International Journal of Electrical & Computer Sciences IJECS-IJENS Vol:10 No:01
An Arabic Web-Based Exam Management System
Magdi Z. Rashad 2, Mahmoud S. Kandil1 , Ahmed E. Hassan1, and Mahmoud A. Zaher 2
1-Mansoura University Faculty of Engineering.
2-Mansoura University Faculty of Computers & Information Sciences
Abstract— Web-based Exam Management Systems (EMS) are
an effective solution for mass education evaluation. This paper
proposed web based online examination system based. This
system carries out the examination and auto-grading for students
exams. This system facilitates conducting exams, collection of
answers, auto marking the submissions and production of
reports for the test. It supports many kinds of questions. It is
used via Internet and is therefore suitable for both local and
remote examination. This system could help lecturers,
instructors, teachers and others who are willing to create new
exams or edit existing ones as well as students participating in the
exams.
The system is built using. various open source technologies
AJAX, PHP, HTML and MYSQL database are used in this
system. An auto-grading module is generalized to enable
different exam and question types.
The system is tested in the Mansoura university quality
assurance center. The test proved the validity of using this kind
of web based systems for evaluates students in the institutions
with high rate of students
Index Term-- E-Learning, Exam Management Systems,
Automatic assessment system, web-based exams, Validation,
Usability.
I. INTRODUCTION
The growth of the Internet, and in particular the World Wide
Web, is already influencing the way science is taught and will
undoubtedly do so to greater extent in the future. In areas of
education it offers a medium that has the potential to be more
responsive to students. To encourage greater participation in
their own learning, and to give greater access to different
sources of information than traditional methods offer. (1),(
2),(3).
In past decades, a variety of assessment approaches and
systems have been proposed. And as information technology
keeps improving, numerous of them have been transformed
from traditional paper-and-pencil to computerized and web-
based format in recent years. It is necessary to build a Web-
based examination system for institutions which has a large
number of students like in Egyptian universities, as an
effective solution to mass learning and evaluation of basic
undergraduate education.
It is urgent to develop an automatic grading system which
can grade the operating questions as well as the objective
ones. However, the previous Web-based exam system cannot
support such functions (4). Testing the students through the
Internet is one of the most difficult challenges in E-learning
(5), as part of the modern development in the technology of
education systems.
Web-based Examination system could be used via
Internet or intranet for manages student examination (6). Web-
based assessment is widely used to support students in
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35
learning and help them to achieve their learning goals. For
example, readiness self-assessments are often used in open
universities to help students determine if they have the
necessary skills and attitudes for successful completion of a
course or program. Another application of exam management
systems includes assessment of the learning process itself.
Self-assessment tests are commonly used in technology
enhanced environments (7), especially in learning
management systems. Students can use such self-assessment
tests to check their acquired knowledge and get feedback
about their learning progress.
Exam management systems are very important for all whom
involved in the education process like (Faculty, students and
administration staff).
For the faculty:
 Marking the test is done automatically and
instantaneously; the faculty is relieved from these,
time consuming duties,
 Questions can be easily recycled from the question
bank, easily edited and changed,
 Different versions of the same question can be
generated for different students.
For the students:
 Tests can be taken anytime
 Tests can be taken anywhere,
 Questions can be attempted in a stress-less
environment,
 Test can be taken using a simple personal computer
and the minimal requirement is just a Web browser,
 Questions can be viewed with special visual effects
such as 3D, and objects in motion can be viewed.
For the administration:
 The marks are automatically collected, analyzed, and
disseminated for purposes like evaluation of teaching
and learning process.
The extensive use of automated testing in grading reduces
grading time and allows graders to focus on issues such as
code style. In this paper the focus is on the marriage of
computerized testing systems with the World Wide Web to
produce web-based assessment and testing systems. This
paper focuses on comprehensive systems in which exams are
delivered and graded by a central server. The objective of this
work is to build exam management tool for students and
instructors to monitor and boost learning and teaching
practices.
The proposed EMS is able to grades homework, quizzes, tests,
mid-term, and final exams. At the end of a semester, students
should understand all the required core knowledge and master
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 International Journal of Electrical & Computer Sciences IJECS-IJENS Vol:10 No:01 36
basic skills. This will help the teaching and learning process in Pascual-Nieto et al (20) proposed a web-based
higher education in the intensive based institutes. application which automatically and adaptively assesses
The proposed question types of that examination system could students' free text answers written in Spanish and English. It is
be formally checked and easily evaluated online. The typical intended to help students review concepts outside of class, and
questions are not limited to yes/no questions, multiple provides an alternative assessment method. In their research
choice/single answer questions, multiple-choice/multiple- (21) Hernán-Losada et al addressed the combined use of
answer questions, and fill-in questions with a string and automatic grading and the test-driven approach from a
numeric answer. It also supports essay questions. pedagogical view. In their research (22), NAŞCU et al present
the main aspects and implementation of an online multiple
II. RELATED WORK
choice examination system with general chemistry issues for
In their paper (8) Yuan et al proposed a multi layer
student evaluation. The testing system was used to generate
based exam system based on Microsoft DCOM technology.
items for a multiple-choice examination for first year
The system is not reliable enough. Also it uses a specific
undergraduate students in Material Engineering and
technology not open source technology. The system is
Environmental Engineering from Technical University of
designed specifically for computer science students. It is not
Cluj-Napoca, Romania, which all attend the same General
designed for general purpose students. Also it does not support
Chemistry course.
Arabic language. In his research (9) Hoffman et al proposed an
exam system for testing student in the software engineering III. PROPOSED SYSTEM.
courses and that system is used offline. The Web-Based Exam Management System has been
JeflMcGough et al (10) proposed a browser-based exams developed to support automatic grading, exam archiving, and
system to prove of concept. That system does not support full exam administration using the WWW as a delivery vehicle. In
interactivity and it does not support different languages it's most of them, the widely used questions are correspondence to
also designed for computer science students. In his research Intended Learning Outcome (4 ) (ILO) for the courses, and it
(11) Ji-hoon et al proposed exam generator program which should be easily judged and evaluated online by comparing
helps both users and instructors. The system is built for with the correct answers. The typical questions include yes/no
generating exams for fundamental engineering students. The questions, multiple-choice/single-answer questions, multiple-
exam is designed taking into consideration one type of exams choice/ multiple-answer questions, matching questions,
which is Multiple Choice Questions. numeric questions, and essay questions. This system is built
Raymound et al (12) proposed a web based Multiple based on open source technology.
Choice Exams. This exam supports only this type of questions
 The Proposed System Architecture
and does not support Arabic as an exam language. Jelica et
all (13) purposed a system that provide teachers with efficient The architecture of the proposed system is shown in fig. 1.
means of generating and scoring tests with multiple choice
answers. This system is inevitable in evaluating student's
knowledge at massive examinations. Jordi et al. (14)
presented a secure electronic examination protocol. Using Student
Instructor Web
wireless technology, they propose a trade-off solution between
examination security and examination flexibility. Mikel et al Browser
(15) proposed an exam tool that is based on multiple choice Data Bank
questions. This tool is designed for only computer science Examination
Exam Engine
students. TCExam (16) is open source web based exam. But it Setup
Prepar Informatio
is limited on supporting much kind of questions.
ation nCollage
Zhang et al (17) proposed a web-based operational skills data
examination and evaluation system for computer courses. In Setting up
Student data
his study (18), Chien Lin et al designed a prototype automatic and Monitor Auto
the system
quiz generation system (auto-quiz for short) for a given Grading
Question
English text to test learner comprehension of text content and data System
English skills. After the emergence of modern technologies in
the field of Information Technologies (IT), virtual learning has Answer
attained a new form. The way of announcing exams’ grades is data
Department
an important topic in e-learning. For announcing exams’ Admin
.
Course and Director,
grades on the web, various methods have been proposed. In Course Instructor
his paper (19), Shirali-Shahreza introduced three new methods ILOs
for announcing exams’ grades and the result of implementing
these methods for announcing the grades of some courses at
Fig. 1. System Archecture
the some Iranian universities are provided. Also these methods
and their results are analyzed. Finally these three new methods The system is composed of four main modules of that system
are compared with other methods. module, Exam Preparation module, Setting up and monitoring

