Control access to assessments

Updated 16 Sep 2025

Your MyLab Foundational Skills course helps you prevent cheating during assessments. These features are enabled at the course-level and you apply them to individual assessments.

The Pearson LockDown Browser is an application that prevents students from opening other applications or browser windows while taking assessments.

Students are prompted to install the LockDown Browser the first time they take a locked-down assessment on their own machines. You and your students also can install it using the Browser Check.

The LockDown Browser is available for PC, Mac, and Chromebook. It cannot be used with mobile devices.

The LockDown Browser may block applications that lab admins need to manage the network. To allow an application:

  1. In the Edit Course wizard, choose More Options after Use a lockdown browser in this course.
  2. Select the remote management application(s) to allow.

    ARDAgent and AppleVNCServer are used to manage Apple networks. UltraVNC Server is for PC networks.
    Note: This does not apply to ChromeOS devices since custom applications are not allowed.

How admins can install in computer labs

For school computers, LockDown Browser should be installed before it is needed by students.

  • Lab admins for Windows and MacOS can use executable files to install LockDown Browser in computer labs.
  • Lab admins for ChromeOS can update settings to allow automatic or manual extension downloads to install LockDown Browser in computer labs.

Learn about installation for lab administrators in the MyLab Pearson Installation Guide.

Limitations

  • The LockDown Browser does not work with the JAWS screen reader.
  • When a locked-down assessment is imported into a course that does not have the LockDown Browser enabled, the assessment is no longer locked down.

If your institution uses proxy servers to control and monitor student access to the internet, you can require students to use these servers when taking assessments. As an instructor, you can access restricted assessments without using the proxy servers.

To restrict assessments to proxy servers, get the public IP addresses for the proxy servers from your admin and add them to your course settings.

When you specify proxy servers, the changes are applied only to new assessments. Existing assessment settings are not updated.