Design and Implementation of Secure Computer Based Examination

International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 11, Number 1 (2016) pp 312-318

© Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com

312

Design and Implementation of Secure Computer Based Examination

System Based On B/S Structure

Sanjay Kumar Singh Assistant Professor,

Department of Computer Science & Engineering,

School of Management Sciences, Lucknow, India.

E-mail: [email protected]

Arvind Kumar Tiwari Professor,

Department of Computer Science & Engineering

GGSCMT, SAS Nagar Punjab, India.

E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Online Examination System is efficient, fast and reduces the large

amount of material resources. This paper proposed secure

computer based examination system base on B/S structure to

address these aforementioned drawback. The system is designed

to facilitate the exam process, manage surrounding the conduct of

any type of examination (Academic institution, company,

School), support Multilanguage question, random question

display at a time, solution to the issue of security and cheating for

online exams The new system was design and implement using

HTML, JAVASCRIPT, JQUERY, AJAX, JSP and MYSQL

database which may be deployed on either on internet or Intranet.

This system is tested in real environment at School of

Management Sciences, Lucknow.

Keywords: B/S structure, JSP, AJAX, HTML, Central command

Centre, Examination Command Centre.

Introduction As the growth of technology, the paper base examination is

replaced with computer based examination system and also web-

based examination system. The traditional method of manually

writing exams includes several drawbacks. Some of the drawback

includes Malpractices, waiting for results, wastage of resources

such as pen, paper etc., collecting answer sheet, mistake occurs

during evaluation etc., In recent years, a variety of computer

based systems are developed for the institutions.

The Web-based examination is an effective solution for mass

educational evaluation. Online examination system is designed

for universities, schools, colleges and even Banking and

Government for recruitment purposes. The system utilizes various

open source software framework. In the recent years, there have

been many computer based examination systems with one or

more limitations. Some of which are not being able to

automatically log-off candidates upon expiration of allotted time

and lack of randomization of questions for each candidate. Today

many organizations are conducting online examinations

worldwide successfully and produce the results in online [1].

Literature Review

There is a growing body of research focused on developing better

ways to manage e-exams systems. In literature, various

researchers focused on various sections of the online examination

system. The Schramm [2] looked at a e-learning web based

system that could simply offer and grade mathematical

questions with infinite patience. Therefore it needs the

capability for in and output of mathematical formulas, the

dynamic generation of plots and the generation of random

expressions and numbers. Al-Bayati and Hussein [3] presents

an applied Generic Software of multiple kinds of e-exam

package; this package of e-exam is oriented to Hearing

Impaired (HI) persons. Therefore the exam material of this

package is translated into language of HI persons like sign

language and finger spelling. The idea of the Generic

software is to present an empty template to the teacher who

would like to develop his required e-exam for the needful

topic such as mathematics, language, science, etc. and desired

set of exam kinds such as multiple choices, matching

between words, fill in blanks, etc... The web-based

examination system is an effective solution for mass

education evaluation.. Zhenming et. al. [4] developed a novel

online examination system based on a Browser/Server

framework DCOM technology which carries out the

examination and auto-grading for objective questions and

operating questions, such as programming, operating

Microsoft Windows, editing Microsoft Word , Excel and

PowerPoint, etc. It has been successfully applied to the

distance evaluation of basic operating skills of computer

science, such as the course of computer skills in Universities

and the nationwide examination for the high school graduates

in Zhejiang Province, China. The system is not reliable

enough. Also it uses a specific technology not open source

technology. The system is designed specifically for computer

science students. It is not designed for general purpose

students. Also it does not support other language. Lie He [5]

presented a web-based educational assessment system by

applying Bloom’s taxonomy to evaluate student learning

outcomes and teacher instructional practices in real time. The

system performance is rather encouraging with

experimentation in science and mathematics courses of two

local high schools.

The Rashad et. al. [6] proposed a web based online

examination system that carries out the examination and

auto-grading for students exams. The system facilitates

conducting exams, collection of answers, auto marking the

submissions and production of reports for the test. It supports

many kinds of questions. It was used via Internet and is

therefore suitable for both local and remote examination. The

system could help lecturers, instructors, teachers and others

who are willing to create new exams or edit existing ones as

well as students participating in the exams. The system was

built using various open source technologies AJAX, PHP,



313

HTML and MYSQL database. An auto-grading module was

generalized to enable different exam and question types. The

system was tested in the Mansoura university quality assurance

center. The test proved the validity of using this kind of web

based systems for evaluates students in the institutions with high

rate of students.

