Plugixa Exam

Most WordPress quiz plugins were built to gate a course, not to run an assessment: the timer lives in the browser where it can be edited, the paper is read live so fixing a typo changes the exam under whoever is sitting it, and switching JavaScript off stops the whole thing. Plugixa Exam is built the other way round - the deadline is computed and stored on the server when the attempt starts, the question set is frozen into the attempt at the moment it begins, and the runner degrades to an ordinary form post.

Write questions once into a bank organised by a subject tree and by tags, then build exams out of it. A section is either a fixed list of questions or a pool with rules - subject, tag, difficulty, type, how many to draw - so every candidate can draw their own paper. Seven question types ship free and fourteen with Pro, all contributed through a single filter, which is why a downgrade never breaks a question you have already written.

Everything that can be marked automatically is marked on submission, with partial credit, numeric tolerance and regular expression matching; essays queue for a person with the rubric beside them. Results are released immediately, when the exam closes, on a date you choose, or only when you say so. An exam can be open to everybody, restricted by role, opened with an access code, or sat by a named guest - and attempt caps and cooldowns are enforced on the server, not in the page.

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Screenshots

See it in action

Features

Everything you need

Write it once, ask it everywhere

Questions live in a bank, not inside an exam. Organise them and every exam you build afterwards can draw on them.

  • Hierarchical subjects

    A subject tree you can nest as deep as your syllabus goes. Results break down by subject, so you can see where a cohort is weak.

  • Free-form tags

    Tag a question with anything - difficulty, topic, exam board, year. Pools select on tags as well as subjects.

  • Rich text and explanations

    Stems, explanations, exam instructions and pass or fail messages are written in WordPress's own editor, not a plain textarea.

  • Images in questions

    Upload straight from the question editor. Files are checked by decoding them, not by trusting the name, so a site that allows SVG elsewhere still cannot put one in an exam.

  • Version history Pro

    Every edit to a question is kept by default, so you can see what a paper actually asked at the time somebody sat it.

  • Custom fields Pro

    Attach your own data to questions and exams through fieldsets, and use it in reports.

  • Maths and LaTeX Pro

    Write LaTeX in stems, options, explanations and rubrics. Rendered by KaTeX from fonts served by your own site, so it works on a machine with no outside network access.

Fourteen ways to ask

Seven types free and seven more with Pro, all contributed through the same filter. An unregistered type still renders, exports and grades, so a downgrade never breaks existing questions.

  • Multiple choice, one answer or several

    The two workhorses, with options shuffled independently of the questions around them.

  • True/false, short answer and essay

    Short answers match case-insensitively, numerically with a tolerance, or against a regular expression. Essays carry a rubric.

  • Fill in the blanks

    A passage with gaps, where each blank carries its own list of accepted answers.

  • Picture choice

    The options are images rather than text. Each one asks for a description for people who cannot see it, and a site can make that required.

  • Ordering, matching and extended matching Pro

    Put items in sequence, pair them up, or answer several stems from one shared option list. All marked automatically.

  • Hotspot, image matching and range Pro

    Mark a point or drag out an area on a picture, pair images together, or answer with a number inside a band. Hotspot has a grid fallback so it works without JavaScript.

  • File upload Pro

    Candidates hand in coursework, portfolios, spreadsheets or code. Files are kept out of the media library, behind a permission-checked route.

Fixed lists, random pools, or both

An exam is made of sections, and each section decides for itself whether every candidate sees the same questions.

  • Pick questions by hand

    A fixed section is an ordered list. Use it for the questions everybody must answer.

  • Describe a pool instead

    Give the rules - subject, tag, difficulty, type, how many to draw - and each candidate draws their own paper when they start.

  • Shuffle questions and options

    Independently, per exam. The shuffle is seeded per attempt, so a candidate who reloads sees the same paper, not a new one.

  • Points where you want them

    Points resolve from the exam question, then the pool's per-question value, then the question's own default.