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 International Journal of Electrical & Computer Sciences IJECS-IJENS Vol:10 No:01 37
the system module, Auto grading System module and  Setting up and monitoring the system: is used to set and
Examination engine module. The Instructor, Department handle the student information which is ddetailed as
Director, and the student could access the system for a specific follows:
purpose. The main data base of the system consists of  The administrator login, he can insert or update
Questions and answers data, Student data, Collage data, students information. There are some scenarios
Courses Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) which reflected for that event, if the student does not exist he can
back on the questions, also the setup information of the system. create new student record by adding student
The proposed system is based on three-tier Client/Server data.
technology (17) , there is a server side modules and client side But if the student already exist the administrator
modules. The system tiers are described as follows: has two choices either drop the student or
update the student data by updating the student
A. Database Tier
login name or password or both and or privilege,
where data are stored as records in tables on the server
then save the all that data in the database.
side daatbase. It Consists of :
 The administrator login and he can insert or
Exam system data : which contains all question data, all update instructor information, he can check for
answer data, all courses data and courses ILO'S, these data are the instructor first if the instructor does not exist
explained as follows: the administrator can create new instructor
record by adding instructor data.
 Question data : Which consists of data records about
But if the instructor already exist the
questions such as question name, question degree ,
administrator has two choices either drop the
question chapter, and question type.
instructor or update the instructor data by
 Answer data module: Which consists of data records updating the instructor login name or password
about question and its answers such as question or both, instructor department , privilege, then
number, question type, the correct answer , and the
save the all data in the database.
student answer.
I. Auto grading: with that logic system can
 Course and Courses ILOS : Which consists of data
automatically grade students’ answers, which are
about courses such as courses name, courses collected by the examination system . The system
description , courses term and course Intended compare the student answers with the correct
Learning Outcomes.
answers which entered by the instructors. If the
University data : which contains all setup information data, exam has essay question the system correct all the
all student data and all collage data. These data is explained as questions in the exam include the essay question
follows: but the system return only the essay question to the
 Setup information : Which consists of data records instructor. The instructor correct the essay question
about system setup such as university name, academic and pass it pack to the administrator.
year , admin username , and password.  Examination engine :
 Student handling : Which consists of data records
about students such as student Id, student name, student
username , and student password.
 Collage data : Which consists of data records about
collage such as collage Id, and collage name.
B. Business Logic Tier
This is all the logic of the system. It consists of the following
logic modules:
 Exam Preparation: Is used to manage and handle the
course questions, exams. It also contains the logic
behind instructor-course relation, instructor-term
relation, course-term relation and the report behind
these relations. This logic used to handle all the
information stored in the database about course-
instructor relation, instructor-exam relation. Details of
that logic is described as follows :
1. Add questions: The instructor first could insert
all the questions.
2. Create exam: The instructor could create exam
by selecting the questions that added befor.
3. Update exam: The instructor could update the
exam that made before. Fig. 2. Examination Engine flowchart

