URLs to whitelist for Surpass

[TMBS]

Hi

 

We've only just found out that we need to install the Surpass Secure Client next week for students to download the files for their Computer Science exam. We've managed to do that but need a list of URLs to allow for Secure Client to run. Can anyone supply me with a list? Still waiting to hear back from WJEC...

 

Thanks!

[free780]

Or install fiddler and set 127.0.0.1:8888 in proxy.xml. Its quicker than waiting for exam companies non exsitant technical support. Edited May 2, 2019 by free780

[Bionic]

I asked our examination board the same question and they came back with this...

 

Required URLS/ports:

· https://wjec.surpass.com/*

· cmspublic.surpass.com?*

· cms.surpass.com/*

· www.btl.com/*

· https://demo.surpass.com

· Ports 80 and 443

 

Hope that helps.

[TMBS]

I asked our examination board the same question and they came back with this...

 

Required URLS/ports:

· https://wjec.surpass.com/*

· cmspublic.surpass.com?*

· cms.surpass.com/*

· www.btl.com/*

· https://demo.surpass.com

· Ports 80 and 443

 

Hope that helps.

That's great! WJEC have still not got back to me, which is awful given the exam is next week! I'd got our filtering company to monitor my traffic while I used the software but they didn't pick up the btl one.

 

Thanks!

 

- - - Updated - - -

[TMBS]

WJEC finally got back to me today with the URLs. The exam was yesterday...

 

Though from seeing the news they have bigger fish to fry!

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-48299876

[HFloyd]

WJEC finally got back to me today with the URLs. The exam was yesterday...

 

Though from seeing the news they have bigger fish to fry!

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-48299876

 

They only got back to me on Monday, i requested them to ring me... That was two weeks ago! Yesterday was a disaster anyway, hate the way the software takes 5 mins to check for updates every time you start it.

[TMBS]

They only got back to me on Monday, i requested them to ring me... That was two weeks ago! Yesterday was a disaster anyway, hate the way the software takes 5 mins to check for updates every time you start it.

 

I hate how you can't see the Assets until the exam starts! What exactly did they install 5 days before because they still had to download the files on the day?

[HFloyd]

I hate how you can't see the Assets until the exam starts! What exactly did they install 5 days before because they still had to download the files on the day?

 

I thought this also, downloaded the exam a few days before, but then on the day of the exam it re-downloads the files.... What the hell is the point?!

[dgsmith]

I noted that too.. seemed rather pointless. We did run through the "mock/practice" exam beforehand (with separate accounts) so the students knew what to expect on the actual day. Tried to download it in advance but it wouldn't save the files (yet did on the mock test a few days prior).

Managed to get the surpass URLs whitelisted and the rest of the internet blocked and the only issues we had were 2 clients freezing just after uploading, but nothing too serious.

[HFloyd]

We had to log two user off and onto another machine, but then it locked them out! Had to wait a few days for surpass to give us special code to upload the work too.

[free780]

I've currently found an issue with the surpass client on Windows 10 1809. I think its a change the Microsoft have made to the built flash player.

Really exam boards need to move to something like this and away from flash player.

 

https://safeexambrowser.org/news_en.html

[mikes]

We were having trouble logging onto the Surpass Admin website. It kept denying our username/password. At first I thought it was the staff member but it kept denying two of our staff members, then eventually let us in after about 10 minutes. Has anyone else had problems logging in? Also we had problems with the Surpass Admin complaining about Adobe Flash being out of date; but the actual Surpass Secure Client did let us run a mock exam.

An annoyance is that it required sound (though a transcript was provided). Nowhere was it communicated that we would need sound for these exams?

The first I'd ever heard of this Surpass software was this morning, when I was called up to a mock exam. Now we have an actual GSCE using it Friday morning?? I must admit to being a bit worried if this thing is going to work properly on the day? and if not, I will have a room full of upset students and staff? Why am I even doing this job?

[free780]

@mikes Are you running Windows 10 1809 possibly 1803? It maybe the same issue. The main issue is that exam board purchase the software from BTL https://www.btl.com/surpass/secureassess/ . It looks like support only comes from BTL who wont deal with test centres.

I've had issues with it on Windows 7 and Windows 10. Exam software presumes a dedicated room and PCs with no proxies.

[mikes]

We are on Win 7, we did our live GSCE this morning and it did work out OK. When we Finished the exam, it did have a Flash settings dialogue in the background; as well as a browser open with Adobe Flash information - checking the Surpass log file there were error messages about an incorrect Flash method being called - this worried me at first but checking the invigilation portal, it showed the exam as "finished". The other students had the same thing but they all Finished the exam fine.

 

The two staff members who were with me kept having trouble logging into their Surpass accounts; it kept saying invalid user/pass. However, my user account always worked fine first time, so it might just have been our staff members (they are over 40 years old)

 

My worry is this, if we start doing a lot more of these exams - our LEA provided internet connection is not very reliable. It will go down for 30 minutes a week on average. What happens if it goes down during one of these tests? Another thing for the school is I am the only technician here, if I had called in sick, this exam would have failed.

Edited May 24, 2019 by mikes