Building for the future: developing digital examinations

At Cambridge we have over 160 years’ experience in delivering fair, valid, and reliable assessments to students worldwide.

We recognise that our learners are living and studying in a world that requires a more digital-focused skillset. We are excited to announce our journey towards incorporating digital examinations into our offering. Digital examinations that are authentic to the way students learn have the potential to unlock new opportunities and improve the assessment experience through:

improving student engagement and control
improving accessibility and inclusivity
reflecting the method of classroom teaching and learning more authentically
streamlining administration for schools
offering varied question formats
improving practicalities of audio/video assessment.

Our approach to assessment has always been evidence-based and digital examinations will be no different – informed by rigorous research, the latest technological developments, and working in partnership with you.

The Cambridge research-based approach

As part of the University of Cambridge, we offer a globally trusted and flexible framework for education from ages 3 to 19, informed by research, experience, and listening to educators. Our relationship with the university and schools around the world, give us an unrivalled depth of research potential into the requirements and benefits of digital examinations.

We are committed to understanding teachers’ and students’ needs and aspirations with examinations and that is why we have been working together with our Cambridge community to define the future of digital examinations. We recognise the scale, complexities, and importance of this shift and therefore every step in our digital examination journey is underpinned by thorough research, testing, trialling, and piloting with you. We are ensuring that our approach is not only comparable and fair but meets the individual needs of our teachers and learners globally.

We are looking into the future, taking steps forward informed by input from teachers, industry and our researchers. We’re building digital-first qualifications around the world, exploring the immense potential for digital examinations that can reach beyond the limitations of paper, while offering more flexibility for our customers.

Rod Smith, Group Managing Director for International Education

Looking to the future

By 2030, our ambition is for the majority of our examinations to be available digitally, while still providing the option for traditional paper-based exams.

Working together with you we will make this ambition a reality.

Working together with you we will shape the future of digital examinations.

If you would like to keep up to date with digital examination news and research, please complete the form below.

Stay up to date with digital examinations

How digital examinations work

Taking a digital examination will be a similar experience to a paper-based examination, with the main difference being that students will read questions and type their answers on a digital device. Examinations are conducted at centres under exam conditions.

The digital examinations processes for making entries, grading, and receiving the results will remain mostly the same. Any differences between digital and paper-based administration will be identified in a digital supplement added to the Cambridge Handbook (PDF, 7MB).

We appreciate not all schools will be able to support digital examinations initially. We will work with centres to understand and support their capabilities and needs, including technology requirements. Our goal is to support you, so you are able to offer both digital and paper-based examinations.

Digital Mock Service

As part of our in-depth research, we’re offering a limited launch mock service for digital exams in a selection of schools worldwide. This allows students the experience of taking a past paper on screen, that is then marked by Cambridge examiners.  

So far, we have found: 

92% of Cambridge learners preferred typing their responses to writing them with a pen and paper
comparable results: Students who took digital mock components performed very similarly on average to students who took live exams
surveyed students found an on-screen timer and word count facility useful during their mocks
the vast majority of students and examiners preferred typed over hand-written responses
assessment validity: digital mock test reliability matched the reliability of large-scale paper exams and the equivalent live assessments.

Participants of the Digital Mock Service are helping to steer the shape and future of the digital assessment service. Centres that have worked with us so far have told us that they find the digital experience beneficial for their students.

We invite schools to get involved in the Digital Mock Service.

Express your interest

What our teachers, exams officers and learners say

Doing an exam on screen is faster and easier for the learners to correct their mistakes and count the words.
Teacher, Indonesia

I believe that digital mocks is a good way to prepare us for future jobs that mostly rely on digital work. As long as an electronic device and internet are given, it’s a good alternative to paper.
Learner, Mozambique

I quite like the fact that you could see not just what mark they achieved or whether they got it right or wrong, but what answer they chose.
Exams Officer, Zimbabwe