Technical Bulletin


March 3, 2016

What is happening?

Beginning with the 2016-17 school year, Pearson recommends that customers use installable TestNav apps for assessments that require kiosk mode (see below). Kiosk mode is used with “high-stakes” assessments or assessments that contain secure test questions, and it can be enabled on all Pearson-supported operating systems and devices. TestNav apps are available at download.testnav.com. 

Pearson will continue to support browser-based TestNav for practice tests and any other tests that do not require kiosk mode.

Kiosk mode prevents students from accessing any other web pages or applications besides TestNav while testing.

Why is this happening?

Installable TestNav apps enable kiosk mode without a Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface (NPAPI) plugin; however, browser-­based TestNav requires an NPAPI plugin to enable kiosk mode.

Recent industry developments driving this change include:

  • Google stopped supporting NPAPI with Chrome in 2015.

  • Oracle plans to stop supporting NPAPI in a future version of Java.

  • Mozilla plans to drop support for the NPAPI plugin with Firefox by the end of 2016.

  • At this time, it is not known how much longer Apple will continue to support the NPAPI plugin with Safari.

What do I need to do (and how do I do it)?

Depending on your test security needs, follow the instructions below.

For tests that require kiosk mode:

  1. Review hardware requirements and Installable TestNav Software Requirements.
  2. Follow instructions for your operating system(s) in the Set up and use TestNav section.

For tests that do not require kiosk mode:

  1. Review hardware requirements.
  2. Decide whether your organization will use installable TestNav or browser-based TestNav.
  3. Follow instructions for your operating system(s) in either the Set up and use TestNav section or Browser-based TestNav Setup Overview section.

ProctorCache is not affected by this support change.