Adding resources to Question sets

  • Updated

Question Sets in Inspera Assessment allow authors to provide candidates with secure access to supplementary materials like PDF documents and external web pages during a closed-book exam. 

This article explains how to set up PDF documents and URLs as resources, outlines important security warnings and supported browsers, and describes the candidate experience with resources in different testing environments.

This feature requires activation. Please contact the Service Desk to activate it for your Inspera Assessment tenancy.

Understanding additional resources

Additional Resources provide web pages, websites, and documents that candidates can access securely and easily, even during closed-book exams with lockdown browsers. These resources are also available for candidates exempted from lockdown browsers. A network filter checks requests so that candidates are unable to navigate away from the page specified. All links, except links to subpages, are blocked.

Supported Browsers for additional resources:

  • Inspera Integrity Browser
  • SEB 2.2 and newer for Windows
  • SEB 2.1 and newer for macOS
  • Inspera Lockdown for Chrome OS
  • General browsers listed in Inspera Assessment's System requirements. 

Recommendation: Although there is no upper restriction on the number of resources you can add, it is recommended to add no more than 10 resources per Question Set for the best candidate experience.

Setting up additional resources

  1. In the question set, click on Show resources located on the bottom right fo the screen.

  2. In the Add resources dropdown menu select between the options PDF, URL, or Audio. 

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  3. Added resources are displayed adjacent to the Add resource dropdown menu.

  • To make a PDF available for a test, and not just as an attachment to a single question, it can be added as a resource to the Question Set.

    1. Select PDF from the Add resource dropdown menu.
    2. Enter a title in the Resource name textbox.

    3. Click on the Browse button. 

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    4. Locate the PDF file on your harddrive, and click Open.
    5. Click Save.
    6. It is recommended to preview the Question Set to see how the resource will appear for the candidates.

    Notes

    • The PDF will open in a separate window.
    • Depending on the amount of zoom in the PDF Viewer/browser and font used for the text, some symbols will not always render properly. Please ensure that when using e.g. mathematical symbols like =, that you test and select a font that displays the symbols consistently.
  • To make a web page available for a test, it can be added as a resource to the Question Set. 
    1. Select URL from the Add resource dropdown menu.

    2. Enter a title in the Resource name textbox. 

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    3. Enter the URL in the URL textbox.
    4. If required, enter the link where candidates can access the child pages in the Custom root URL (Optional) textbox.

      • This URL will be available as a resource to candidates. Candidates can navigate to all child pages of the URL (i.e., pages within the same directory or subdirectories). They will not be able to navigate to any parent pages or other pages higher up in the domain's hierarchy.

        Example: If the URL is https://examplesite.com/instructions/example, the candidate can view this page and all child pages after "/example". They will not be able to navigate to https://examplesite.com/instructions or https://examplesite.com/ or any other page that is higher up in the hierarchy of the domain.

      • This option allows candidates to have access to all child pages of a specified root URL. 

        Example: If candidates are allowed to navigate to all pages on https://examplesite.com, add that link to the Custom root URL (Optional) textbox. If the URL is set to https://examplesite.com/instructions/example, this will be the page that opens when the candidate views the resource, but they can then navigate freely within the https://examplesite.com, domain structure.

    5. Click Save.
    6. It is recommended to preview the Question Set to see how the resource will appear for the candidates.
  •  

    1. Select Audio from the Add resource dropdown menu. 

      Skjermbilde 2025-11-27 120458.png
    2. Click Browse and locate the file on your harddrive.
    3. Click Save.

Known limitations

  • This feature will block URLs only. There is a possibility that the accessed URL can run javascript or other scripts that may result in access to local computer resources.
  • Links to PDFs on external sites should be avoided; it is recommended it is downloaded as a PDF and added as a PDF Panel.
  • It is recommended that URLs are tested and preview before the test/s begin.
    • URL resources that guide candidates to a page with videos do not work with MacOS. 

Candidate experience

  • In Inspera Integrity Browser: Additional resources are listed in a footer below the navigation bar. This allows the candidate to switch between the test and the additional resources.
  • In open browsers: Additional resources are opened in new tabs, and the candidate can switch between tabs normally.

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