Respondus Lock Down Browser (for students)

Your instructor may require you to use a special browser (“Respondus Lockdown Browser”) to take your Blackboard tests. While taking a Blackboard test using Lockdown Browser will prevent you from accessing anything other than the test until you submit it.

Before your test date

Review the Respondus device requirements.
Install the Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox web browser and make sure they’re up-to-date. These are the browsers we recommend for using Blackboard.
Download the Respondus Lockdown Browser from the Respondus website.
Review the overview video on how to use the tool.

If you haven’t restarted your computer recently, restarting your computer is also recommended.

If you have difficulties installing it or issues with your computer, please reach out to the ITS Service Center at help@syr.edu

Taking your test

Before you take the exam, you should:

Find a location with a reliable internet connection.
Close all applications on your computer.
Launch either Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox and login to the Syracuse University Blackboard system.
Navigate to your course an launch your exam.

Troubleshooting

If you experience issues during the exam, notify your instructor immediately.

If your exam becomes unresponsive, you may need to exit by clicking close in the upper right corner of the browser. When you click, you will receive a pop-up reading, “Do not close the browser until the exam is complete. Your Instructor will be notified if you exit the exam early.”

Click “Close the browser” and enter a reason for exiting the exam into the pop-up that appears.

Image that states Provide a reason for why you are exiting the browser before the exam is completed

Once you have exited, restart your browser, and re-enter the exam by going into Blackboard and clicking “continue attempt.”

Test panel in Blackboard Ultra that has continue attempt 1 in Black box at bottom of panel