Questions about getting ready for your Red Hat remote exam?

[Deanna]

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• Technical Documentation for "Getting ready for your Red Hat remote exam"
• Remote Exams FAQ

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[TiffanyA]

Hello,

I was scheduled to take the RHCSA exam remotely this morning on my laptop, however, due to odd technical difficulties I was unable to take my exam. My issue was my proctor could not see my screen, they said I was not sharing my screen and on their end it was 'blank'. They also said the connection was slow. After being instructed to restart my laptop, reinitialize the Red Hat Exam environment, and complete the compatibility test four times, the proctor still couldn't see my screen. Everything checked out ok on my end--Successful compatibility test and the little icon at the top of my screen showed that I was sharing my screen, microphone, and camera with the proctor (plus, I had been doing the compatibility tests on my laptop weeks and days before my exam with no issue). 30 minutes had passed into my exam time so I had to reschedule. Now I am concerned this will happen again and I don't know how to resolve this before I have to reschedule. :(

Has anyone else tried to take an exam remotely and had this issue of the proctor not being able to see your screen?

As a backup I am trying to verify that I can set up the test environment on my desktop computer, but so far the test environment loads to 100%, and then the screen goes blank and stays that way until I do a hard reboot to get out of the live boot (I've tried two versions of this live boot that were mentioned in this forum--one from 8-2020 and the other from the "Getting Ready for Your Remote Exam" pdf, but still no success with either).

I hope someone can provide me with some solutions. Testing is already stressful, but to have proctoring issues on the day of the test is the worst! 

[vishals]

Hi Tiffany,

IIRC, One of the compatibility tests (media check tests) displays the streams available to the proctor. Were you able to view the desktop feeds in this test? If yes, and the proctor could still sees the bank screen, its best to work with the live support team and try sorting it out.

[TiffanyA]

@Vishal , thanks for the reply.

Yes, I was able to view the desktop feeds, but my proctor still saw a blank screen. I was also speaking with live tech support by phone while this issue was going on but they offered no solution aside from rescheduling. 

I did some troubleshooting on my own and I think my upload speed on my home network is still not fast enough for the exam. Even though I was passing the compatibility test, my upload speed was only .75mbps so I think that's why the proctor was not seeing my screen--upload speed wasn't fast enough.

I know it is not recommended, but I'm going to have to use my LTE/4G network as a hotspot for the remote exam instead of my home network. My home network speed is 6mbps download and .75mbps upload, but my LTE network speed is 28mbps download and 17mbps upload which a LOT better than my home network.

[Sarang]

My 2 cents.
LTE/4G network has a latency and packet drops. You might not get smooth exam experience. Mouse lagging or trailing letters like 'wwwwwork' . I faced this when I used mobile network. 

[TiffanyA]

I appreciate your 2 cents @Sarang! I'll keep this in mind. If I can't find a workaround I may have to deal with it. 

[Remzi]

Probably you can use LTE router with cable.

isp<-->lte-<-->router<-->cable--<pc/notebook.

You can try TP-Link MR400 AC1200 Wireless Dual Band 4G LTE Router, or like as it.

Good luck.

[TiffanyA]

I already have a router connected to my home network which is slow. The LTE network is through my cell phone which I will have to use as a hotspot so I'm not sure purchasing another router will help in this case.

[Remzi]

Router is not standart router. Router is a LTE router.

Using cell phone is not good solution for mission critical.

However LTE router can be use for exam.

[TiffanyA]

I understand it's not a standard router but aside from my phone, I do not have an LTE network to connect an LTE router to. My ISP offers DSL, so the only thing I would be able to connect an LTE router to would be my cell phone which actually has the LTE service on it. And if I have to connect my cell phone to an LTE router, I might as well use a cable to connect my cell phone directly to my laptop.

Please correct me if I am misunderstanding your suggestion.

[RemziAkyuz]

There is a misunderstanding. You can insert a sim card into the router and use it. Could you look at manual

https://static.tp-link.com/2020/202012/20201229/7106509067_TL-MR6400(EU)_QIG_V1.pdf

lte router should be stay in an open area (windows site,balcony or outside). DSL connection is a more stable method.