1.2 Computer-Based Platform, Delivery, and Accommodations

1.2 Computer-Based Platform, Delivery, and Accommodations

Quick Summary: In SY 2025–2026, learners took the CB-NCAE on the DepEd Regional Learning Management System (LMS) through the Safe Exam Browser. The test needed a stable internet connection and ran in fixed morning or afternoon sessions. Schools without enough computers could borrow laptops and tablets or move learners to a nearby school in the same district. Under DM 108, s. 2025, learners with disabilities may be assessed using the accommodations in Section 9 of DepEd Order No. 55, s. 2016, and learners who have difficulty seeing may opt to skip the image-heavy subtests. For SY 2026–2027, BEA is checking a new platform through a Technical Assessment before the Test Proper.

The SY 2025–2026 Platform

BEA's additional guidelines for SY 2025–2026, dated 24 November 2025, describe the delivery set-up:

The Safe Exam Browser locks the device to the test while it runs, so other applications and websites are unavailable. BEA has not published a calculator rule or whether scratch paper is provided. Practise the numerical and logical subtests without a calculator, and follow your Test Administrator's instructions on the day.

Sessions and Schedules

Each testing centre runs one or two fixed sessions a day:

• Morning session: 6:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
• Afternoon session: 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m.

A school may use both sessions or only one. A "mid-session" such as 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. is not allowed, because it would clash with other schools' fixed slots on the shared regional platform. Each session covers the preliminaries, a practice test, the test proper, the post-test, and an allowance for interruptions. These five-hour windows are session limits, not the published length of the test.

Schedules are built from the top down. The Regional Testing Coordinator, working with the Regional Information Technology Officer, divides the daily capacity among divisions. The Division Testing Coordinator (DTC) maps the schools that have computer laboratories, noting their capacity, internet stability, and power reliability. Each school then counts its working computers and keeps to its assigned date and session.

Sharing Devices and Moving Learners

DM 108 acknowledges that many schools lack enough working computers or reliable internet. It encourages them to work with nearby or partner institutions:

• Moving equipment: Laptops, tablets, and other testing resources may be lent for a short time to schools with limited facilities. Transfers stay within the division and need the DTC's endorsement and the Schools Division Superintendent's (SDS) approval. They must not disrupt regular classes in either school, and the borrowing school is responsible for pick-up and return.
• Moving learners: Learners may test at another school only if it is in the same school district. Parental consent is required, and learners travel in groups with assigned teachers.
• Personal devices: These may be allowed where school computers are limited, but their use is voluntary. Laptops (Windows, macOS, or Linux) and tablets (Android or iPadOS) need school approval and a compatibility check at least a week before the test. The ICT Coordinator inspects each device before it enters the room, and the device may be used only for the test. Temporary files are cleared afterwards, and learners and parents remain responsible for the device.

Before Test Day: Accounts, Walkthrough, and Mock Test

In SY 2025–2026, all Grade 10 learners attended an Assessment Platform Walkthrough and Test Orientation, and DM 108 required a mock test. Both took place from 1 December 2025, at least a week before the school's testing date, and BEA released a walkthrough video for learners. Schools then confirmed five things:

1. every examinee had a working account;
2. all computers worked;
3. the internet connection was stable;
4. the Test Administrator and ICT Coordinator knew their roles; and
5. examinees understood the interface.

The Division Information Technology Officer and the DTC create the accounts and enrol examinees in the LMS and the CB-NCAE course. The school ICT or testing coordinator then checks that each account works.

Moving Through the Test

The orientation materials show this sequence on the LMS:

1. Open the LMS, choose your region and SDO, and sign in with the username and password on your Student Log-in Form or with your DepEd account.
2. Read the instructions and click ACCESS.
3. Click the name of the subtest assigned to you, then Attempt quiz now and Start attempt. The timer starts when you click Start attempt.
4. Answer the items, then click Finish attempt.
5. On the summary page, Return to attempt lets you review your answers while time remains, and Submit all and finish closes that subtest. Confirm in the dialogue box.
6. Click Back to the course and repeat until you have finished every subtest assigned to you.
7. Log out from the upper-right menu, stay seated, and wait for the proctor.

Part I collects examinee information:

• name, Learner Reference Number (LRN), birth date, age, and sex;
• second-quarter grades in English or Reading, Science, Mathematics, and Filipino;
• region and division codes and school ID;
• whether the learner is a GASTPE grantee (private schools), in a night or open high school, a member of an Indigenous Peoples group, in a special class or programme, a 4Ps beneficiary, or a learner with a disability.

Learners also choose their top three preferred college courses from a list. Have your LRN and recent grades ready.

Test Security and Sanctions

The orientation slides list acts that count as violations of national examination security. They include reading test items other than one's own, supplying answers to examinees, capturing test items with electronic gadgets, posting photos of items, and allowing impostors or substitute examinees.

For examinees, the Chief Examiner (the school head) decides the sanction. A first or second offence brings a reprimand. A third brings cancellation of the test or invalidation of the results. Testing personnel face suspension of salary or incentives, suspension from work, and, for copyright infringement, legal action. Test Administrators must hold at least a Teacher I position, have a strong IT background, and not teach the examinees they proctor.

Rescheduling and Interruptions

A test may be rescheduled if a learner is sick or after a natural calamity, an unexpected power or internet outage, or system downtime. In SY 2025–2026, rescheduled tests could run until the day after the last school's schedule in the division. When the window was extended to February 2026, learners who had started but not finished particular subtests were handled through a subtest resetting request.

SY 2026–2027: The Technical Assessment

For SY 2026–2027, BEA moved to a new assessment platform. It is first running a Technical Assessment to verify the platform's functionality, usability, and readiness. Learners complete four parts:

1. Part I: General Information
2. Part II: Examinee's Descriptive Questionnaire (EDQ)
3. Part III: Key Learner Attributes (KLA)
4. Part IV: Career and Occupational Roles Explorer (CORE)

Learners who complete the Technical Assessment move on to the Test Proper once BEA announces its schedule. Learners who have not finished are rescheduled within the reopened window of 12–30 October 2026. BEA is also preparing an alternative mode for schools that cannot meet the computer-based requirements.

Accommodations for Learners with Disabilities

Paragraph 8 of DM 108, s. 2025 sets two rules:

1. Learners with disabilities may be assessed provided the test accommodations in Section 9 of DO 55, s. 2016 are met.
2. Learners who have difficulty seeing, including visually impaired learners, may opt to skip subtests with image-heavy items: Abstract Reasoning, Mechanical Reasoning, Spatial Reasoning, and PARE.

Skipping is optional. BEA has not published how skipped subtests appear on the score report or any extra-time rule for the computer-based test. Families should raise accommodation needs with the school testing coordinator before the test date. The arrangement above comes from the SY 2025–2026 memorandum, so confirm the current year's rule.