  • Prerequisites Pro

    An exam can require that another has been sat, passed, or scored above a mark first.

  • A schedule you can see

    Opening and closing windows laid out across a calendar, so a collision or an empty fortnight is obvious rather than buried in a list.

An exam that behaves like an exam

The parts candidates can see are not the parts that decide anything.

  • The clock is on the server

    The deadline is computed and stored when the attempt starts, and every write checks it. The countdown in the browser is decoration.

  • The paper is frozen at the start

    Questions, order, points and settings are captured into the attempt. Editing an exam half way through changes nothing for whoever is already answering.

  • Autosave as they work

    Answers are saved as they go, so closing the browser loses nothing. They return and carry on, up to the time limit or the exam's closing time.

  • Pause, resume and sweep

    Freeze the clock and reopen later if you allow it. An abandoned attempt is closed by a scheduled sweep rather than sitting open for ever.

  • No JavaScript, no problem

    The runner degrades to an ordinary form post, so a candidate on a locked-down machine still finishes their paper.

  • Practice mode Pro

    Untimed attempts with per-question feedback, so learners can rehearse without it counting.

Marked on submit, released on your terms

Everything a machine can mark is marked the moment the paper is handed in. What needs a person goes into a queue.

  • Automatic marking

    Twelve of the fourteen types self-grade, including ordering, matching, hotspot and fill in the blanks. Only essay and file upload need a person.

  • Partial credit and negative marking

    Proportional or all or nothing, with numeric tolerance, regular expression matching, and an optional floor so a paper cannot score below zero.

  • A marking queue with the rubric

    Essays, and anything else you have chosen to mark by hand, arrive in a queue with the rubric beside them.

  • Release when you decide

    Immediately, when the exam closes, on a date you choose, or only when you say so. A withheld score is never leaked by a total that moves.

  • Gradebook and transcripts Pro

    Letter grades with their own boundaries, points and colours. A learner's portal shows a weighted transcript across everything they have sat.

  • Opt-in leaderboards Pro

    Public rankings for one exam, which nobody appears in unless they choose to. A ranking of volunteers is a game; a ranking of everybody is something else.

Decide exactly who sits it

Four ways in as standard, plus cohorts on Pro. Every limit is enforced on the server.

  • Open to everybody

    Publish the exam and anyone can sit it. Good for practice papers and public self-assessment.

  • Signed in, by role

    Restrict to logged-in users and choose which roles qualify.

  • An access code

    Share one code with a room. No accounts to create, no invitations to send.

  • Named guests

    They give a name and an email and are identified by a signed cookie. No PHP session is used, so page caching is not broken for everyone else.

  • Attempt caps and cooldowns

    Limit how many times somebody can sit an exam, make them wait between attempts, or both.

  • Cohorts Pro

    Hand-picked lists of people, for exams that belong to a class rather than to a site.

Proof they can show, and you can verify

Certificates are issued on a qualifying pass, rendered to PDF, and verifiable by anyone holding the link - all of it in the free version. Pro is where you design them.

  • Drag-and-drop designer Pro

    Lay the certificate out visually instead of typing coordinates, keep as many designs as you like, and give each exam its own. The free version ships one design and lets you edit every part of it.

  • Issued on a pass

    Awarded automatically when a result qualifies, so nobody has to remember to send one.

  • Public QR verification

    Every certificate carries a QR code to a public verification page keyed by a random token, not a guessable serial number.

  • Right-to-left rendering

    The PDF engine shapes Arabic and reorders bidirectional text properly, so a certificate is not a row of disconnected letterforms.

  • A wallet in the portal

    Learners see everything they have earned at /my-exams/, or through the certificates block anywhere on the site.

Watch it happen, then find out what the questions did

A live board while the exam is running, and item analysis once it is over.

  • Live invigilation board Pro

    Who is in, how far through they are, how long they have left, and who has gone quiet.