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 International Journal of Electrical & Computer Sciences IJECS-IJENS Vol:10 No:01 38

As shown in fig. 2 Examination Engine contains the logic

used by the students to take exam and shows the results after
they finish it. This logic is descriped as follows :
 The system first check the username and password of
the studen.
 If they are not correct the system starts again.
 If the the username and password of the student are
correct then check if the exam does not exist the
system gives warns the student that the exam not exist
or not begin, but if the exam exists the student
choose his exam.
 The system check if it is the first time for this student
to take that exam if the answer is no the system gives
warning the dtudent that he can not take the exam
twice. But if the answer is yes the system pups up the
exam.
 While the student answering the questions the system
check for the time if the exam time expire or not. The
system end the exam if it is expired then save the
answers in the database.
C. User interface Tier:
This component caries out the interface for all the users
that access the system administrator, instructors, student
affairs and students. They can access the system with a
normal web browser via the internet connection. Each
user has his own interfase. That layer is live on the client
side. This layer is explained as follows:
 Adminstrators Interface: where all the adminstrators
can manage the system.
 Instructors Interface: where all the instructors can
manage the examination system, adding or updating
questions , and creating or updating exam.
 Student Interface: where all the student can deal with.
The use case of the whole system is shown in fig. 3 which
describe the first step of the system analysis.

