Table of contents
1. Introduction
On February 13, 2024, the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training (Udir) published a press release proposing measures to ensure a good implementation of written exams in spring 2024. The County Directors' College for Competence and Education (FKU) decided to set up a fast-working group to prepare a guide to ensure that county authorities have a common understanding of all national guidelines. The group has consisted of 30 people, two from each county council. The work has been organized with five sub-working groups and an editorial group and has been ongoing from 18 February to 8 March.
The guide applies to the implementation of written exams in spring 2024 for pupils, adult participants and private students. It is intended to be a framework for county authorities, public and private upper secondary schools, and it applies to exams held at schools and in rented premises.
In the guide, the working group has focused on responding to the issues discussed in - Udir's press release of February 13, 2024 - Further measures for follow-up of incidents during the 2023 spring exam - memo from Udir to FKU dated November 16, 2023
- supervision carried out by the state administrators with the county authorities in spring 2024
- evaluation / known errors from the 2023 exam
The guide uses the term school to refer to the practical exam organizer, i.e. public and private upper secondary schools and privatist offices/exam offices/privatist schools. The school owner role is referred to as the county authorities. The term candidate is used as a collective term for pupils, adult participants and private candidates. The term pupil is used as a collective term for pupils and adult participants.
The term "extended time" is only used for special arrangements. When it is a question of compensating for lost time due to a late exam start or other problems, the term extra time is used.
2. Roles and responsibilities
Written exams must be conducted in accordance with current regulations and guidelines. Udir has the overall responsibility, while the county authorities and schools are responsible for the practical implementation.
- overall guidelines for the exam
- exam plan for centrally administered exams
- that the exam administration systems work
- exam papers for centrally administered written exams
- technical and academic exam preparedness
- to process appeals against decisions on special accommodations, decisions on annulment due to cheating and decisions on expulsion from exams
- grading and appeal grading of centrally administered written exams
- ensuring that the school is aware of its responsibilities
- ensuring that private students receive information about the exam
- County examination network
- online resources, both national and local listings
- risk assessment of exam administration
- preparing a contingency plan for the exam and communicating it to schools
- recruiting examiners for written exams
- to make the decision to cancel the exam if it is not possible to complete it
- ensuring a good flow of information and that it is clear who is responsible for making decisions
- ensuring that students are registered for the right number of exams, in the right subjects and with the right target form in PAS
- practical implementation of the exam
- training and assigning responsibilities to invigilators and other exam staff
- information to students about how the exam is conducted and the rules that apply
- assessing risk and preparing action plans/measures to prevent unexpected incidents
- to make decisions on special accommodations
- documenting unexpected events
- to consider whether extra time should be given for unexpected events
3. Recruitment of examiners for written exams
All schools must propose enough examiners for centrally administered written exams. Schools must propose at least the number of examiners necessary to grade the school's own students.
Examiner training is mandatory for examiners for centrally administered written exams. The school must facilitate this.
To obtain enough examiners for centrally administered exams, the school, the county council and the state administrator must work together. Being an examiner for centrally administered exams is a skills enhancement for teachers.
4. Ensure that students are registered for the right number of exams
The school must ensure that students are withdrawn and registered for the correct number of exams in accordance with the withdrawal scheme. Students who do not have enough exams, or have exams in the wrong subjects, risk not receiving a diploma.
Visma InSchool (VIS) has good functionality for checking the subject composition of most students. At the same time, the school must be aware of student groups that the certificate check in VIS is unable to check. These pupils must be checked separately:
- YSK students
- students with secondary school
- students who have extended training time
- students attending integrated vocational courses
- students who have had interruptions in their education
- students who cross-train
5. Test exam
All upper secondary schools will conduct test exams in spring 2024. Schools can choose whether they want to conduct the test exam with students, their own staff, guards or a combination of these. Information about registration and conducting the test exam can be found on the Udir website.
