How it works on line

GMA-online is downloaded afresh with a web browser for each test session. The only requirement is Microsoft Windows - any reasonably recent version will do including 7, Vista, XP and Windows 2000 (SP2 required). The downloaded package is small, but contains all the functionality needed to manage a testing session, and because it remains the same regardless of browser versions eliminates many sources of problems.

Once the candidate has logged in, the server software ascertains the required sequence of tests, and the session begins. Each test is loaded into the client entire, and once a test has started there is no further need of the Internet connection until it is finished. The session information is then uploaded to the server, where decisions about what should happen next are made.

Normally GMA-online is timed, in two senses: an overall time limit is enforced, but also every mouse click is timed to the millisecond and recorded, providing a detailed audit trail of the candidate's performance.

Our servers, which we own and manage, are colocated in an Internet facility close to the peering ring and backed up on a separate site. The nett effect of our design approach is that we have extravagant amounts of spare capacity, sufficient to handle any conceivable level of business.