2025 H1 Report Card for Digital Exams

Happy June! Mid-way through 2025, we've seen more countries committing to digitising school exams, something rotten in the State of Victoria, a totally surprised regulator at the mention of extra exam time, and the love of (AI-powered) cameras beguiling many in the sector. 

Want to read more? Bungling Victorians, bicycle tests, cyber-criminal hostage negotiations, and influencers on their exam pathway - here's the half-year 2025 Report Card.

January The year started with a too-familiar story about a learner in England being rebuffed in her quest to find an exam venue to accommodate her reasonable adjustments. The local government ombudsman found fault in the local council’s approach, and upheld the complaint. The council was instructed to implement an Education Other Than At School (EOTAS) policy. 

Ireland’s State Examinations Commission (SEC) reported a year-on-year doubling of cheating cases within their Leaving Cert and Junior Cert exams. Instances noted possession of notes, mobile phones, and smart watches. 

Exam owner International Baccalaureate confirmed its commitment to digitising its Diploma programme, but also to keep open book exams - underpinning its philosophy of ‘a much more meaningful, authentic, engaging, interactive experience for students’. 

Nigeria’s federal government formed the Committee on Improvement of Quality Examinations, with a pledge to transition all school exams to digital by 2027. In a frank and candid statement, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, claimed that computerisation is necessary as teachers, school principals, parents, and exam supervisors were all contributing to exam malpractice, not just students.

The month ended with test software company Learnosity finding itself under new ownership. Leeds Equity Partners acquiring the business from Battery Ventures for an undisclosed sum. 

February In Scotland, a report claimed that assessment needed to be ‘completely overhauled’, due to the onset of artificial intelligence tools and the need to assess ‘higher order thinking skills’. Pakistan's Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETEA) reported it had successfully conducted its first Computer-Based Scholarship Test for over 12,000 learners. ETEA claimed that all results were provided to learners within 24 hours. 

US audit regulator, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) fined  PwC Israel $2.75M as 'hundreds of individuals...were involved in training exam misconduct and widespread improper answer sharing' via its member firm, Kesselman & Kesselman CPA. 

England’s exam regulator was interviewed by TES this month. Expressing surprise at the disparity of extra time allowances in school exams, the interview also advised that the regulator expected digital exam proposals for school exam owners ‘in the next year or two’. 

The month saw the start of a rolling story involving the State Bar of California exam deployment, that caused outages and failures-to-launch for many candidates. 

March The Australian state of Victoria kicked off March with an abolition of entrance exams for the police and emergency services, describing them as ‘unnecessary obstacles’. Certification platform Certiverse raised $11M in its latest investment round. England’s much-vaunted Curriculum and Assessment Review published an interim report which had little cheer for the digital exam sector.

And a particular favourite story re-emerged, that Kim Kardashian took her Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE) at a test centre in Alhambra, California on her journey to becoming an attorney. 

April The first day of April saw a delightful and timely story from the Netherlands, claiming that immigrants would not only have to pass an integration exam, but also a thorough bicycle test. England exam owner AQA made another acquisition, venturing into the construction sector in buying Construction EPA for an undisclosed sum. The ongoing story regarding malpractice by trainee nurses seeking to practice in the UK saw additional detail on affected candidates and overall candidate flows. 

The Australian state of Victoria was back in the news when the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority had its entire board dismissed due to exam errors. Reports claimed that an error attributed to a 'temporary, junior individual' permitted candidates to access questions in advance from instructional cover sheets at the front of online booklets. 

The UK Home Office Language Test market engagement continued to attract press attention this month, as did the persistent use of scalper bots to book driving test appointments. The Kenya government outlined the National Education Assessments Council Bill (KNEAC), which would replace the incumbent KNEC. Once passed, KNEAC would have the authority to register e-assessment test centres, develop digital exam frameworks, and deliver assessments on behalf of non-Kenyan organisations. 

May This month started with UK government agency DVSA, signalling its intention to procure a facial recognition system for use in driving theory test centres to deter proxy candidates. 

A cyber attack story from a 55-school England school academy chain deserved greater visibility, as it discussed how it dealt with the incident, involving £750k of costs, three months systems re-build time, and hiring a hostage negotiator.

As part of their commitment to ‘foster transparency, inclusive dialogue, end leakages, and restore credibility’, Nigeria’s government continued to layout plans to fully implement computer-based school exams by 2027. The country’s National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB) a technical and business innovation college exam owner, also announced its intention to digitise all assessments to align with the government's edict. 

And in an unorthodox intervention, AQA's Chief Executive ended the month by going public on advocating AI-powered cameras for school exam invigilation. The interview also disclosed that many exam subjects would not be ready for digital until 2035: 31 years since England's regulator laid out their exam digitisation plans.