The test exam is an opportunity for the school to familiarize itself with how the systems work. The test exam must be conducted in the same technical solution that will be used for the exam.
The school must have a system for registering errors discovered during the test exam and reporting these to the county municipality. The county municipality should provide schools with a checklist before the test exam.
After the test exam, the county authorities must correct local technical errors. The county municipality reports errors with online resources and implementation systems in this way: - errors in web resources on the national list - email to
- errors in online resources in the local list - contact the supplier - errors in the implementation systems - report to Udir via Pashjelp.
- Students gain experience of logging in, answering questions, saving locally, uploading answers and using headphones. Students should test that online resources and other aids they want to use in the exam work properly in the exam solution. It is particularly important that students familiarize themselves with how license-based digital learning materials work in the exam solution.
- Examination invigilators can take the exam as a candidate and gain experience with both the implementation systems and the candidate monitor.
- Examination officers get a real experience with the implementation systems and the candidate monitor. Examination officers should test online resources.
- ICT managers should test all local technical solutions, such as blocking candidates' access to the internet, scanning, use of different types of computers, browsers, etc. ICT managers should have specific responsibility for testing online resources during the test exam.
- Teachers gain experience of how the implementation systems work. They can try out different functionalities and will be better equipped to prepare their own students for the exam.
6. Cheating and attempted cheating
Cheating or attempted cheating means actions or circumstances that are not permitted and that aim to give the candidate an advantage in the exam. There is no distinction between attempted cheating and actual cheating. Having illegal aids available is an attempt to cheat because this may give the candidate an advantage in the exam. It is not decisive whether the illegal aid has actually been used, but that it has been possible to use it.
On written exams, artificial intelligence (AI) and translation programs are illegal to use. This also applies to versions that work without internet access. This means that it is an attempt to cheat if a candidate has this installed on the computer used in the exam. Standard software such as the Office suite should not be considered attempted cheating.
These are examples of illegal actions or aids:
- all forms of communication, such as co-authoring software, online publishing and the use of cloud services
- translation program in language subjects
- chatbot or AI
- calculator or textbooks for part 1 of the exam in mathematics
- two candidates sharing a textbook
- connection to a network other than the exam network
- not turning off your mobile phone
The rector or the county authorities may cancel the exam if a candidate cheats or attempts to cheat in the exam. The student loses the final grade in the subject. Anyone who has had an exam annulled due to cheating or attempted cheating may not take the exam until one year later.
Candidates who are caught cheating or attempting to cheat have the right to complete the exam. The school must ensure that everyone in the exam room is aware of this and ensure that no candidate is expelled due to cheating or attempted cheating.
In 6.3.1, 6.3.2 and 6.3.3 you will find information on how to prevent cheating and attempted cheating.
Schools should set aside time to talk to students about cheating and attempted cheating, and help students to check whether they have downloaded illegal aids onto the computer to be used in the exam. If pupils have downloaded AI or other material that is illegal to use in the exam, the school has a special responsibility to help pupils remove it before the exam.
Before the exam, all candidates must receive clear information about what constitutes cheating and attempted cheating and that they are responsible for ensuring that they do not bring illegal aids to the exam.
The information to the candidates:
- what is considered cheating, attempted cheating and examples of illegal actions and aids, see the list above
- what the consequences of cheating are, and that attempting to cheat is just as serious as actually cheating
- illegal aids installed on the computer to be used in the exam must be deleted before the exam
- what random sampling is, and that the consequence of refusing to carry out random sampling is considered attempted cheating
- that the examiner can detect cheating in connection with the grading
The school should carry out spot checks to detect cheating and attempted cheating. Spot checks are primarily a preventive measure (see separate section).
- increased guarding and better training of guards (see separate point)
- organization of the exam room
The school should consider whether it is necessary to cancel the exam if the candidate voluntarily deletes illegal aids that are discovered in connection with random tests before the exam starts. This will make spot checks less intimidating and may help to reassure candidates. Candidates should be informed of this before the random test is conducted.
