Below is a copy of the communication sent to all IFoA students:
31 January 2025
We are very sorry for the inconvenience and frustration that last week’s unsuccessful exam test session has caused both candidates and their employers. This page provides more information on what we know about the issues that arose and provides an important update on some changes which will help ensure that we are able to deliver secure exams and a positive experience for our candidates in April.
We ran our first practice exam session last week and unfortunately, candidates experienced issues launching the remote invigilation ProctorU platform. After a delay, candidates were able to launch ProctorU, and we were able to extend the session time to enable as many candidates as possible to complete the practice exam. We fully acknowledge this is not an acceptable outcome.
We have subsequently been working with ProctorU to establish the root cause of the problem. The issue was the communication between the exam platform and the proctoring system failed due to a coding inconsistency in the third-party API (the relay used to connect the two systems) that triggered when a large number of candidates logged on simultaneously.
We are now confident that the issue has been resolved and we plan to move forward with the session scheduled for Tuesday 4th February in order to fully stress test the system. We have run extensive testing, including large numbers of IFoA staff using the system, but ultimately we need the help of our candidates to test it at maximum capacity. There is the possibility that the test may not work as planned on Tuesday but our aim is to ensure that with extensive testing now, there will be secure delivery of the exams in April.
We would be very grateful if candidates who are booked on to Tuesday’s session could help us by participating so that they help us identify and eliminate any further issues. Once inside the session, candidates will be able to experience the new online proctoring system as planned. We will also be arranging a new practice session for those who attended the 22nd January session and will contact those candidates directly.
We very much appreciate the way that both candidates and their employers have gone to considerable lengths to meet the new requirements for the April 2025 exam session. We have, however, received significant and clear feedback that the challenges go above and beyond whether the IFoA’s systems work. There are additional challenges to meeting these requirements including the ability to install software on secure company-owned computers.
We are therefore working to introduce the ability for some candidates to sit the exams with in-person proctoring at suitable locations globally through trusted partners and suppliers. Candidates would continue to take the same online closed book exam at a single set time but there would be no need to install proctoring software as invigilation would be undertaken in person.
We are currently engaging with potential partners to deliver this in-person option and will make it as widely available as we can. We will communicate further details as soon as they are available.
To enable us to put arrangements in place for in-person proctoring, we are postponing the opening of exam booking for the April session from 3rd February to 10th February for members and from 10th February to 17th February for non-members. Exam booking will now close for all candidates at 5:00 pm UK time on 24th February.
We would like to thank our candidates and their employers for their patience as we make these necessary changes to our April exams and once again apologise for the inconvenience and concern caused.
Yours sincerely
Mike McDougall
Director of Learning