Are online proctored exams recorded?
Yes. Every major online proctoring system publishes that the session is recorded. ETS states it in one sentence for the GRE at home: your entire test session will be recorded and monitored by a human proctor, and your photo will be taken. Microsoft's official online-exam page states the same for OnVUE sittings: when taking the exam, you will be recorded, and the proctor will monitor you by video and audio.
The consent arrives before the sitting, not after it. Pearson VUE's general OnVUE page lists what testing online requires: run a system test, find a distraction-free space, and consent to monitoring by human proctors and assistive AI tools throughout the test. ProctorU's Review+ instructions tell students the same thing in syllabus language: you will be monitored and recorded during your exam.
This page covers the published picture in general terms: what the recording contains, when it starts and stops, who can access it, how review works during and after the session, how long recordings are kept where a vendor publishes a number, and how review outcomes reach your result. Nothing here describes how any flag is computed, what any threshold is, or how any system might be evaded.
What the recording is published to capture
The feeds are ordinary and named. Microsoft publishes the list for OnVUE: monitoring includes your face, your voice, and the room where you are seated during the exam. ETS publishes the same pair from the other side: the proctor monitors you via video camera and your computer screen, and requests access to your screen for monitoring purposes during check-in.
Still photographs are part of the record too. Microsoft: mobile phone photos must be uploaded to launch your exam, and a greeter reviews them along with your headshot and ID before you begin. ETS: your photo will be taken. The check-in artifacts sit inside the same session record as the video, not in a separate file.
Some systems add a second camera on purpose. The Duolingo English Test requires your phone camera to capture your head, shoulders, screen, and keyboard, and warns you not to interfere with the phone camera recording. Proctorio puts the choice in the administrator's hands: it records only if the video, audio, and screen recording settings are enabled by the exam administrator. Which feeds exist is a published setting, not a hidden capability.
When the recording starts and stops
Proctorio publishes the most precise boundary in this source set. Proctorio only runs during an exam and during exam review - the extension's shield icon turns green when it is on - and it only records during an exam, if the exam administrator enabled the video, audio, and screen recording settings. Recording starts right as you enter the exam, after the diagnostics pre-check and the exam agreement have been completed. Recording stops as soon as you submit or close the exam.
ETS publishes the entire-session version of the same boundary. Your entire test session will be recorded and monitored by a human proctor, and your photo will be taken. The record opens at check-in - identity, room, and screen shown to the proctor - and closes when the sitting ends.
The check-in artifacts belong to the same record. Microsoft: mobile phone photos must be uploaded to launch your exam, and a greeter reviews them along with your headshot and ID before you begin. ETS: your photo will be taken. The session record is therefore wider than the video stream alone - it is the photos, the room scan, the agreement, and the full capture together.
Two published review models: live and record-and-review
In the live model, a person watches while the recording is being made. ETS publishes continuous human monitoring for the GRE at home: the entire session is recorded and monitored by a human proctor. Microsoft's OnVUE page publishes the same shape: the proctor monitors you by video and audio during the exam.
In the record-and-review model, the session is captured and people look afterward. Respondus Monitor is published as fully automated proctoring: students use a webcam to record themselves during an online exam, and afterward flagged events and proctoring results are available to the instructor for further review. ExamSoft's ExamMonitor works the same way: after exam-takers complete the exam, the institution reviews the A.I. report and the recording.
Proctorio publishes the fork explicitly. Only approved representatives at your institution have access to your recordings, and institution-approved representatives review exam attempts to determine whether any flagged behavior was truly infringing. If the institution is utilizing live proctoring, a Proctorio proctor monitors during the exam instead. The exam's own rules page, not the brand name, tells you which model you are sitting.
Who is published to have access to the recording
Proctorio publishes the tightest access sentence in this source set: only approved representatives at your institution have access to your audio, video, and screen recordings. Proctorio also publishes the geography: recording data collected from institutions that contract with it in the U.S. stays within U.S.-based data centers.
Honorlock and ProctorU publish the instructor end of the circle. Honorlock: exam proctors review the testing sessions and send in-depth reports to the instructor, and instructors can review reports and time-stamped exam session recordings. ProctorU Review+: if cheating is suspected, the instructor is notified and will have video evidence of your session.
Microsoft publishes the certification-owner end. If a proctor terminates an exam for a rules breach, suspected cheating or tampering, or another person in the room, the infraction is reported to Microsoft with audio and/or video evidence, and final decisions regarding exam security matters are made by authorized personnel. The pattern across vendors is the same: the recording moves inside a named circle - proctoring staff, institution representatives, the exam owner - and the vendor names that circle.
How post-exam review is published to work
ExamSoft publishes the fullest map of the review room. After an ExamMonitor exam, the institution reviews the A.I. report and the recording to determine if any breaches occurred. The A.I. review might take up to 24 hours after the exam is submitted. ExamSoft's own guidance is explicit about the division of labor: think of the A.I. as an assistant, because the people at your institution are ultimately responsible for investigating the findings, reviewing the recordings, and determining whether breaches occurred.
The review leaves its own paper trail. Reviewers work through a Review Queue and enter a disposition for each exam-taker. ExamSoft warns reviewers that comments cannot be edited or deleted after submission, and that the notes may be shared during academic integrity hearings that result from the process. The record of the review is itself part of the record.