Refusing to carry out random testing or refusing to delete illegal aids shall be considered attempted cheating.
Those who grade written exams will be given a separate "cheat button" so that they can easily notify the school if cheating is suspected. The school will be notified of this in PAS. The school must quickly follow up the notification and investigate the matter. If the school believes it is likely that the candidate has cheated, the school must follow the same procedure as when cheating is discovered before and during the exam.
In addition to assessing the content of the notification from the examiner, the school must check the event logs for the exam day in question.
Plagiarism and failure to cite sources is not the same as cheating. Plagiarism and independent use of sources may result in the candidate receiving a lower exam grade.
Schools should ensure that students learn to refer to sources in an orderly manner.
If a student has cheated or attempted to cheat in an exam, the principal decides whether the exam should be annulled. For private students, it is the county council that decides whether the exam should be canceled, in some counties this may be delegated to the school. Cancellation of an exam is an individual decision. Students and private school leavers must be given the opportunity to make an oral statement before the rector or county council makes an individual decision on annulment. The state administrator is the appeal body.
Before the rector or the county authorities make a decision on annulment, a thorough assessment of the candidate's explanation must be made.
- description of what has happened
- reference to relevant regulations
- information that the candidate has had the opportunity to speak and what the candidate has said
- information that the candidate was given the opportunity to complete the exam
- information about the consequences of the cancellation and when the candidate can take the exam
- what information the candidate has received before the exam
- assessment showing that the candidate has had access to, or used, aids that may have or have given an advantage in the exam
- information about the right to appeal and the appeal body.
If the candidate appeals against the annulment decision, the school or county authority should attach logs, reports from the examination room, etc. when the appeal is submitted to the state administrator.
Random samples
Spot checks are a control measure that is primarily preventive. Before the exam, all county authorities should prepare a template for random checks and carry out a risk assessment. These topics should be addressed in the risk assessment:
- Risk of discovering information that you are not looking for
- Competence of staff conducting spot checks
- Duty of confidentiality
- How random samples should be documented
- How documentation on random samples should be stored and when it should be deleted
- The candidate's right to access the documentation
Information to candidates about random tests
Candidates must be informed about how the random tests will be conducted and how they can protect their own privacy, for example by changing to a neutral background image or similar. The school decides how many candidates will be selected for random testing. If there is a concrete suspicion of cheating, the school should conduct a random test.
Training of staff who will conduct spot checks
The school must ensure that the person who is to carry out spot checks has received the necessary training. The training must ensure that the person conducting the spot checks is familiar with the duty of confidentiality, how spot checks are to be conducted and documented.
How to conduct spot checks
Random tests must be carried out in a gentle manner. Spot checks should preferably be carried out before the exam has started and after the candidate has submitted the exam. There must be a high threshold for interrupting a candidate during the exam to conduct a random test. If there is a suspicion of cheating during the exam, a random test may be conducted after the candidate has submitted the exam.
Those who are selected for random tests must be shielded and not feel that they are being singled out in the exam room. This can be done, for example, by taking them out of the room. The person conducting the random tests should not access the candidate's computer themselves, but should ask the candidate to show what is open on the computer. The candidates must be asked if they are familiar with the regulations for assistive technology and if they have any questions related to this. The school must have routines for documenting the random tests and the candidate must receive a copy of the documentation.
The school should keep a log of who has been selected for random tests and how these have been carried out. Unless there is a specific suspicion of cheating, the school should avoid selecting the same candidate for random testing more than once.
7. Technical implementation, dictionaries, online resources and digital tools
The county municipality must ensure that the exam is conducted in a technical solution that prevents candidates from accessing illegal aids. The county municipality can meet the requirement for a technical solution by having a dedicated network for the exam, or a system for access control and user management on the county municipality's ordinary network. The requirement also applies to rented exam rooms.
The vast majority of written exams are fully digital and require continuous access to the internet. The county council must therefore ensure that the network used for the exam is robust and stable.