TheELEmary and Al Sondos [7] presented an online website for

tutoring and e-examination of economic course. The basic aim of

authors of the paper to present a novel software tool can be used

for online examination and tutorial application of the syllabus of

economic course.The main interests of authors of the paper is to

produce a software through it we make sure that students have

studied all the concepts of economics. So, the proposed software

is structured from two major modules: The first one was an online

website to review and make self-test for all the material of

economic course. The second part is an online examination using

a large database bank of questions through it the level of students

can be evaluated immediately and some statistical evaluations can

be obtained. Electronic exam is a difficult part of e-learning

security.The Huszti and Petho described a cryptographic scheme

that possesses security requirements, such that authenticity,

anonymity, secrecy, robustness, correctness without the existence

of a Trusted Third Party. The authors of the paper proposed

protocol that provides students a receipt, a proof of a successful

submission, and it is based on existence of anonymous return

channels. The Ayo et.al. [8] proposed a model for e-Examination

in Nigeria where all applicants are subjected toonline entrance

examination as a way of curbing the irregularities as proposed by

the Joint AdmissionsMatriculation Board (JAMB), the body

saddled with the responsibility of conducting entrance

examinationsinto all the Nigerian universities. This model was

designed and tested in Covenant University, one of theprivate

universities in Nigeria. Their findings revealed that the system has

the potentials to eliminate someof the problems that are

associated with the traditional methods of examination such as

impersonationand other forms of examination malpractices. The

Akinsanmi et. al. [8] seeks to solve a part of that problem by

designing and developing a web application where tests

inmultiple choice formats will be taken online and graded

immediately. The webapplication relies solely on Microsoft

developed technologies. It runs on the Microsoft.net framework,

uses the ASP.NET web server, C# as the intermediate language,

ADO.NET to interact with the relationaldatabase and Microsoft

SQL server as the relational database. The Hoffman et. al. [9]

proposed an exam system for testing student in the software

engineering courses and that system is used offline. The

McGough et. al. [10] proposed a browser-based exams system to

prove of concept. That system does not support full interactivity

and it does not support different languages it's also designed for

computer science students.Ji-hoon Lee et. al. [11] proposed exam

generator program which helps both users and instructors. The

system is built for generating exams for fundamental engineering

students. The exam is designed taking into consideration one type

of exams which is Multiple Choice Questions.

Raymound et. al. [12] proposed a web based Multiple Choice

Exams. This exam supports only this type of questions and does

not support Arabic as an exam language. Jelica protice et. al. [13]

proposed a system that provides teachers with efficient means of

generating and scoring tests with multiple choice answers. This

system is inevitable in evaluating student's knowledge at massive

examinations. Jordi et. al. [14] presented a secure electronic

examination protocol. Using wireless technology, they

propose a trade-off solution between examination security

and examination flexibility. Mikel et. al. [15] proposed an

exam tool that is based on multiple choice questions. This

tool is designed for only computer science students. Zhang et.

al. [16] proposed a web-based operational skills examination

and evaluation system for computer courses. The Chien Lin

et. al. [17] designed a prototype automatic quiz generation

system for a given English text to test learner comprehension

of text content and English skills. After the emergence of

modern technologies in the field of Information Technologies

(IT), virtual learning has attained a new form. The way of

announcing exams’ grades is an important topic in e-learning.

For announcing exams’ grades on the web, various methods

have been proposed. Shirali-Shahreza M [18] introduced

three new methods for announcing exams’ grades and the

result of implementing these methods for announcing the

grades of some courses at the some Iranian universities are

provided. Also these methods and their results are analyzed.

Finally these three new methods are compared with other

methods. Pascual-Nieto et. al. [19] proposed a web-based

application which automatically and adaptively assesses

students' free text answers written in Spanish and English. It

is intended to help students review concepts outside of class,

and provides an alternative assessment method. Hernán-

Losada et. al. [20] addressed the combined use of automatic

grading and the test-driven approach from a pedagogical

view. Horea et. al. [21] presented the main aspects and

implementation of an online multiple choice examination

system with general chemistry issues for student evaluation.

The testing system was used to generate items for a multiple-

choice examination for first year undergraduate students in

Material Engineering and Environmental Engineering from

Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, which all

attend the same General Chemistry course.