  • Intervene mid-exam Pro

    Extend time, allow a resume, or force a submit, with every action recorded against the attempt.

  • Item analysis Pro

    Difficulty and discrimination per question, so you can find the ones that are badly written rather than hard.

  • Scheduled reports Pro

    Have the numbers arrive by email on a schedule instead of remembering to go and look.

  • Integrity signals Pro

    Record the signals worth recording, and let a human decide what they mean. Nothing is auto-accused.

Plugs into the LMS you already run

None of these contact anything until an administrator has entered an address or a key.

  • Tutor LMS, LearnDash and LifterLMS Pro

    Restrict an exam to learners enrolled on a course, and mark that course complete when they pass. Inert when the LMS is not installed.

  • LTI 1.3 Pro

    Launch an exam from Moodle, Canvas or anything else that speaks LTI 1.3, and pass the grade back.

  • Signed webhooks Pro

    Outbound notifications on submit, grade and certificate issue, each request signed, with an SSRF guard on the address you enter.

  • API tokens Pro

    Bearer tokens with thirteen per-scope permissions, default deny, so external automation can work without a browser session.

  • AI question drafting Pro

    Paste a syllabus and review the drafts. Uses your own API key with OpenAI, Anthropic or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, including a model on your own machine.

Server-rendered, translatable, yours to extend

It behaves like a WordPress plugin rather than an app that happens to live in one.

  • Blocks and shortcodes

    Five blocks and ten shortcodes covering the catalogue, a single exam, search, results and the learner portal. Pro adds one of each.

  • Template overrides

    Every front-end template can be overridden from your theme, so the exam pages match the rest of the site.

  • Translated to the last screen

    Admin, runner, block controls, front-end templates and notification emails all read one text domain. Arabic, French, German and Spanish are bundled, with right-to-left layouts.

  • GDPR built in

    Exporters and erasers, so a personal data request made through WordPress's own tools includes and removes exam data too.

  • Turn any of it off

    The App Manager switches capabilities off individually, and a capability that is off is blocked at the endpoint, not merely hidden from the menu.

  • In-app alerts

    A bell in the admin bar for papers waiting to be marked, and a shortcode that gives learners their own feed. Not everything deserves an email.

  • Found by the rest of WordPress

    Exams are added to the site search index and appear in the block editor's link picker, so an exam is findable the same way any other content is.

Simple pricing

Choose your growth plan

Start building with Plugixa Exam today. Upgrade anytime as your needs grow.

Free

$ 0

Free forever

A complete exam plugin, not a trial

  • Question bank with subjects & tags
  • Seven question types, including essay
  • Fixed sections & random pools
  • Server-timed runner with autosave
  • Automatic marking & manual queue
  • Four access modes, caps & cooldowns
  • Learner portal, 5 blocks & 10 shortcodes
  • Import & export CSV, Aiken, GIFT, Moodle XML, QTI
  • Schedule calendar & in-app alerts
  • Community support
Start with Free
Most Popular

Pro

$ 39

1-Year License

Invigilation, analytics, certificate designer and LMS bridges

  • Everything in Free
  • Seven more question types, for fourteen
  • Certificate designer, unlimited designs, one per exam
  • Live invigilation board with interventions
  • Analytics, item analysis & scheduled reports
  • Gradebook with letter grades & transcripts
  • Tutor LMS, LearnDash & LifterLMS bridges
  • LTI 1.3, webhooks & API tokens
  • AI question drafting with your own API key
  • Cohorts, prerequisites & custom fields
  • Multilingual content & practice mode
  • LaTeX maths rendering
  • Opt-in leaderboards
  • Demo dataset to explore
  • 1 year of updates
  • Priority email support

