# How online tests work

> Question papers students take online, free or paid, without lessons.

Source: https://paatya.net/docs/online-tests/how-online-tests-work

An **online test** is a set of question papers students take online, such as "DSC previous papers" holding **DSC 2026**, **DSC 2025** and **DSC 2024**. Unlike a course, it has no lessons or sections: just the tests, one after another.

## How an online test is different from a course

| | Course | Online test |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What's inside | Sections and topics: videos, notes, quizzes | Tests only, each with its own questions |
| Where you build it | **Courses** | **Online tests** |
| Free or paid | Yes | Yes, the same way |
| Enrolling students | Yes | Yes, the same way |
| Certificates | When every topic is finished | When every test is passed |

Everything else works as it does for a course: [enrolling students](https://paatya.net/docs/enrollments/enroll-students), [end dates](https://paatya.net/docs/enrollments/how-enrollment-works), [selling online](https://paatya.net/docs/course-payments/sell-a-course), [free courses](https://paatya.net/docs/courses/free-courses) and your [public website](https://paatya.net/docs/public-website/what-visitors-see).

## What a test can have

Each test is a quiz with everything a quiz can have. See [Add a quiz](https://paatya.net/docs/courses/add-a-quiz):

- Single-answer, multiple-answer and true / false questions.
- Pictures on questions and answers, such as a diagram for a maths question.
- Different marks for each question.
- **Categories**, such as Quantitative Aptitude, English and Reasoning, with marks shown for each.
- **Negative marking**, such as a quarter of a question's marks taken off for a wrong answer.
- **Instructions** students read and confirm before they start.
- A time limit, the number of attempts, and a passing score.

You can type the questions in, or [create them all from an Excel sheet](https://paatya.net/docs/courses/quiz-excel-import).

## Free and paid online tests

- **Free:** turn on **The whole online test is free** on its details page. Any student can start it from **Free courses**.
- **Paid:** set a price on its details page, exactly as for a course. Students buy it, or you enroll them.
- **Free samples in a paid online test:** mark one or more tests as a **Free sample**. Students who start the online test for free can take those tests. The others show as **Locked** until the student buys it or you enroll them.

## What students see

Students find online tests in **My Courses**, on an **Online tests** tab when they also have courses. Opening one shows every test with its questions, marks and time, their best score, and a button: **Start test**, **Resume**, **Try again** or **View result**. Before a test starts, they read its instructions and tick **I have read and understood the instructions**.

![An online test as an enrolled student sees it: one test passed, the next ready to start](https://paatya.net/docs/img/online-tests-how-online-tests-work-1.png)

A student who started a paid online test for free sees the free sample tests open and the others **Locked**, with a button to buy it when you sell online. In an online test that is free throughout, there is nothing to unlock: no test is marked **Free sample** and no panel asks students to contact you.

![The same online test for a student with free access: the free sample open, the other test locked](https://paatya.net/docs/img/online-tests-how-online-tests-work-2.png)

## Related

- [Create an online test](https://paatya.net/docs/online-tests/create-an-online-test)
- [Test results](https://paatya.net/docs/online-tests/results)