Impersonation detection in online examinations

In today's world that witnesses an ever-changing scenario in the technical fields, the concept of an “examination” too has changed. From the traditional methods of pen-and-paper and Optical Mark Recognition (OMR), it has evolved into ‘Online Examinations’, which are a lot more flexible, time-saving as well as require much fewer resources. However, they have certain drawbacks too. While the uncertainties involved in the working of the electronic equipment and ‘server break-down’ do affect the examination, the developments in technology have helped overcome these. However, the most important problem faced by online examinations is the authenticity of the student who is taking it. Impersonation, as it is called, is in fact, due to the negligence (or in certain cases due to the cooperation) of the human factors that are present at the examination centre. In this paper, the aim is to eliminate these human factors, to ensure that impersonation, if any, can be easily detected, and the impersonator is not allowed to take the examination. For this purpose, two-step biometric verification of the candidate is done, one of which extends throughout the duration of the examination. In this manner, impersonation can be avoided.