Dictionaries to be used in exams should not allow for the translation of phrases and complete sentences. The Lexin dictionaries in Nynorsk and Bokmål are designed for minority language students and are not approved by the Language Council for use in education and during exams for other students.
County councils should make more online dictionaries available. This is a measure to ensure access to dictionaries if there is a high demand on certain websites.
County councils that have access to dictionary software with offline capability should ensure that this is installed on the student's digital device. Schools should ensure that students receive guidance and help to install offline dictionaries, and that they are informed of the consequences of not installing dictionaries. Schools should consider providing training in the use of offline dictionaries.
County councils that do not have access to dictionary software with offline capability should consider having paper dictionaries as a backup solution.
Private students are responsible for bringing the equipment they need for the exam. Private students should be informed that they should have an alternative to online dictionaries.
The county council should encourage private students to bring their own paper dictionaries in case they have problems with downloaded or online dictionaries.
The county councils must follow Udir's guidelines for online aids.
The national list of legal online resources should be available on the exam. The list contains approximately 60 online resources. The list may be reduced if errors are discovered, or if the resource contains illegal aids such as KI. The national list is prepared and maintained by the county authorities' online resource group. The county municipality must report errors on the list to
The local list may only contain online tools and licenses purchased at school or county level, i.e. digital teaching aids and digital glossaries or online tools used for special adaptation for individual pupils. The county councils must ensure that the resources on the local list do not enable communication or provide access to AI and other illegal aids.
All students should be given the opportunity to familiarize themselves with how the aids they want to use in the exam work in the exam solution used by the school. Links to YouTube, for example, should not work, and it is important to ensure that the student knows what to expect on the day of the exam.
Each county council must test that all resources on the national and local lists work as intended in the exam solution used by the county council.
The county councils' online resource group has prepared a test template that can be used to test online resources. See Appendix 1 Test template.
The county municipality ensures thorough testing of all online resources that will be available during the exam. This must be done several times before the exam. The county councils' online resource group recommends that the resources are tested at least three times:
- when the list is published on Novari IKS's exam page
- as part of the completion of the test exam
- just before the exam period starts
- in the same technical solution that will be used during the exam
- from different locations with distance from each other, as geographical location can affect the results
- on different types of computers and in different browsers
- with various stakeholders, both ICT staff and students
The county council must test that legal online resources and digital aids work properly during the exam. External links to YouTube, Facebook or other communication platforms should not work.
Through testing, the county council must ensure that legal online resources and digital aids do not contain:
- translation opportunities
- communication opportunities
- search engine such as Google/Bing
- different types of AI
There are no AI tools on the national list. Counties must monitor whether AI functionality is added to permitted online resources, both on the national and local lists.
The county council should contact the suppliers of its own license-based resources and inquire about capacity, what needs to be whitelisted for the resource to work during the exam, and whether the supplier can have extra preparedness during the exam period. The county municipality must ensure that whitelisting does not lead to candidates gaining access to AI, communication and other illegal aids. This means that candidates must expect that some assistive technology may function slightly differently during the exam than otherwise.
The county councils' online resource group has contacted the most common suppliers and created an overview of what needs to be whitelisted for the resources to work on the exam. See Appendix 2 for the list.
All county authorities should have a contingency plan for how schools should report errors in networks or online resources and digital aids during exams and how the county authority should follow this up. The plan must ensure that there is a good flow of information between the school and the county municipality. The county municipality must ensure that there are ICT personnel on standby who can follow up.
The contingency plan must ensure that there are procedures for granting extra time in the event of short-term network outages and documenting unexpected events.
8. Security
Visible security is an important measure to prevent cheating and attempted cheating. The county council must ensure that the school has enough invigilators for the exam and that the invigilators have the right skills. The county council must also ensure that ICT staff are present in all exam rooms.
