Newsletter Ascend examengroep B.V
Dear relationship,
Or should we actually say “vacationer”? We hope that everyone has even been away this summer.
Everyone at our office has been on vacation and we are ready for an autumn full of exams. There are new Corona measures and a new version of Secure Browser. In this newsletter more information about this.
In The Netherlands they will start with a pilot for “special audiences”, we have a great giveway for this month and we look back on our exams in Portugal.
We wish you a lot of reading pleasure.
Newsletter Ascend examengroep B.V
New Version Secure Browser
At the end of this newsletter is the extensive text about changing the Secure Browser from the VCA Infra newsletter, but if you don’t have time to read everything now, we will list the highlights.
- Download the new Secure Browser from Questionmark’s website: https://support.questionmark.com/content/get-questionmark-secure
- From version 6 of the Secure Browser, a special Flash plug-in is required (which was not required with v5.8). The newer version Secure Player requires the “xxx for Opera and Chromium – PPAPI” version. Download via https://get.adobe.com/en/flashplayer/otherversions/
Mouth-nose mask during ID check
In The Netherlands it is still not an obligation to wear a mouth-nose mask. For us it was a new experience to wear the mask in Portugal. To be honest, we cursed those mouth-nose masks during our work trip in Portugal, it is so uncomfortable.
Although we think it is an unpleasant thing to wear te mask, we do respect if candidates want to wear a mouth-nose mask in The Netherlands.
After consultation with the VCA user group and the Examination Room, it was decided that the examiner must wear a mouth-nose mask during the ID check. The candidate wearing a mouth-nose mask must be able to safely remove the mask in order to be identified as the candidate in question.
If the candidate refuses to take off the mask, he or she may not participate in the exam.
The examiner may take off the mouth-nose mask after the ID check. There is no obligation to keep wearing the mask during the exam in The Netherlands.
Porto and Lissabon
Speaking of mouth-nose masks, that was the only negative we experienced during our work trip in Porto and Lisbon. We regularly came out of the elevator in the hotel and could go up again to pick up the masks.
Everything was well organized at the exam locations of our clients. There was a disinfection pump on every corner and the candidates could keep their distance from each other. In Portugal they use a 1 meter distance rule, but where possible we have observed the 1.5 meter distance rule by Dutch standards.
In Portugal it is mandatory to wear a mouth mask when you are in a building, so everyone sat neatly with a mouth mask taking the exam.
Except for one candidate, all candidates in Lisbon and Porto passed, so we saw many happy people leave. Although unfortunately we couldn’t see their smile this time.
Troubled by the holiday blues?
Do you always have that feeling after a wonderful holiday that you immediately want to go on holiday again? Unfortunately we can’t arrange that for you, but we do have a really cool giveaway this month to get you through the holiday blues.
We hear from companies all over the world, that more and more people have to bring their own sandwiches to work and canteens remain closed due to Corona. We are therefore giving away a SnackPack set that will make your colleagues jealous!
Do you want to have a chance to win this set that consists of 2x a SnackPack bread box and 2x a large drinking bottle from Tupperware?
Anyone who takes exams at Ascend examengroep B.V. automatically has a chance to win this cool giveaway! We will raffle two complete sets, the whole set worth € 65.80
We will announce the winners of the giveaway in the September newsletter.
Participation in the pilot ‘Special Target Groups’
It still happens that there are target groups that have little or no computer skills, because they don’t have to perform digital work in their daily work. The current form of the computer exam creates a barrier and that is why VCA Infra is now testing with an oral BVCA exam.
At the beginning of this year, a study was started in The Netherlands on how to better serve this target group during their exam. At the end of this year, a test pilot will be conducted with 5 to 10 groups.
We will keep you informed about the test results. For the time being, this only applies to Dutch BVCAs.
See you next month
This was all the information we wanted to share with you. We hope you enjoyed our newsletter again. Don’t forget to read the full story of the Secure Browser below.
And if you missed the interview by Petra and Ruby on the Facebook page of Vrouwen in de Bouw (Women working in Construction) last month, it is highly recommended to read it (use the translate option on Facebook to change it to your own language).
Sunny greetings,
Team Ascend examengroep B.V.
Grab an extra-large coffee, here comes the detailed description of the Secure Browser change from the VCA Infra newsletter.
In 2019 Questionmark released a new version of the Secure Browser (version 6.1.6). The Secure Browser must be installed on the computers where the VCA / SOG exams are taken.
Because there were initially some compatibility problems with the exams, we decided at the time to wait a while before recommending the use of this new version. One of these problems is the inability to scale the image via ctrl + scroll, something that is possible in many browsers.
Although Questionmark has not yet been able to solve it, we would still like you to switch to this newer version of the Secure Browser. Scaling is only necessary if a candidate cannot fill in an answer, but we have taken measures against this.
For a number of months we have been using version 6.1.6 in combination with Chrome as a browser without any significant problems in our own exam center in Amersfoort, but a number of exam centers are already using this version successfully.
That is why now is the right time to also provide the other places where exams are held with this new version. This can be downloaded from Questionmark’s website: https://support.questionmark.com/content/get-questionmark-secure
In addition, from version 6 of the Secure Browser, a special (other than standard) Flash plug-in is required (which was not required with v5.8). The newer version Secure player requires the “xxx for Opera and Chromium – PPAPI” version. (https://get.adobe.com/en/flashplayer/otherversions/) This version of the flash plugin is also required if you are using a browser other than Chrome!
It may be that the Flash plug-in must first be activated in the browser without a Secure Browser, before it can be used within Secure Browser (because many browsers nowadays block Flash by default). Although we would like to say goodbye to Flash, this is not yet possible due to the use of video in the exams. We are still looking for a solution for this. “
