Proctored exams vs lockdown browser: 5 differences every school should know

Most schools use "proctored exam" and "lockdown browser" as if they are the same thing. They are not. One watches the student. The other locks down the device. Mixing them up leads to schools buying the wrong protection, or paying for two tools when the exam only needs one.

A proctored exam is a test supervised, in person or by software, to confirm the student's identity and stop cheating. A lockdown browser is a separate layer that restricts what the student's device can do during the exam. Proctoring watches the person. A lockdown browser controls the environment. Most secure school exams use both, and understanding the proctored exam meaning next to the lockdown browser is the fastest way to pick the right setup.

Here is what each one is, the five differences that actually matter, and how to decide what your school needs.

TL;DR. Proctoring vs Lockdown

What is a proctored exam? 

A proctored exam is a test supervised by a person or by software that acts as one, to verify who is taking it and to make sure the rules are followed. The supervisor is called a proctor, or an invigilator in most international schools.

Proctoring has two forms. The traditional form is in-person invigilation, where a teacher watches the room. The digital form is online proctoring, where software uses the student's webcam, microphone, and screen activity to monitor the exam and flag anything unusual. Some services add a live human who reviews flagged moments.

The key idea is simple. Proctoring is about the person. It confirms identity, watches behaviour, and records evidence if something goes wrong. It does not, on its own, stop the student's laptop from opening a new tab.

Proctoring answers one question: is this the right student, doing their own work, under fair conditions?

For on-screen assessment, AssessPrep supports zoom links if students are taking exams digitally, making the teacher invigilate. Couple that with a lockdown browser and you get supervised, secure exam delivery. This has been used by over 800 IB and Cambridge schools, so monitoring sits inside the same platform teachers use to build and run the exam. You can see how this works on the secure exam delivery page.

What is a lockdown browser?

A lockdown browser is software that restricts what a student can do on their device during an exam. It is a device-side layer, not a supervision service.

When a lockdown browser is running, the student cannot open new tabs, switch to other apps, copy and paste, take screenshots, or exit the test early. It turns a normal laptop into a locked exam environment for the duration of the paper. 

Notice what a lockdown browser does not do. It does not check who is sitting at the keyboard. It does not watch the room. It controls the device, and that is where it stops.

A lockdown browser secures the environment, not the person inside it.

With AssessPrep, lockdown is built into the platform rather than added as a separate tool. If you want the detail on how restriction and monitoring work together, this post on how lockdown mode and monitoring work together covers it.

Proctored exams vs lockdown browser: the 5 key differences

Both protect exam integrity, but they do it in different ways. Here is the quick comparison, then the five differences that matter when you choose.

1. What they monitor

Proctoring watches the person. A lockdown browser watches the device. That single distinction explains most of the others.

Picture a student glancing down at a phone in their lap. Only proctoring catches that, because it can see the room. Now picture the same student trying to open a search tab mid-exam. Only the lockdown browser catches that, because it controls the browser. Different threats, different tools.

2. How they work

Proctoring works by observation. Software or a human uses the webcam and microphone to watch behaviour, verify identity, and record the session so it can be reviewed later.

A lockdown browser works by restriction. It changes what the device will allow while the exam is open, blocking the shortcuts and apps a student might use to cheat. There is nothing to review afterwards, because the goal is to prevent the action in the first place.

3. What they cost you in setup and friction

A lockdown browser is usually the lighter touch. It installs on the device and runs when the exam starts, with little extra work for the student.

Proctoring asks for more. It often needs a stable internet connection, a working webcam and mic, and sometimes a scheduling step and a consent process for recording. In a room full of teenagers on school Wi-Fi, that overhead is worth planning for before exam day.

4. Privacy and data footprint

This difference matters most in schools, because your students are minors. Proctoring records video and audio of children, which carries real weight under GDPR, FERPA, and your own safeguarding policy. You need a clear reason, a consent process, and a retention rule.

A lockdown browser records almost nothing personal. It restricts the device and then releases it. If privacy review is slowing your decision down, that gap is usually why.

In a school, the privacy cost of proctoring is not a detail. It is often the deciding factor.

Which security model does your school actually need?

Start with the stakes, not the tool. The right answer changes with how much a given assessment matters.

For low-stakes formative checks and classroom quizzes, you rarely need either. Good assessment design does most of the work, and randomised question banks make copying pointless. For high-stakes on-screen papers, such as IB DP mocks, MYP eAssessment practice, or Cambridge IGCSE and A-Level terminal exams, layer a lockdown browser with monitoring so you close both the device gap and the behaviour gap. Fully remote candidates, which are rare in most international schools, are the one case where proctoring becomes genuinely necessary, because there is no invigilator in the room.

In practice, coordinators tend to leave everyday quizzes open, switch on lockdown for unit tests, and add monitoring for the papers that count. You can see how one school runs that full range in the Dubai National School case study.

The point most vendor guides skip is this. You do not have to buy a separate proctoring service and bolt a separate lockdown browser onto it. An integrated on-screen assessment platform lets you dial security up or down per assessment. AssessPrep is used by over 800 schools across 85+ countries to run exactly this spectrum, from open quizzes to secure terminal mocks, inside one platform with a single audit trail.

Pick the security model that fits the exam, not the one a single-product vendor is selling.

Conclusion: two tools, two jobs

The confusion between proctored exams and lockdown browsers comes from treating them as rivals. They are not. Proctoring watches the student. A lockdown browser controls the device. The strongest exams use both, matched to the stakes of the paper, without turning every quiz into surveillance.

Once you see them as two jobs rather than one choice, the decision gets simple. Ask what each exam actually needs, then use the lightest setup that closes the real gap.

Key takeaways

• A proctored exam supervises the student. A lockdown browser restricts the device. They are not the same thing.

• Proctoring records video of minors, so its privacy cost is often the deciding factor in a school.

• Match the model to the stakes: light security for formative work, lockdown plus monitoring for high-stakes papers.

• An integrated platform delivers both without bolting two separate tools together.

See how 800+ IB, Cambridge, and Edexcel schools run secure on-screen exams, with lockdown mode and monitoring built into one platform and a single audit trail.

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