What happens if your internet drops during an online exam?
If your internet drops during an online proctored exam, one of three published things happens depending on the delivery system. On ETS at-home exams, a momentary loss reconnects you to the proctor automatically when the connection returns, and the proctor reopens the exam if it can be reopened. On Pearson VUE's OnVUE and on ProctorU, you relaunch or re-enter the session, repeat the launch and security steps, and reconnect to your exam - ProctorU publishes that your exam may be ended if you do not return within 5 minutes. On the Duolingo English Test, there is no resume: a test that freezes or cancels midway is taken again from the beginning, and a test whose recording fails to upload after completion is retaken in full.
What none of the systems does is pause the problem away. OnVUE states plainly that its proctors cannot pause or extend your exam and cannot troubleshoot your device or network. The vendors instead put the weight on prevention: each one publishes a minimum connection speed, a system or equipment check to run before exam day, and household-network rules for the test window.
This page walks through the published picture in general terms - the bandwidth numbers, why connection quality is part of the security model, the three recovery shapes, what a proctor can and cannot do during a drop, the prevention checklist, and what a failed connection can cost. Every claim comes from the official documentation of five delivery systems: Pearson VUE OnVUE, ETS at home, ProctorU, PSI online proctoring, and the Duolingo English Test.
The bandwidth numbers vendors publish
Every major delivery system publishes a minimum internet speed for its online exams. Pearson VUE's OnVUE requires a stable internet connection with at least 6 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload. ProctorU publishes a connectivity minimum of 3 Mbps (3072 Kbps) for both upload and download. The Duolingo English Test requires an internet connection with at least 2 Mbps download speed and 1 Mbps upload speed. ETS does not publish a number on its at-home test-day page; instead it has candidates run the Equipment Check from the ETS Secure Browser, and it recommends running that check at the time of day you plan to test specifically to make sure you do not have bandwidth issues.
The type of connection matters as much as the speed. The Duolingo English Test recommends a stable, wired ethernet connection instead of Wi-Fi or mobile hotspot services. ProctorU discourages mobile hotspots and tethering. OnVUE goes further and lists VPNs, corporate networks, and public or shared networks as prohibited technology - its published reason is that the testing connection must be private and direct.
Each vendor also publishes a way to test your setup before it counts. OnVUE requires you to run and pass its System Test on the same device and network you will use on exam day. ProctorU recommends its test-it-out feature on the computer you will use. ETS has the Equipment Check built into its secure browser, with a final check shortly before the session starts. PSI publishes a publicly available System Compatibility Check and, when the test sponsor shares one, a Tutorial Test simulation. The shared logic: the connection that matters is the one you will actually use, at the time you will actually use it.
Why proctoring systems care about your connection
An online proctored exam is, at its core, a set of live streams. PSI describes its online proctoring team monitoring your session through screenshare, webcam, and microphone - all three of which travel over your internet connection for the entire session. When the connection degrades, the monitoring record degrades with it, and that record is what the exam's integrity review depends on.
The Duolingo English Test's own help center makes the link explicit. Its article on audio and video delays explains that a camera can be working properly while the audio falls behind because of an internet connection issue - and that this makes the test very difficult to review. A session that cannot be reviewed cleanly is a problem for the certifier, not just an inconvenience for the candidate.
That is why the published minimums exist, why vendors ask you to keep other household devices off the network during the test, and why a weak or unstable connection is treated as a test-day risk to be screened out in advance - not something to negotiate after the fact. ProctorU's equipment documentation states that issues with stability or speed may prevent you from testing or may cause issues during your exam.
A momentary drop: automatic reconnection
The lightest published case is a brief, momentary loss of connection, and ETS documents it directly. If you lose your internet connection momentarily during an ETS at-home exam, you will automatically be reconnected to the proctor when your connection is restored. If your exam can be reopened, your proctor will do so for you.
If the reconnection does not take - you cannot get back to the test or to the proctor - ETS's published next step is to reinitiate the check-in process. That means returning to the same At Home Check-In link from your confirmation email and repeating the admission steps, including the identity and environment checks, before you are readmitted.
Two practical notes from the same official page round out the picture. First, if you experience any technical problem during the test, you should notify the proctor by speaking out loud or through the chat function - the proctor is the person who can reopen your exam. Second, ETS's timer guidance applies here as everywhere else in its at-home flow: the exam timer does not start until after your equipment is checked and you begin the test, so a drop during check-in itself is a scheduling problem, not lost exam time.
A frozen or disconnected session: relaunch and re-verify
The middle published case is a session that freezes or disconnects outright - the browser or secure application itself stops responding or loses its link to the proctoring platform. Both OnVUE and ProctorU publish the same general recovery shape: relaunch the delivery software, go back through the launch and security steps, and reconnect to your exam.
OnVUE's published instruction is specific about the mechanics. If your computer has frozen or disconnected, close and relaunch OnVUE from your downloads folder. The in-exam chat is the channel for reaching a proctor - but the same official page sets the boundary on what that proctor can do: they cannot pause or extend your exam, and they cannot troubleshoot your device or network. Persistent issues are directed to the customer service page for your exam program.