The number of security guards will vary depending on local conditions, but the school must ensure that all candidates are supervised throughout the exam. The guards must be positioned in the room in such a way that they can observe the candidates' screens. The school must ensure that the security corps has routines to ensure that not too many guards leave the room to accompany candidates to the toilet/air breaks at the same time. Candidates taking the exam in their own exam room must be supervised by a security guard at all times.
The school must ensure that the invigilators have defined roles and responsibilities and know what to do and who to contact when situations arise in the exam room. The person responsible for the exam must be available to the invigilators throughout the exam day. The school can consider whether some invigilators should only be "air guards", while invigilators with more expertise should be responsible for observing that candidates do not cheat.
It should be easy to identify who is on duty and where in the premises the guards are located. Schools should consider whether guards should wear reflective vests or similar. If the guards have different roles, it may be a good idea for them to wear different colored vests. The fact that the guards are clearly visible in the room can be a preventive measure that is not perceived as intrusive by the candidates.
The school should use the candidate monitor in the implementation system to confirm the identity of the candidate and check that the candidate is logging in from the correct IP address. A good way to do this is for some guards to have the candidate monitor on an iPad or similar. The school can easily register guards in PAS and give them access to a selection of candidates that they will be responsible for following up. This will have a
preventive effect. In addition, it will be easier for the invigilators to ensure that the candidates have submitted their answers before they leave the exam room. There are good user guides for the candidate monitor at exam.udir.no.
Everyone who will be invigilators must receive training, and the training should be mandatory. The county councils should prepare training materials for invigilators, which schools can adapt to local conditions.
The training must ensure that the invigilators understand their tasks and role and how they should behave in the examination room. The invigilators must act in a gentle manner and not disturb the candidates unnecessarily during the exam. If possible, it may be appropriate to conduct training of invigilators at the same time as the test exam.
The training should address these points:
- The rules that apply to the conduct of the exam. - How the exam administration system works, see Udir's exam booklet.
- How the exam room is organized.
- How the guards should act.
- Where the guards should be in the exam room.
- What guards should be aware of.
- What constitutes cheating and attempted cheating.
- What guards should do if they detect attempted cheating.
- What the guards should help candidates with and what they should not help candidates with.
- Who should be notified of irregularities.
- What to do if problems arise.
Guards who will be responsible for candidate monitors, random tests or are responsible for the room should receive extra training in their special tasks.
The county council should also ensure that ICT staff receive targeted information before the exam period.
- Temporary staff such as students, retirees or people from staffing agencies.
- The school's own staff. Teachers should not be guards for their own students.
It can be challenging to recruit enough invigilators with the right skills. Relevant channels can be:
- Targeted ads in social media
- Posters in cafés, volunteer centers, colleges, etc.
- Staffing agency
The county council can also consider whether it is possible to increase the salary in order to become more attractive to relevant candidates.
9. Information to candidates before the exam
Information is an important preventive measure. Schools should retain and document the information provided to pupils.
Before the exam, the school must ensure that students receive information about:
- how the exam is conducted
- what constitutes cheating, attempted cheating and the consequences of cheating
- which aids should be available during the exam
- what are illegal aids on the exam
- what the student should do if unexpected events occur during the exam
The school must ensure that students:
- have been trained in the software they need before the exam
- have downloaded and installed the necessary software before the exam
- are familiar with and can use the aids available on the exam.
- are trained to use the equipment they will use in an exam-like situation
- have installed offline dictionaries if available
Private students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the rules that apply to the exam. The county councils must ensure that information about exams for private students is easily accessible on the county council's website. The county councils must ensure that private students receive information about:
- how to apply for special exam arrangements
- time and place for the exam
- exam guidelines
- what equipment they need to bring with them
- use of assistive technology and online resources
- what are illegal aids
- what constitutes cheating, attempted cheating and the consequences of cheating
- what the private student should do in the event of unexpected events during the exam
10. Practical implementation of the exam
The school provides:
- an overview of which candidates have been granted accommodation in the exam room
- that the guards are informed about which facilitation measures the various candidates
- that there are routines for following up candidates who believe they have been granted accommodation but are not on the accommodation list
- appropriate placement of candidates in the exam room, for example by marking desks, based on the accommodation granted
- that candidates with extended time are given extra time in addition to the extended time if errors occur in the examination process
The school will receive paper assignments in the subject codes listed on Udir's overview. The school will distribute these assignments to the candidates. The subject codes that are not listed on Udir's overview are digital and are not suitable for printing.
