Site hardware

Hardware configuration

All-in-one PC's are permitted as long as they meet the minimum Technical Specification and do not have a Touch screen. Pearson VUE highly recommends that All-in-one PC's meet the Recommended Technical Specifications.

Printer

Administration and exam delivery workstations must have access to a laser quality printer with 600 dpi support. The printer must be located outside of the exam delivery room.

Power supply

Sites must provide a reliable power supply to the administration, proctor, and exam delivery workstations, file server and printer.

In some locations, sudden or frequent power failures or outages may be common. To minimize the risk of damage to testing data and equipment, we recommend connecting an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or other power protection device to the administration workstation or file server where the shared file storage is located.

Note iconNote

If you do experience a power outage while testing is in progress, please do the following:
  1. If you are running a UPS (recommended), OR if the power has not gone out completely, hit CTL+SHIFT+F12 and stop the exam to ensure no exam data is lost.
  2. If you are NOT running a UPS, OR if the power has gone out completely, first power down the exam delivery workstations, and then power down the file server. Powering down the workstations in this order minimizes the risk of data loss in your site.

Monitor refresh rate

When setting up a new monitor for an exam delivery workstation, set the refresh rate to at least 75 Hz whenever possible. Microsoft Windows automatically defaults the refresh rate on monitors to 60 Hz to accommodate older monitors that are limited to that setting, but most new monitors can be set to a higher setting.

A higher refresh rate is important because some candidates’ eyes are very sensitive to refresh rates and viewing an exam on a monitor with a low refresh rate can be uncomfortable. Painful or teary eyes can affect a candidate’s performance on an exam. Keep in mind that the refresh rate cannot be changed once an exam has been started.

Monitors – exam delivery

 

REQUIREMENT

Monitor
  1. 17" or larger
  2. Must allow for the following display resolution settings:
    1. 1280 x 1024
    2. 1024 x 768
  3. Monitor must be connected to the computer using DVI, DisplayPort or HDMI.

Desktop graphics adapter
  1. Exam delivery workstations must have a graphics adapter that supports GPU Scaling (ability to Maintain Aspect Ratio)
  2. Exam delivery workstations must have the GPU Scaling feature enabled in the graphics adapter software.
  3. The latest version of graphics drivers must be installed

24" monitors – exam delivery

If your site is required to use 24” monitors for exam delivery, then the following monitor settings and technical specifications must be met.

 

Requirement

Monitor
  1. Must allow for the following display resolution settings:
    1. 1920 x 1080
    2. 1280 x 1024
    3. 1024 x 768
  2. Monitor must be connected to the computer using DVI, DisplayPort or HDMI.

Desktop graphics adapter
  1. Same as above.

 

What is next?

Software licenses

 

 

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