Instant Digital Delivery

Download immediately after checkout

Secure Payment

Encrypted, PCI-compliant checkout

Auto-Updates

One-click updates from WordPress admin

Trusted by Pros

Used on thousands of WordPress sites

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Getting Started

A few minutes. Install the plugin, activate it, then open Exams in the admin menu. Create a subject, write a handful of questions, build an exam out of them and publish it. The plugin creates its own database tables on activation and removes them on uninstall.
No. It installs with sensible defaults and there is nothing you must set before writing your first question. Settings has three tabs when you do want them: General, Pages, and the App Manager, which turns individual capabilities on and off.
On the front end of your site. The plugin registers its own routes under /exams/, plus a learner dashboard at /my-exams/, and there are five blocks and ten shortcodes if you would rather place the catalogue, a single exam, search or results on pages of your own.
Yes. Output is server-rendered from templates you can override from your theme, and the blocks work in the block editor while the shortcodes work anywhere else.

Exams and Questions

Seven in the free version: multiple choice with one answer, multiple choice with several, true/false, short answer, essay, fill in the blanks, and picture choice, where the options are images. Pro adds seven more, for fourteen: ordering, matching, extended matching, hotspot, image matching, range, and file upload.
Yes. An exam is built from sections, and a section is either a fixed list of questions or a pool with rules: subject, tag, difficulty, type, and how many to draw. A pool draws when the attempt starts and is then frozen for that candidate, so everybody gets their own paper.
No. The deadline is computed and stored on the server when the attempt starts, and every write checks it. The countdown in the browser is decoration.
Nothing, for them. The set of questions, their order, their points and the runner’s settings are frozen into the attempt when it starts. Your edit applies to the next person who begins.
Their answers are already saved. The runner autosaves as they work, so they can return and carry on, up to the time limit, the exam’s closing time, or the exam’s inactivity period. An attempt that is genuinely abandoned is closed by a scheduled sweep rather than sitting open for ever.
Yes. Import from CSV, Aiken, GIFT, Moodle XML and QTI, and export to CSV, Moodle XML and QTI. Your question bank is never trapped here.

Results and Certificates

Whenever you decide, per exam: immediately, when the exam closes, on a date you choose, or only when you release it by hand. A withheld score stays withheld - the candidate sees that the paper was submitted, not what it scored.
Essays are marked by a person, not by the plugin. The attempt goes into a marking queue with the rubric beside it, and the candidate’s review stays locked until marking is finished. Twelve of the fourteen question types mark themselves on submission; only essay and file upload need somebody.
Yes, and in the free version. Every certificate carries a QR code linking to a public verification page keyed by a random token rather than a guessable serial number, so holding one certificate tells you nothing about anybody else’s.
Yes, on Pro. Item analysis reports difficulty and discrimination per question, which separates the questions that are hard from the questions that are unclear.

Access, Licensing and Support

Yes, if you set the exam’s access to guest. They give a name and an email, and the plugin identifies them with a signed cookie. No PHP session is used, so page caching still works for everybody else.
Four ways come as standard: open to everybody, restricted to signed-in users by role, opened with an access code, or sat by a named guest. Pro adds cohorts, for exams that belong to a class rather than to a site. Attempt caps and cooldowns are enforced on the server in every case.
Neither. The free version is a complete exam plugin. Pro is a separate download that adds features; nothing in the free build is disabled, and the free build contains no premium code to unlock.
Yes, including the parts that are easy to miss. The admin screens, the exam runner your candidates actually sit, the block editor controls, the front-end templates and the notification emails all read from the same text domain, and Arabic, French, German and Spanish are bundled with right-to-left layouts. Notification emails are composed in the language of the person receiving them where the plugin can tell who that is. Pro adds multilingual content: one exam served in several languages, with one question bank, one result set and one item analysis.
Not of its own choosing. It loads no fonts from a CDN and it does not contact plugixa.com. Freemius handles licensing and updates. The three Pro features that can reach outward - AI question drafting, webhooks and LTI 1.3 - have no default endpoint and make no request until an administrator has entered an address or a key.