The school provides
- keeping track of which candidates in the exam room should have paper assignments
- placing the candidates in an appropriate manner, and marking the positions in such a way that it is clear which candidates will be assigned to the different tasks
- have a system for checking that candidates have received the correct paper assignments
- to pay particular attention to the fact that there are many subject codes in the common subjects in mathematics and therefore a high risk of handing out the wrong assignment
The school must ensure that candidates receive the necessary information on the day of the exam. This should include information about
- rules and practical information
- time frame for the exam
- what are legal aids
- what constitutes cheating, attempted cheating and the consequences of cheating
- that candidates must tell us if they receive the wrong exam paper
- that candidates must speak up if they experience errors with the implementation system, network or online resources
- that it may take time to log in to the implementation system and that lost time will be compensated
- that candidates can be selected for random testing before the exam starts and after they have submitted
- The school must document errors or unexpected events. - The school must monitor important messages during the exam on Udir.
- If the exam starts late, the time will be compensated. Start-up time can be checked in the log in the monitor at exam.udir.no. - The school must report errors to the county authorities, who will report them to Udir in Jira. The school uses the form available on the Udir website.
- The school updates candidates continuously until the error is corrected, even if there is no new information.
- The school must check whether the error applies to one or more candidates.
- The school clarifies in consultation with the county council whether backup solutions need to be implemented.
- The school informs candidates about downtime.
- The school assesses the need for extra time, depending on the length of downtime and how central the online resource is to the exam process.
- The school sends a report to its own county council.
- Only people who have received the necessary training can carry out spot checks
- Random tests must be carried out in a gentle manner and the candidate must be taken out of the examination room.
- Spot checks must be carried out before the exam starts or after the candidate has submitted the exam. Candidates must not be interrupted during the exam to take a random test.
- If cheating or attempted cheating is suspected, the person in charge of the exam room must be contacted.
- Candidates suspected of cheating have the right to complete the exam and the time spent on the examination shall be compensated.
- If the candidate is confronted with the suspicion of cheating during the exam, this should be done discreetly and without disturbing other candidates.
- The incident must be documented. A photo or a written account of the incident can be examples of documentation.
Events beyond the candidate's control may result in the candidate being given extra time. Lost time can be compensated with corresponding extra time. If there is any doubt about how much time has been lost, schools should consider the candidates' best interests.
Candidates who have been granted extended time as a special adaptation will receive extra time in addition to the extended time.
Examples of incidents where it may be relevant to allow extra time:
- problem with the implementation system
- errors in the exam paper
- problem with digital tools
- handing out the wrong exam paper
- power failure or fire alarm
- problem with networks
- lack of clarity about facilitation
- time spent dealing with suspected cheating during the exam
Sometimes unforeseen events can occur during the exam day that make it impossible to complete the exam. The school and the county municipality must make every effort to prevent this from happening. The county municipality must always be involved in decisions to cancel exams.
The county council must assess whether it is possible to correct the error and how long this will take. The assessment must be based on the candidate's best interests. The county council must therefore consider the consequences for the candidate if the exam is interrupted. The threshold for canceling the exam should be higher for private candidates than for pupils. The county municipality must also consider the consequences for the candidates if the exam is very delayed; in parts of the country with poor public transport coverage, this may make it difficult for students to get home.
Canceling the exam is a formal error. If the exam must be canceled, the school or county authority must apply to the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training for cancellation of the exam and exemption from the diploma requirement.