Computer-based Testing Software

Excom is a software package by Comtech IT Solutions for conducting computer-based examinations. It is targeted at computer-training institutes, software firms and IT students.

The software is mostly a database of questions and answers about computers and related subjects. Topics covered are diverse, ranging from basic Windows concepts to more complex topics like C++ and Java. The database can be augmented by adding fresh questions. Each subject is divided into question banks, which in turn are divided into sub-sections. You can select the sub-sections you want to test yourself on. A percentage score is awarded for every sub-section, and the overall performance is displayed graphically. Two levels of authentication are provided–at the examinee level and at the administrator level.

When experimenting with the software, we found certain questions to be ambiguous or incorrectly worded, which may cause the result to be slightly skewed. For example, in one question, the software asked for the size of the ‘int’ datatype. While the answer would mostly be 2, it’s still a platform-dependent question. Thankfully, the questions can be edited. The interface is simple, and one has little trouble adjusting to it. All results of past tests are stored and can be recalled by the administrator.

Anuj Jain at PCQ Labs