch the Ending your exam video and Submitting your exam video for a quick demonstration of how to end your exam and submit your answers.

Confirmation number

Make a note of your 4-digit confirmation number in your candidate checklist. This number is on the right hand side of the screen after you end your exam.

After your exam

We will complete a thorough reconciliation process after each exam to check that we have received your submitted answers. We will contact any candidates we do not receive an answer submission from, providing you with information on what to do next.

We cannot individually confirm submissions. You can do this yourself by following three simple steps:

  1. Relaunch Exam4
  2. Click Select existing exam and choose the exam you want to check
  3. Click View Exam Submittal Request

​A box will appear with the message 'EXAM SUBMITTAL SUCCESSFUL' if your answers have been successfully submitted.

4: Exam rules

The ADIT exam rules have been updated for the June 2024 exams. It's important you read these and ensure that you understand your responsibilities for the exam.

The answers you submit must be your own work, and not the work of any other exam candidate or individual, or any AI tool, either via collusion, impersonation, plagiarism or the use of chatbots such as ChatGPT. Software is used to detect instances of collusion, plagiarism, the use of AI and other forms of misconduct in the exams.

The exams are closed-book, meaning you may only use the permitted books during the exam. You cannot refer to any books, study manuals, pre-prepared notes, online resources, or other unspecified materials.

5: Additional time and arrangements

If you have applied for additional time, or alternative arrangements, this will be communicated to you before your exam with the exact start and end time of your exam. You will not receive any time warnings, and it is your responsibility to know when your exam finishes and to end at the correct time. You can manage your timekeeping by setting personal alarms.

Special consideration

We have processes in place for you to request special consideration if you feel that your exam performance was affected by serious personal circumstances (such as illness or close bereavement). Requests must be made by email.

Please refer to the special consideration policy for more information.

6: Technical issues

While we do expect the software to work well for most candidates, sometimes technical issues do arise. We have prepared a troubleshooting guide for common technical issues, including what to do if you’re having difficulty submitting your exam.

7: Contacting us

We are not able to deal with any phone enquiries on the days of the ADIT exams (including voicemail messages). This is because we need to prioritise responding to exam-related emails and this takes all our resources. If it's the day of your exam (please make it clear in the subject line), your query will be answered as a high priority and as soon after receipt as possible. Our inbox is constantly monitored during the exams. If you need to contact us, email us at [email protected].