Test Center Security and Integrity
This domain tests how well you apply layered controls that protect the test event, test data, and candidate confidentiality-and how you respond when a control fails. TCQR reviews look for evidence that security is designed in, not improvised at the door.
Core rules and controls
- Maintain single-point entry with sign-in, badge or visitor log, and escort for anyone without testing-floor authorization.
- Require candidates to store phones, smart watches, notes, and bags outside the testing room. A powered-off device is still a prohibited item unless the sponsor's policy says otherwise.
- Complete a room sweep before each session: check under workstations, behind monitors, and in restrooms for notes or devices; verify the secure browser and lockdown are active.
- Control keys, codes, and paper materials with a custody log. Use separation of duties so one person does not admit, proctor, and close the same incident alone.
- Preserve CCTV, access logs, and incident records for the required retention period.
Worked example
A candidate says, “My phone is off-can I keep it in my pocket?” The proctor agrees. During the session the phone alarm sounds. The correct review finding is that the proctor failed at admission, not merely that a phone rang. The device should have been stored outside, the alarm treated as a security event, the device secured and logged, and the sponsor notified under the irregularity procedure.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating “off” or “silent” as compliant.
- Confiscating a device without a chain-of-custody entry.
- Documenting only “phone incident” without time, location, and action taken.
- Assuming CCTV alone proves integrity; it must be retained and reviewable.