Review proctored sessions
Once a candidate submits a Synoptic proctored attempt and the captures, recordings or AI processed their proctoring session is ready for review. The Proctor Review page adapts to whichever Monitoring levels were configured for that exam — what you see will differ depending on whether Screen and Webcam were set to No Recording, Recreation & Snapshots, Video & Audio Recording, or Video & Audio Recording with AI Review. This guide walks through the features of the review page and approval processes.
Reviewing a session
On an exam with proctoring enabled, select any submitted attempt from the attempt management table, use the actions dropdown and select proctor review to load that attempts proctoring session. Use the proctoring status column to find attempts that are ready for review.
Proctor review page
At the top of the page you'll see the candidate's name, email and avatar, along with the session's current status (Pending review, Approved, or Rejected) and a Close button. Along with the following tools:
View toggles
Timeline
Recordings (Screen & Webcam if enabled)
Playback bar with events
Filmstrip (and stacking options)
AI Review (if enabled)
View toggles
Along the top of the recording area, tabs control what you're looking at. Available tabs adapt to the Monitoring levels configured for that exam — for example, sessions with Screen set to Recreation & Snapshots show Recreation and Screenshots tabs, while sessions with Screen Video Recording show a single Screen tab instead.
Webcam - shows just the candidate's webcam feed
Screen - shows just the candidate's screen (video recording or recreation replay, depending on the screen Monitoring level configured)
Split - shows Screen and Webcam side by side
Overview - shows the whole session as a grid of paired thumbnails (screen + webcam), rather than a single continuous recording. Useful for quickly scanning a session for anything worth a closer look, rather than watching it back in real time
Use the overview option to get a full picture of what happened during the session and click any of the images to go to that moment in the playback. You can also increase and decrease the size of the images shown to fit more onto a screen.
Show — filter the grid to Pairs (screen + webcam together), Screen only, or Webcam only
Frame density slider — controls how many frames are shown across the session (e.g. "32 frames") — drag towards more frames for finer detail, fewer for a faster scan
Coloured dots on each screen thumbnail mark events at that frame, using the same colour coding as the Timeline (🔵 interval check, 🔴 breach)
Frames where a breach occurred have their timestamp highlighted in red
Click any frame to move the playhead there — this updates the Playback bar and Film Strip to that moment, so you can switch to Split or another tab to watch it play out
Timeline
The Timeline is the event log on the right-hand side of the Proctor Review page, and is available for every Monitoring level, including No Recording. Selecting any timeline event will take you to that moment on the playback.
Events are colour-coded:
🔵 Interval check — an automated check confirming no breach was detected at that point
🔴 Breach — a candidate action that broke one of the exam's configured rules (e.g. exited fullscreen, opened a new tab, connected a display)
🟢 Resolved — shown once a candidate has resolved a breach
⚪ Info and comments — system events not tied to exam rules (e.g. page refreshed) and comments left by other reviewers.
A comment must be left when approving or rejecting a session.
Playback bar
The Playback bar sits above the Film Strip and stays visible even when the Film Strip is collapsed.
Transport controls - rewind 10s / play-pause / forward 10s
Time readout - shows wall time by default ("wall time — click for offset"), click to toggle to offset (session duration)
Scrubber - the horizontal bar itself, with event ticks plotted on it and the playhead (black dot) showing current position
Speed control - the 1x/2x/4x/8x toggle, shown here as "2x"
Filmstrip and stacking
The Film Strip sits below the Playback bar and stays in sync with it — clicking a thumbnail jumps playback straight to that moment.
Screenshots lane - thumbnails of the candidate's screen at intervals
Webcam lane - thumbnails of the candidate's webcam at intervals
Audio lane - waveform of the candidate's audio (only present when Webcam Monitoring is Video & Audio Recording)
Stack - groups snapshots into time buckets so long sessions are easier to scan. For example, "6 stacks of up to 7 snapshots (every 30s)" means each 30-second window of the session is shown as one stack, holding however many snapshots were captured in that window
AI Review
For additional flags on proctored sessions AI can be enabled on webcam video footage. When enabled an AI Review Mask overlaid on the webcam recording and separate AI flags lane are provided. To learn more about Synoptic AI see our guide below
Synoptic AI Review
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