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

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

Design and Implementation of Secure Computer Based Examination

System Based On B/S Structure
Sanjay Kumar Singh Arvind Kumar Tiwari
Assistant Professor, Professor,
Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Department of Computer Science & Engineering
School of Management Sciences, Lucknow, India. GGSCMT, SAS Nagar Punjab, India.
E-mail: sanjay.lookmax@gmail.com E-mail: arvind.tiwari1980@gmail.com

Abstract system that could simply offer and grade mathematical

Online Examination System is efficient, fast and reduces the large questions with infinite patience. Therefore it needs the
amount of material resources. This paper proposed secure capability for in and output of mathematical formulas, the
computer based examination system base on B/S structure to dynamic generation of plots and the generation of random
address these aforementioned drawback. The system is designed expressions and numbers. Al-Bayati and Hussein [3] presents
to facilitate the exam process, manage surrounding the conduct of an applied Generic Software of multiple kinds of e-exam
any type of examination (Academic institution, company, package; this package of e-exam is oriented to Hearing
School), support Multilanguage question, random question Impaired (HI) persons. Therefore the exam material of this
display at a time, solution to the issue of security and cheating for package is translated into language of HI persons like sign
online exams The new system was design and implement using language and finger spelling. The idea of the Generic
HTML, JAVASCRIPT, JQUERY, AJAX, JSP and MYSQL software is to present an empty template to the teacher who
database which may be deployed on either on internet or Intranet. would like to develop his required e-exam for the needful
This system is tested in real environment at School of topic such as mathematics, language, science, etc. and desired
Management Sciences, Lucknow. set of exam kinds such as multiple choices, matching
between words, fill in blanks, etc... The web-based
Keywords: B/S structure, JSP, AJAX, HTML, Central command examination system is an effective solution for mass
Centre, Examination Command Centre. education evaluation.. Zhenming et. al. [4] developed a novel
online examination system based on a Browser/Server
Introduction framework DCOM technology which carries out the
As the growth of technology, the paper base examination is examination and auto-grading for objective questions and
operating questions, such as programming, operating
replaced with computer based examination system and also web-
Microsoft Windows, editing Microsoft Word , Excel and
based examination system. The traditional method of manually PowerPoint, etc. It has been successfully applied to the
writing exams includes several drawbacks. Some of the drawback distance evaluation of basic operating skills of computer
includes Malpractices, waiting for results, wastage of resources science, such as the course of computer skills in Universities
such as pen, paper etc., collecting answer sheet, mistake occurs and the nationwide examination for the high school graduates
during evaluation etc., In recent years, a variety of computer in Zhejiang Province, China. The system is not reliable
based systems are developed for the institutions. enough. Also it uses a specific technology not open source
technology. The system is designed specifically for computer
The Web-based examination is an effective solution for mass
science students. It is not designed for general purpose
educational evaluation. Online examination system is designed students. Also it does not support other language. Lie He [5]
for universities, schools, colleges and even Banking and presented a web-based educational assessment system by
Government for recruitment purposes. The system utilizes various applying Blooms taxonomy to evaluate student learning
open source software framework. In the recent years, there have outcomes and teacher instructional practices in real time. The
been many computer based examination systems with one or system performance is rather encouraging with
more limitations. Some of which are not being able to experimentation in science and mathematics courses of two
local high schools.
automatically log-off candidates upon expiration of allotted time
The Rashad et. al. [6] proposed a web based online
and lack of randomization of questions for each candidate. Today examination system that carries out the examination and
many organizations are conducting online examinations auto-grading for students exams. The system facilitates
worldwide successfully and produce the results in online [1]. 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
Literature Review therefore suitable for both local and remote examination. The
There is a growing body of research focused on developing better system could help lecturers, instructors, teachers and others
ways to manage e-exams systems. In literature, various who are willing to create new exams or edit existing ones as
researchers focused on various sections of the online examination well as students participating in the exams. The system was
system. The Schramm [2] looked at a e-learning web based built using various open source technologies AJAX, PHP,