ProctorU's help center describes the same flow from the candidate's side. If you are disconnected from an active exam session, you can still reconnect to your proctor and exam: follow the on-screen prompts, and if the Guardian Browser or your browser closed, re-enter the exam using the same page or process you used to first access it. You will be prompted to go through the exam launch and security process again, and you are reconnected once you complete it. The published urgency matters: ProctorU recommends returning immediately, and states that if you do not return to your exam within 5 minutes your exam may be ended.
When the exam restarts instead of resuming
The Duolingo English Test publishes the strictest model: there is no resume from a mid-test failure. Its help center states that issues with the test freezing, canceling midway through, or failing to upload are usually caused by a weak or unstable internet connection - and that if your test freezes or cancels midway through, you will need to take the test again from the beginning.
The restart rule reaches past the end of the test itself. After you finish, the session recording uploads for review, and the vendor instructs you not to open any additional programs or windows and not to exit the app while it does; depending on your internet speed, the upload can take several minutes. If the test stops uploading or fails to upload, you will need to take the entire test again.
A slow connection can end a Duolingo attempt even without a full drop. The vendor's session-timeout article explains that when a slow internet connection leads to long question load times, you can reach the session time limit without completing enough questions to obtain an accurate score. The published outcome: you retake the test, and the retake uses up one of the attempts on your test credit. A connectivity problem here is not just an interruption - it is a consumed attempt.
What the proctor can and cannot do during a drop
The proctor's role during a connectivity problem is narrower than candidates expect, and the vendors publish the boundaries. On ETS at-home exams the proctor is your recovery path: you notify them of a technical problem by speaking out loud or via chat, the system reconnects you automatically after a momentary loss, and the proctor reopens the exam if it can be reopened. On PSI, a live chat to the technical team is available throughout the entire session for technical questions.
The limits are published just as clearly. OnVUE states that its proctors cannot pause or extend your exam and cannot troubleshoot your device or network - the proctor is an observer and an admission gate, not IT support. This is why the vendors push so much weight onto the pre-exam system checks: by the time the exam is running, the window for fixing your connection has largely closed.
What the proctoring side does retain is the record. OnVUE notes that the exam session is recorded for security, quality, and training purposes, and the Duolingo English Test's review process is exactly what a delayed or corrupted audio track undermines. A drop is therefore handled in two places at once: the live recovery you see, and the review of whatever the session captured while it happened.
The published prevention checklist
Across all five systems, the official prevention guidance converges on the same short list. Run the vendor's system or equipment check before exam day - OnVUE's System Test, the ETS Equipment Check, ProctorU's test-it-out feature, or PSI's System Compatibility Check - on the same device and the same network you will use for the real session, and, per ETS, at the same time of day you plan to test.
Clear the machine and the household off the connection. ETS tells candidates to close all browsers and applications not needed for the test, noting that this can help prevent bandwidth issues, and to make sure any other devices in the home that use the internet - including streaming devices - are not running. OnVUE tells candidates to ensure no one else is using the network for streaming or large downloads and to restart the computer to free system resources. The Duolingo English Test adds the off-peak option: its help center suggests asking anyone else on your network to disconnect during the test, disconnecting all other devices, and, if problems persist, testing late at night or early in the morning.
Choose the right kind of network in the first place. Wired ethernet is the recommendation where a vendor gives one; mobile hotspots and tethering are discouraged or called out as unsupported; VPNs, corporate networks, and public or shared networks are prohibited on OnVUE, and ETS warns that work, public, and university networks may block the screen sharing the proctoring session requires - which can prevent you from testing at all.
What a bad connection can cost
The published consequences fall into three buckets, and each vendor names its own. The first is the exam fee. OnVUE warns before you ever book: candidates must meet the minimum requirements, and failure to do so on exam day can result in immediate exam cancellation and forfeiture of your exam fee - the same page repeats that if any requirement is not met at check-in, you cannot test and your fee will be forfeited. ETS's version is tied to conduct: if you fail to follow the instructions of the proctor, you will not be permitted to test and your test fee will not be refunded.
The second bucket is the attempt itself. The Duolingo English Test sells tests as credits with a limited number of attempts, and its session-timeout policy states that a retake forced by long question load times uses up one of those attempts. ProctorU's published 5-minute rule sits in this bucket too: if you do not return to your exam within 5 minutes of a disconnection, your exam may be ended.
The third bucket is time. A relaunch-and-reverify flow costs the minutes of the launch and security process repeated; a restart-from-the-beginning model costs the whole sitting. Every vendor's documentation points the same direction: the cheapest connection problem is the one the pre-exam system check catches the day before.
If the Sitting Itself Is the Problem
A dropped connection is a solvable problem: the vendors publish their minimums, their checks, and their recovery procedures, and nothing in this page comes from anywhere but their own documentation. The harder problem is the exam on the other side of the connection - the proctored test itself, on a deadline, with a result that decides your next step.
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 exam, your window, and your deadline. 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 what to expect at remote exam check-in, how online proctoring works, and the vendor overviews for OnVUE, the ETS Secure Browser, ProctorU, and the Duolingo English Test.