Assessment Technology Guide
Assessment Technology Guide
Avant provides online language assessments. This document provides technical information relative to computers and networks to help prepare for using Avant’s testing 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.
Services Status Page
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Technology Check
After reviewing the information in this guide visit the Technology Check to confirm that computers are configured properly and all technology preparation steps are complete before you begin testing.
Networking Requirements
The following section pertains specifically to network setup for the locations where testing will occur.
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 
.
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
200 Kbps (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 or tablet 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)
* Only for STAMP Sign Language (ASL).
Computer and Tablet Requirements
- PC Computers with Windows 10 or higher
- Mac Computers with OSX 10.14.6 Mojave or higher
- Chromebooks 89.0 or higher
- iPad with iOS version 12+
- Android Tablets, Android OS version 6+
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: Microsoft Edge 42+, Chrome 68+
- Mac: Safari 11, Chrome 68+
- ChromeOS: Chrome 68+
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 test takers type in the language of their choice.
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, Korean, Marathi, Russian, Tamil, Telugu, Vietnamese, Urdu.
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.
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.
Updated October 2022