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HTML and MYSQL database. An auto-grading module was examinations. Jordi et. al. [14] presented a secure electronic
generalized to enable different exam and question types. The examination protocol. Using wireless technology, they
system was tested in the Mansoura university quality assurance propose a trade-off solution between examination security
center. The test proved the validity of using this kind of web and examination flexibility. Mikel et. al. [15] proposed an
based systems for evaluates students in the institutions with high exam tool that is based on multiple choice questions. This
rate of students. tool is designed for only computer science students. Zhang et.
TheELEmary and Al Sondos [7] presented an online website for al. [16] proposed a web-based operational skills examination
tutoring and e-examination of economic course. The basic aim of and evaluation system for computer courses. The Chien Lin
authors of the paper to present a novel software tool can be used et. al. [17] designed a prototype automatic quiz generation
for online examination and tutorial application of the syllabus of system for a given English text to test learner comprehension
economic course.The main interests of authors of the paper is to of text content and English skills. After the emergence of
produce a software through it we make sure that students have modern technologies in the field of Information Technologies
studied all the concepts of economics. So, the proposed software (IT), virtual learning has attained a new form. The way of
is structured from two major modules: The first one was an online announcing exams grades is an important topic in e-learning.
website to review and make self-test for all the material of For announcing exams grades on the web, various methods
economic course. The second part is an online examination using have been proposed. Shirali-Shahreza M [18] introduced
a large database bank of questions through it the level of students three new methods for announcing exams grades and the
can be evaluated immediately and some statistical evaluations can result of implementing these methods for announcing the
be obtained. Electronic exam is a difficult part of e-learning grades of some courses at the some Iranian universities are
security.The Huszti and Petho described a cryptographic scheme provided. Also these methods and their results are analyzed.
that possesses security requirements, such that authenticity, Finally these three new methods are compared with other
anonymity, secrecy, robustness, correctness without the existence methods. Pascual-Nieto et. al. [19] proposed a web-based
of a Trusted Third Party. The authors of the paper proposed application which automatically and adaptively assesses
protocol that provides students a receipt, a proof of a successful students' free text answers written in Spanish and English. It
submission, and it is based on existence of anonymous return is intended to help students review concepts outside of class,
channels. The Ayo et.al. [8] proposed a model for e-Examination and provides an alternative assessment method. Hernn-
in Nigeria where all applicants are subjected toonline entrance Losada et. al. [20] addressed the combined use of automatic
examination as a way of curbing the irregularities as proposed by grading and the test-driven approach from a pedagogical
the Joint AdmissionsMatriculation Board (JAMB), the body view. Horea et. al. [21] presented the main aspects and
saddled with the responsibility of conducting entrance implementation of an online multiple choice examination
examinationsinto all the Nigerian universities. This model was system with general chemistry issues for student evaluation.
designed and tested in Covenant University, one of theprivate The testing system was used to generate items for a multiple-
universities in Nigeria. Their findings revealed that the system has choice examination for first year undergraduate students in
the potentials to eliminate someof the problems that are Material Engineering and Environmental Engineering from
associated with the traditional methods of examination such as Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, which all
impersonationand other forms of examination malpractices. The attend the same General Chemistry course.
Akinsanmi et. al. [8] seeks to solve a part of that problem by Presented approaches have certain drawbacks. In this paper,
designing and developing a web application where tests we developed and proposed a toolthat provide a solution to
inmultiple choice formats will be taken online and graded mitigate all of them such as Multilanguage facility, cheating
immediately. The webapplication relies solely on Microsoft prevention using secure browser, timing function, server
developed technologies. It runs on the Microsoft.net framework, failure, conduct all type of examination
uses the ASP.NET web server, C# as the intermediate language,
ADO.NET to interact with the relationaldatabase and Microsoft Proposed System
SQL server as the relational database. The Hoffman et. al. [9] The proposed computer based system the following essential
proposed an exam system for testing student in the software component. The detailed architecture of proposed system is
engineering courses and that system is used offline. The shown in Figure-1.
McGough et. al. [10] proposed a browser-based exams system to
(a)Central command Centre (CCC)
prove of concept. That system does not support full interactivity
and it does not support different languages it's also designed for (b)Examination Command Centre (ECC)
computer science students.Ji-hoon Lee et. al. [11] proposed exam
generator program which helps both users and instructors. The (a) Central Command Centre:
system is built for generating exams for fundamental engineering It is the main part of examination system which manages and
students. The exam is designed taking into consideration one type controls the entire operation of conducting examination. It
of exams which is Multiple Choice Questions.
has Replication Exam Server (RES) which enhance the
Raymound et. al. [12] proposed a web based Multiple Choice
Exams. This exam supports only this type of questions and does reliability. The Central Command Server (CCS) is connected
not support Arabic as an exam language. Jelica protice et. al. [13] through Internet.The Central Control Centre includes the
proposed a system that provides teachers with efficient means of followings functions.
generating and scoring tests with multiple choice answers. This
system is inevitable in evaluating student's knowledge at massive

