Avant provides online language assessments. This document provides technical information relative to computers and networks to help prepare for using the Avant Assessment platform.
IMPORTANT: Please ensure that information is distributed to both your network administrator, as well as the person who is responsible for preparation and setup of computers in your lab, classroom, or testing area. It is recommended to also have an IT staff member available during testing to help with computer, audio and microphone issues, should they occur.
Networking Requirements
The following section pertains specifically to network setup for the locations where testing will occur.
Email Whitelist Preparation
For test takers to receive emails with instructions to schedule, prepare, and take their test, and reminders of their upcoming test, we require that all emails from avantassessment.com be allowed. The only communications allowed to a test taker are those that directly concern their test. No other communications are permitted by Avant, for example, ads.
We try and limit our communication to any test taker to the following email address:
Support [at] avantassessment [dot] com
NoReply [at] avantassessment [dot] com
AvantProctor [at] avantassessment [dot] com
Domain Name
Firewalls, Proxy Servers and Content Filters need to be set to NOT proxy, filter, cache or block the Avant domain names on the ports listed below. All inbound and outbound traffic for the applicable domain names shown below must be whitelisted. If your system does not allow whitelisting of domain names, please contact us at support@avantassessment.com
Please ensure inbound and outbound HTTP/HTTPS (TCP 80, 443) * is open and whitelisted for the following domain: .avantassessment.com* (This is our primary application domain).
Client Bandwidth
10 Mbps (upload/download speed) of available bandwidth per test taker is recommended.
Testing Equipment Preparation
The following information pertains to setup of the computers that will be used for testing.
Equipment
Ensure that computers are not affected by power saving, screen saver, or shutdown processes that may affect test taking:
- Computer with internet connection and supported browser
- One monitor, keyboard, and mouse
- Web Camera (internal or external) 640×640 resolution (minimum)
- Headset with microphone (See the Headset Guide)
IMPORTANT: Tablets or iPads are not supported by AvantProctor remote testing.
We do not recommend tablets or iPads for testing and remote proctoring at the same time. While it is possible to take an Avant assessment on an iPad, if the test taker is being remotely proctored on the same device, the Avant Assessment application would be unable to access the microphone in order to record for the Speaking section.
Computer Requirements
Operating System
- PC Computers with Windows 10 or higher
- Mac Computers with OSX 10.14.6 Mojave or higher
- Chromebooks 89.0 or higher
Processor/RAM
- PC: Dual-core 2.4 Ghz CPU, 4 GB RAM or better
- Mac: Intel / AMD Processor, 4 GB RAM or better
- Chromebooks 4GB RAM
Supported Browsers
- Windows: Chrome 87+
- Mac: Chrome 87+
- ChromeOS: Chrome 89.0+
Browser Requirements
- The browser must be set to allow cookies AND JavaScript.
- The browser must be given permission to use the microphone.
- The browser cannot be set to incognito or private mode.
- Remove or stop all browser extensions except for “Google Input Tools” which can be used to let you type in the language of your choice.
- Chrome must be allowed to share the user’s screen.
Keyboard Character Activation
The test includes a Writing section where a virtual keyboard will be needed for typing in the following languages:
Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Cantonese, Chinese (Mandarin) Simplified & Traditional, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Marathi, Russian, Tamil, Telugu, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese
Amharic, Arabic (Modern Standard), Armenian, Bengali, Cantonese, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Kannada, Khmer, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Marathi, Nepali, Pashto, Persian-Farsi, Punjabi, Russian, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Tigrinya, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese
Test takers MUST upload necessary keyboards prior to the assessment session. For more information on loading virtual keyboards for these languages see the Writing Input Guide.
Headset Guidelines
For information on audio settings and troubleshooting recording issues see the Headset Guide.
Security Preparation
Virus Check
Before completing an Avant assessment on a personal device, we suggest completing a virus check on the operating system on that device. This is to ensure that there is no malware present on the device that could compromise the testing data.
If on a testing date, test takers try to login to an Avant test and are unable to enter the test, they will have to reschedule the test and complete a virus check or use a different device altogether.
Browser Extensions
We recommend disabling the Grammarly browser extension during testing as it interferes with virtual keyboards. There may also be other extensions which could cause interference and disabling all extensions may be helpful.
Troubleshooting Recording Issues
If you are not able to listen back to your recording inside the Speaking section of the test we recommend trying the following steps inside the Sample Test for troubleshooting recording problems.
- Ensure the headset is plugged in.
- Check that the microphone is not muted – many headsets have a mute button on the set itself, or on the wire that is connected to it.
- Check that the volume on the microphone is not turned all the way down or off.
- Be sure to use a supported browser (Chrome).
- Try refreshing the page.
- Try a different supported browser.
- Try unplugging the headset and plugging it back in during the test (for USB headsets).
- Ensure that “Allow” is selected in the browser site settings allowing the use of the microphone in the test.
- Check to see if you can record sound in a different application on the computer.
- Make sure that security settings and configurations are not blocking access to Avant’s servers.