Fig. 3. Exam management system use case diagram

The Exam management system use case digram shows in Fig.
3 where identify the system boundary and the external actors
as we see our system has five actors (Adminstrator , System
Root (faculty dean) , Student , Instructor, and Student affairs ).
IV. SYSTEM RESULTS
The system consists of Multilayer framework of the
examination System As shown in fig. 1, the EMS is a multi-
layer system which is composed of Web Server, Database
Server, and EMS client module carries the user. Apache (24)

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 International Journal of Electrical & Computer Sciences IJECS-IJENS Vol:10 No:01
is use as a Web server, and the database Server is MYSQL
(21). The client-side component is implemented using HTML,
JavaScript, and CSS (22). These technologies guarantee the
feasibility and the extension of the exam system.
Web-Based Exam Management System (EMS) is built
using AJAX (25) technology, which is a group of interrelated
web development techniques used for creating interactive web
applications or rich Internet applications. With Ajax, web
applications can retrieve data from the server asynchronously
in the background without interfering with the display and
behavior of the existing page. Data is retrieved using the
AJAX which is implemented using remote scripting language
JavaScript which is supported by all web browsers. The
proposed system supports the following question types:
Multiple Choices, Fill-in the blanks, Matching, Numeric, and
Essay questions . Fig. 4 shows the output of creating exam
process.
39
information is accurate, then we have a high probability of
making a good decision. But if the information is inaccurate,
the ability to make a correct decision is diminished. Better
information usually leads to better decisions.
According to our questionnaire on 250 students in
Mansoura university faculty of engineering, programming
course exam. Questionnaire arranged in deferent categories
explained as follows :
 User Interface : In this category the students were
asked questions to know if the windows is easy to read
or how the windows comfort and understandable for the
students. The results explained as shown in fig. 5 as
follows:
67 % of the students found the window system is easy
to read. And 29 % found that the window system is
somewhat easy to read. But only 4 % found the
window system is not easy to read. And 52 % found the
window system pleasant to look and 38 % found the
window system somewhat pleasant to look, and only
10 % did not agree for the window system pleasant to
look.
As an over all conclusion 61 % like the user interface very
much, 33 % like the user interface somewhat . and only 6 %
did not like the user interface.

User Interface

160

140

120

100
Yes
Students

80 Somewhat
No

60

40

20

0
Is the screen easy to read

Is the question show good

Is the menu in good position

Is the screen in good dimensions

Are the screen colours comfort

Fig. 4. Create exam

V. Validation and Statistical Results.

In software testing and software engineering validation is the
process of checking that a software system meets
specifications. And that it fulfils its intended purpose.(24) In
other words, validation ensures that the product actually meets
the user's needs. And that the specifications were correct.
Validation ensures that ‘you built the right thing’.
To know that the product mets the user’s needs we need to get
information from the user. There are six common ways to get
information. These are: questionnaire , talking with people, Fig. 5. User interface chart
focus groups, personal interviews, telephone surveys, and mail  Usability : In this category the students questions were
surveys. (26). Then uses information to make decisions. If the asked to know if the system is difficult or easy to use.

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 International Journal of Electrical & Computer Sciences IJECS-IJENS Vol:10 No:01 40
Also to know if the system terms understandable or not. developed system satisfy the requirements. And it is secure,
The results explained as shown in fig. 6 as follows: useable and has a very good user interface. In the future work
40 % of the students did not find any difficulties using more question types could be implemented also a more
the system, and 35 % found somewhat difficulties, and reliable security system could be done.
25 % found difficulties using the system.
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