Presented approaches have certain drawbacks. In this paper,

we developed and proposed a toolthat provide a solution to

mitigate all of them such as Multilanguage facility, cheating

prevention using secure browser, timing function, server

failure, conduct all type of examination

Proposed System The proposed computer based system the following essential

component. The detailed architecture of proposed system is

shown in Figure-1.

(a)Central command Centre (CCC)

(b)Examination Command Centre (ECC)

(a) Central Command Centre:

It is the main part of examination system which manages and

controls the entire operation of conducting examination. It

has Replication Exam Server (RES) which enhance the

reliability. The Central Command Server (CCS) is connected

through Internet.The Central Control Centre includes the

followings functions.



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(i) Management of system information of all regions

Each terminal is having an IP address and a MAC address this

information is stored in a table into the fields such as Region

Wise Examination Centre code, Examination Centre Name,

Terminal number,IP address ,MAC address, Exam Start Password

sending Time, Student sending detail Time, Login Time, Logout

Time, Continuous monitoring time, Login/Logout Status,

Question set number assigned, Question set sending time, Answer

received Time and Exam start Time. Since the entire exam related

information is stored in CCS. IP address cannot be changed

without prior information Central command Centre (CCC), as this

is warranted to maintain security related issues.

(ii) Preparation and Management of Exam schedule

The Central Command Centre maintains the region wise

computer center’s details, number of computers each computer

center has and the candidate’s information, such as which center

has been allotted to, date of examination, session. From this, it

prepares the examination schedule. Management of candidate’s

information. The candidates’ personal information, examination

information such as examination venue, date and time of

examination are managed & effectively maintained. The copy of

the personal information of the candidates is then uploaded to the

required regional server for authentication in local examination

halls. The mark of the candidate is also maintained.

(iii) Management of examinations question bank

This unit is the heart of the entire EES where the question bank

for entire examination is maintained.

(iv) Generation of question sets

Our e-Examination system proposes to use same question sets

with different order .It assign the set number (set1, set2, set3,

set4) to each candidate according to seating plan layout.

(v) Secure Distribution of questions set

The Examination Command Centre initiates the request for

question set with the central command center. Based on the

request, question set is encrypted and sends to the Examination

Command server that prevents the question set and answer set

from altering.

(vi) Evaluation of answers

The answer for the questions is available in central Command

Server and the evaluation is done at the central server. The Exam

server upload the candidates answers along with the registration

number and set number and center code number to the central

command center for evaluation. After evaluation the candidate’s

marks are updated in central Command center and the regional

server.

Since, the roll number and the answer for the questions are

uploaded to the central server (minimal network traffic. This

ensures the scalability for the system. All transactions are

performed after double authentication to prevent masquerade,

stealing of the questions and test sheets.

Figure 1: Architecture of proposed system

(b)Examination Command Centre (ECC)

The operations of the examination Command Centre are:

(i) Initiating the communication with central server

(ii) Requesting candidate’s information for that particular

Examination Command Centre region.

(iii) Requesting for question set at time of exam.

(iv) Automatically generate the four question set at exam

time on the basis of received set from Central

Command Centre (CCC).

(v) Uploading the answers to the central Command Server

after exam completion.

(vi) Monitor the each terminal with following field with the

help of exam monitoring system is shown in Figure-2.

System Number /Terminal Number, Student Name, IP

Address, Exam Time, Login/Logout, Lock/Unlock

Figure 2: Exam Monitoring System



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Process Flow The process flow of the online examination process before

examination starts has been shown in Figure 3

Figure 3: Process Flow

Process flow on the day of exam is shown in figure 4.

Figure 4: Process flow on one day Exam

Security and Reliability of EES

Security is the most important factor of an examination

system, and it is much more sensitive for an online

examination system. It needs to ensure the security and

reliability of not only the data transmitting but also the data

in the database. We have taken the following measures to

achieve the target.

(i) Data security of system

The system authorizes different authorities to different users,

and the users use the system within their own authorities.

With the perfect authentication and authorization, the users

are limited to the authorized functions, so the security of data

in the system can be guaranteed.

(ii) Data security of transmission

The data transmission is base on the TCP/IP protocol; the

three way handshake in the TCP protocol can ensure the data

integrity and reliability. In order to prevent the test package

and answer package from peeking or altering, all the data

packages are encrypted with 3 DES and a time label is added

to every data package to limit the data package used within

the time permitted. For that particularly sensitive data, such

as the test sheets and answer sheets, 3DES encryption is used

again to ensure the security.