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(i) Management of system information of all regions ensures the scalability for the system. All transactions are
Each terminal is having an IP address and a MAC address this performed after double authentication to prevent masquerade,
information is stored in a table into the fields such as Region stealing of the questions and test sheets.
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 centers details, number of computers each computer
center has and the candidates information, such as which center
has been allotted to, date of examination, session. From this, it
prepares the examination schedule. Management of candidates
information. The candidates personal information, examination Figure 1: Architecture of proposed system
information such as examination venue, date and time of
(b)Examination Command Centre (ECC)
examination are managed & effectively maintained. The copy of
The operations of the examination Command Centre are:
the personal information of the candidates is then uploaded to the
(i) Initiating the communication with central server
required regional server for authentication in local examination
(ii) Requesting candidates information for that particular
halls. The mark of the candidate is also maintained.
Examination Command Centre region.
(iii) Requesting for question set at time of exam.
(iii) Management of examinations question bank
(iv) Automatically generate the four question set at exam
This unit is the heart of the entire EES where the question bank
time on the basis of received set from Central
for entire examination is maintained.
Command Centre (CCC).
(v) Uploading the answers to the central Command Server
(iv) Generation of question sets
after exam completion.
Our e-Examination system proposes to use same question sets
(vi) Monitor the each terminal with following field with the
with different order .It assign the set number (set1, set2, set3,
help of exam monitoring system is shown in Figure-2.
set4) to each candidate according to seating plan layout.

System Number /Terminal Number, Student Name, IP

(v) Secure Distribution of questions set
Address, Exam Time, Login/Logout, Lock/Unlock
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 candidates
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 Figure 2: Exam Monitoring System

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Process Flow Security and Reliability of EES

The process flow of the online examination process before Security is the most important factor of an examination
examination starts has been shown in Figure 3 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
Figure 3: Process Flow to every data package to limit the data package used within
the time permitted. For that particularly sensitive data, such
Process flow on the day of exam is shown in figure 4. 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
Figure 4: Process flow on one day Exam time for the shifting.

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Experimental Results (ii) Candidate enters a password and clicks submit button. If
(i) Designed a launcher which install on each client machine. authentication is successfully it display Instruction page is
Instructor gives server IP, System and select exam start is shown shown in Figure-7
in Figure-5.

Figure 7: Instruction page

Where candidate read information related to exam and all
Figure 5: Launcher candidate IP Address stored in exam monitoring system on
It launches examination system and displays the candidate Login Exam Server.
page with Photo System Number, Candidate Name and entered
roll no is shown in Figure-6 (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 6: Login page

Figure 9: Candidate Login

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Candidate click I AM READY TOBEGIN then exam start page

open with timer as shown in Figure-10 v) Exam monitoring system on Exam Center is shown in
figure-13 which synchronized with Central Command
Center.

Figure 10: Exam page

Figure 13: Exam monitoring system
If timer reaches to zero automatically open the exam summary
Result of test quizis shown in Figure-14.
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 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
Figure 12: Exam Completed Successfully essential and CES is an excellent platform for this. Online

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Examination System is efficient, fast and reduces the large [9] Daniel Hoffman, Paul Strooper, and Peter Walsh,
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