“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent but the one most responsive to change” – Charles Darwin
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything and made the world a gloomy place.This has been a more challenging time for students who have been working hard with online classes to keep progressing towards their professional qualification!
With many professional-level exams getting cancelled/postponed due to COVID-19, many students undertaking professional level qualifications found themselves stuck in the middle!
ACCA also had two options – to cancel the exams in Sep'20 or to rise up to the occasion, take the challenge and introduce change!
Leading from the front:
With COVID-19 and the unprecedented times it has brought about, everybody started talking about reinventing our education systems. We needed to craft an education system that imparts a whole new set of dynamic skills for students. With the new measures that Covid-19 has brought in, we should shift the focus of education away from content, to a skills-based programme. What should these skills be? The famous author Yuval Noah Harari enlightens us in this regard. He identifies the 4Cs of critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity as the skills which will be indispensable in the future.
However, even though teaching was possible online, the bigger challenge was then about taking EXAMS!
Surely, with the current situation, bringing students to the Centre was not at all safe.
This led to many exams at all levels getting canceled.
However, ACCA took the challenge and have introduced REMOTE INVIGILATION EXAMS across all Levels (Skills as well as Professional level exams) in specific locations (Countries) including India.
Below are a list of FAQ's regarding the same:
1. What is remote invigilation and how does it work?
Remote invigilation uses technology to allow students to take exams online at home, or place of their choice. This could be in their office or another quiet space.
Students will be given an exam start time, just like our center exams, and they will complete the exam in the allocated time, under the same conditions as an exam center.
The exam will be invigilated remotely by a real person who will invigilate a number of students via each student's webcam. The invigilator will monitor what the student is doing, as well as checking that the room is quiet with just the student in the room. During the exam they will remain in the background so will not disturb students when they are completing their exam.
2. Any prerequisites for Booking Remote Invigilation Exams?
Please note, only students who have entered for center-based exams before the standard entry deadline will have the opportunity to take their exams remotely for the September 2020 session.
ACCA will then be contacting students by email to advise that they shall be canceling their center exam booking and crediting their myACCA account with exam fees. ACCA will also provide information on how to book a remote exam in September, should the student wish to do so.
For those who are unable to sit the September exams remotely, the next opportunity to take center-based exams maybe during the December 2020 exam session.
3. What equipment do students need to take remotely invigilated exams?
Students taking remotely invigilated exams need to have internet access and for their equipment to meet the minimum specification requirements in order to run the exams successfully.
Students will need the necessary technology, equipment, and exam environment to sit these exams. For more information about remote invigilation, please click here.
4. Are remotely invigilated exams secure?
Remotely invigilated exams are very secure due to the checks performed before and during the exam. The exam regulations will be available to students ahead of booking, to allow them to familiarise themselves with what they are permitted to have and do during the exam.
Once the exam has started, the invigilator will continue to monitor the student for the duration of the exam. They will also be able to assist you with any technical issues that you face.
5. Can the student take a break during a remotely invigilated exam?
No. For exam security purposes, breaks are not permitted during remotely invigilated exams.
6. Can the student use a calculator in the session?
Yes, calculators are allowed and you will be asked to show the same to the invigilator at the start of the exam.
7. Can the student use scrap paper?
No paper is allowed on your desk. We encourage you to practice before the live exam using the scratchpad functionality on the practice platform.
8. How will VG Learning Destination support me in this?
VG Learning Destination has always been the pioneer in providing its students maximum support.
We understand that the change can be exhilarating for the students and can add to anxiety amongst the students.
During these challenging times too, we shall be offering maximum support to our students in terms of familiarizing them with the exam concept and also providing a series of insightful webinars from ACCA and familiarising students with the various study resources offered by ACCA and VGLD!
Students are also advised to visit the ACCA microsite for great study support resources made available by ACCA- Click here
The trainers from Grant Thornton India LLP shall be focusing on conducting specific classes only on Exam technique for REMOTE INVIGILATION COMPUTER BASED EXAMS!
It's showtime!
Surely, ACCA has been able to show us how to lead the front by accepting this challenge and making sure that at no points do student's suffer in their academic journey!
We are sure that students will too rise up to the occasion and embrace this change!
We don't know when this pandemic will end, we don't know when our lives will ever be back to normal again…but since adaptability is a great human asset, we must learn, we must adapt and emerge as the winners that the human race has always been!
For more details regarding remote exams please visit ACCA's website (Click here) or reach out to VG Learning team at acca@vglearningdestination.com or call 9599983117,113 or 9540999103
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