OnVUE Proctoring Rules Explained: What You Can and Cannot Do During Your Online Exam

OnVUE is the software layer of a Pearson VUE online exam, and it enforces a different set of things than the human proctor does. The software controls your machine: it locks the screen, blocks other applications, and watches your camera and microphone continuously. The proctor handles judgement: whether what the software flagged actually matters. Knowing which is which explains most of what confuses first-time candidates.

The short version: OnVUE decides whether your exam can start and whether it stays running. A human decides whether your behaviour is acceptable. You can satisfy one and fail the other.

What OnVUE does to your computer

When OnVUE launches, it takes over the machine for the duration of the session:

• It goes full screen and prevents you from leaving that window. Alt-tabbing, switching desktops, and minimising are blocked.
• It scans running processes and refuses to start if it finds screen sharing, remote desktop, virtual machine, or recording software active.
• It checks display configuration and will not launch if more than one monitor is connected.
• It disables or intercepts common shortcuts, including copy, paste, print screen, and task switching.
• It streams webcam video, microphone audio, and your screen to the proctoring service for the whole session.

This is also why OnVUE is uninstalled and re-downloaded for each exam. The application you download is tied to your appointment, and using an old copy is a common reason launch fails.

What the software flags on its own

Automated monitoring runs constantly and does not make decisions. It raises flags that a human reviews, either live or afterwards. Typical automatic flags include:

• No face detected, or more than one face detected in frame.
• Face moving significantly out of the camera's view.
• Sustained audio in the room, including talking, a television, or another person's voice.
• Lip movement while no speech is expected.
• Eye or head movement showing a repeated pattern of looking away from the screen.
• A new display or input device connecting mid-session.

An automatic flag is not an accusation. Plenty of sessions accumulate flags and finish normally because the reviewer sees an innocent explanation. What causes trouble is a pattern: the same flag firing repeatedly, or a flag that coincides with a change in your answering behaviour.

What the human proctor actually watches

The proctor sees your webcam feed, hears your room, sees your screen, and can message you in a chat panel. In practice they intervene for a narrow set of reasons:

• Someone else appears in the room or is audible.
• You leave your seat or move out of frame.
• Something appears on your desk that was not there during the room scan.
• You are talking, whispering, or reading aloud.
• Your face is obscured, badly lit, or partially out of view.
• You appear to be looking at something off-screen repeatedly.

Proctors are generally not hostile. Most interventions start as a polite chat message asking you to adjust something. The failure mode to avoid is ignoring the message because you are deep in a question. If the chat panel lights up, read it and respond immediately.

Allowed and prohibited items, specifically

Prohibited in essentially all cases:

• Phones, tablets, smartwatches, and fitness trackers.
• Headphones, earbuds, and any Bluetooth audio device.
• Paper, notebooks, sticky notes, and printed material, including blank paper.
• Additional monitors, whether powered on or off, if they remain connected.
• Food.
• Pens and pencils, since there is nothing you are permitted to write on paper.

Usually allowed, subject to your certification vendor:

• Water in a clear, unlabelled container.
• One small erasable whiteboard with a marker, shown blank to the proctor before and after.
• Prescription glasses, which the proctor may ask you to remove briefly to inspect.
• Approved medical devices, where an accommodation was arranged in advance.

The distinction that matters: "not on your desk" is not the same as "not in the room". Many items are fine elsewhere in the room as long as they are out of reach and not visible during the scan. A phone is the exception most vendors treat strictly, which is why moving it to another room is the safer habit.

How the room scan works in OnVUE

The scan happens during check-in, before the proctor connects you to the exam. You will be asked to photograph your workspace and often to show the room on camera. Expect requests to show:

• The full desk surface, including behind the monitor.
• Underneath the desk.
• The walls around and behind you, usually as a slow turn.
• Your ears, to confirm you are not wearing an earpiece.
• Your sleeves or wrists, to confirm no watch or notes.

Two things speed this up. Do the scan yourself before check-in, using your phone camera or webcam, and look at what is actually visible rather than what you remember being there. And if you use a laptop, detach it from any dock first, because reaching under the desk to unplug cables mid-scan wastes the check-in window.

Handling proctor chat messages during the exam

The chat panel is the only channel you have during the exam, and how you use it matters:

• Read messages immediately and do what is asked without arguing.
• If you need to report a problem, describe it briefly and factually.
• Do not use chat to ask about exam content. Proctors cannot help and the request is logged.
• If your connection drops, do not close OnVUE. Wait, and let it attempt reconnection before taking any other action.

A practical note on timing: for most Pearson VUE exams the clock does not start until the proctor releases you into the exam, but once you are in, time spent resolving an interruption is usually time lost. That asymmetry is why it is worth over-preparing the environment rather than planning to fix things live.

Where OnVUE rules and vendor rules diverge

OnVUE defines what the software permits. Your certification vendor defines what your specific exam permits, and it can be stricter. Two examples that surprise people:

• Some vendors allow a scheduled break partway through a long exam. OnVUE supports it, but only where the vendor has enabled it. If your exam has no built-in break, leaving your seat ends the session.
• Some vendors prohibit a whiteboard entirely even though OnVUE supports one.

Before test day, read the candidate agreement for your specific certification rather than relying on general OnVUE documentation. Where the two conflict, the vendor's rule is the one enforced against you.

If you are not confident your setup will pass

Run the system check from the same room, on the same machine and network you will use, at least a day ahead. Then repeat the room scan yourself. If either leaves you unsure, a test centre appointment removes the entire category of risk, and for a long or expensive exam that trade is often worth making.

OnVUE behaviour and vendor policies change between releases. Verify the current requirements against Pearson VUE's official documentation and your certification vendor's candidate agreement before your appointment.