Honorlock publishes the same two-step in fewer screens. After students finish, human proctors review the sessions and send instructors detailed reports, and each incident includes a timestamp into the test-session recording so the instructor can review the moment themselves. Respondus Monitor publishes the same destination: flagged events and proctoring results are available to the instructor, inside the learning system they already use. A flag marks a moment; the recording is what the moment lives inside.
Software assists the review; people decide
Every vendor in this source set that publishes a division of labor draws the same line: software marks, humans judge. Microsoft states it for OnVUE: AI tools may analyze session data and generate alerts for potential policy violations or irregularities, but those tools support, and do not replace, human review, and final decisions regarding exam security matters are made by authorized personnel.
ExamSoft states it inside the review room itself. Its own reviewer guidance tells institutions to think of the A.I. as an assistant: the people at your institution are ultimately responsible for investigating the findings, reviewing the recordings, and determining whether breaches occurred. Proctorio states it as a flat rule: the software does not perform algorithmic decision-making about integrity breaches, and decisions are left to the exam administrator or institution.
Respondus publishes a fairness commitment alongside the same model. Monitor's algorithms are systematically tested for fairness so that age, gender, and skin tone do not impact proctoring results, and the flagged events still go to the instructor for further review. The recording and the flags are inputs to a person's decision - that is the strongest statement any of these vendors makes about the software's role, and it comes from their own pages.
How long recordings are kept: the one published number
Exactly one vendor in this source set publishes a retention figure on its candidate-facing pages. Proctorio stores recording data for as long as required by the institution or by local law. In some cases, Proctorio says, this is as little as seven days. The actual period depends on the individual agreement signed with each partnered institution.
Proctorio also publishes when you find out. During the exam pre-checks, you will be told how long your recordings will be stored. The retention answer arrives before the exam starts, as part of the same pre-check sequence that confirms your equipment and agreement.
No other vendor in this source set publishes a retention number on the pages reviewed for this article. That absence is not evidence of indefinite storage, and it is not evidence of prompt deletion - it is simply not published. The exam's own privacy policy or the institution's agreement is the place to confirm, and this page does not estimate what vendors chose not to print.
How recording review reaches your result
Duolingo publishes the most candidate-visible outcome path. If your test result cannot be certified, log in and open My Tests: every reason your result was invalidated is listed, and each reason carries a learn-more link to an article with details and prevention tips. Duolingo reserves the right not to certify results when a rules violation is suspected, and it may also be unable to certify when a technical error occurs during the test.
Microsoft publishes the certification-program consequences. A terminated exam is reported to Microsoft with audio and/or video evidence. The exam may be invalidated, and Microsoft may decertify and even ban the candidate from the Microsoft Certification Program. ETS publishes the test-day version: any violation of security procedures during the test or during a break may result in dismissal from the test and/or cancellation of your test scores.
In the record-and-review systems, the decision sits with the institution. ProctorU Review+ notifies the instructor with video evidence. ExamSoft's reviewers determine whether breaches occurred and enter dispositions. Proctorio leaves decisions regarding potential breaches to the exam administrator or institution. In every published path, the recording is the evidence, not the verdict - a named person or body decides.
The recording rules that bind the candidate
The recording obligation runs both directions, and vendors publish both. Microsoft: you may not copy or record questions or answers from the exam. ETS: personal recording devices of any kind are strictly prohibited. Duolingo: do not take notes or record questions, and do not interfere with the phone camera recording that the test itself requires.
Microsoft also publishes the only real opt-out in this source set. If you do not wish to be recorded, notify the proctor immediately and reschedule your exam at a test center. The published alternative is a different delivery mode with different oversight, not a version of the online session without a record.
The two rule sets exist for two stated reasons. The vendor's recording protects the integrity of the result - it is the evidence every review path above depends on. The candidate's recording ban protects the exam content itself. Both rules appear on the same official pages, which is the clearest sign that neither is an accident of marketing copy.
What vendors do not publish about recording and review
Set against everything the vendors do publish, the gaps are consistent. No vendor in this source set documents how a flag is computed, what threshold turns a moment into a flag, how many reviewers staff any review queue, or how long OnVUE, ETS, Honorlock, ProctorU, Respondus, or ExamSoft keep recordings. Proctorio's as-little-as-seven-days figure is the only published number found, and it is an institution-agreement example, not an industry standard.
The same honesty applies to access questions candidates ask. Proctorio publishes its access limit - approved representatives at your institution only - and its data-center geography. Other vendors name their own circles. None of the reviewed pages publishes a way for you to inspect, copy, or delete your own recording. Where that question matters, the official privacy policy for your exam is the published path, not forum folklore.
That is the correct stopping point for a general-terms explainer. The published record covers the feeds, the access circles, the review sequence, and the named outcome paths, and that is enough to understand what happens to the recording. When someone claims a review process does some specific undocumented thing, the test is the vendor's own pages - and this page reports each claim exactly as far as those pages go.
If the Review Is the Part That Worries You
The published picture of session recording and post-exam review is ordinary, and that is the point. The session is recorded. A named circle of people can access the record. Software marks moments inside it. Humans review - during the sitting on live systems, after it on record-and-review systems - and named people or bodies decide what the review means for your result.
That is the problem Exam Assist works on. If you have a proctored exam coming up and the sitting itself is the risk, send the details through the booking page: you get an honest feasibility answer, and the service fee is due only after your result posts.
For more of this series in the same general-terms format, see our guides to how live proctors review online exams, how AI flagging works, ExamSoft's record-and-review proctoring, Proctorio's behavior monitoring, the Duolingo English Test's security rules, and what to expect at a remote exam check-in.