(iii) Data Security of Usage

In order to prevent the users from cheating, every test

package is added with a time label. The test package cannot

be decrypted beyond the time even if the user has enough

authorities. Because of the high-strength encryption strategy

and prefect authorization strategy, the security of data is

ensured at any node and the process of transfer. In the answer

tool, the questions are displayed with different order. If there

are more than one test sheet used in one examination, the

candidates closed to each other will receive different test

sheet. At the time when the candidate logged in, its personal

information is banded with the IP of the PC he used, that can

prevent the candidate from changing PC optionally.

(iv)Facticity of Examination:

The candidate examination system set itself on the top of the

desktop and full-screen display when it runs, at the same

time, the shortcut keys are all shield to prevent the candidates

from using the information stored in the examination PC. In

addition, the system kills other user processes especially the

instant messaging to prevent candidates from cheating via the

Internet.

(v) Terminal Failure

When a candidate logon to the system at the beginning of the

examination in a terminal, the IP address, the MAC address

and the terminal number are captured and this terminal

number is updated in the candidates’ examination

information table. Since the choice opted by the candidate is

stored at Regional Control Centre, for every choice selected,

when a terminal fails, the candidate will be allotted another

terminal by the co-coordinator, and he will be allowed to

continue beyond actual time, with allowance for the loose of

time for the shifting.



316

Experimental Results

(i) Designed a launcher which install on each client machine.

Instructor gives server IP, System and select exam start is shown

in Figure-5.

Figure 5: Launcher

It launches examination system and displays the candidate Login

page with Photo System Number, Candidate Name and entered

roll no is shown in Figure-6

Figure 6: Login page

(ii) Candidate enters a password and clicks submit button. If

authentication is successfully it display Instruction page is

shown in Figure-7

Figure 7: Instruction page

Where candidate read information related to exam and all

candidate IP Address stored in exam monitoring system on

Exam Server.

(iii) After fixed time automatically exam start message

appear “You are ready to start examination” on each

candidate machine is shown in Figure-8

Figure 8: Instruction page with exam start message

After click Ok button I AM READY TO BEGIN appear on

screen is shown in Figure-9

Figure 9: Candidate Login



317

Candidate click I AM READY TOBEGIN then exam start page

open with timer as shown in Figure-10

Figure 10: Exam page

If timer reaches to zero automatically open the exam summary

page is shown in Figure-11

Figure 11: Exam summary Page

(iv) Finally candidate close the exam or automatically system

close the program after fixed time is shown in Figure-12

Figure 12: Exam Completed Successfully

v) Exam monitoring system on Exam Center is shown in

figure-13 which synchronized with Central Command

Center.

Figure 13: Exam monitoring system

Result of test quizis shown in Figure-14.

Figure 14: Result of the candidates

Conclusion A secure online examination system without paper has been

designed and proposed for examinations to be conducted at

different places. By deploying efficient OES, resources like

time, energy to evaluate every single answer sheet and the

need to use paper is reduced. As of now most of the

competitive examinations are online, so the need to train

students to get used to an online testing environment is

essential and CES is an excellent platform for this. Online



318

Examination System is efficient, fast and reduces the large

amount of material resources. Here, in this paper we proposed a

secure computer based examination system based on B/S

structure to address these aforementioned drawbacks. The

proposed system is designed to facilitate the exam process,

manage surrounding the conduct of any type of examination such

as academic institution, company, school etc... The proposed

system also support Multilanguage questions, random question

display at a time, solution to the issue of security and cheating for

online exams. In this paper, the proposed system was design and

implemented using HTML, JAVASCRIPT, JQUERY, AJAX, JSP

and MYSQL database which may be deployed on either on

internet or Intranet. The proposed system has been also tested in

real environment at School of Management Sciences, Lucknow. It

was observed that the proposed system is efficient, robust and

secure computer based online examination system based on B/S

structure.

The future work of this paper is to add additional security

functionalities like finger print recognition or face recognition to

the login module. In addition to it, apart from just testing the

students on an objective basis, the theoretical knowledge can also

be tested with adding brief answers to the test portal. With the

addition of these functionalities the CES becomes an effective

online portal for conducting mass examinations.

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Documents

Design and Implementation of Secure Computer Based Examination