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Exam mode and fair play

A leaderboard is only worth anything if everyone on it played under the same conditions. Exam mode is the set of rules that make that true for attempts that are supposed to count, and this page explains exactly what it does so nothing about it comes as a surprise mid-attempt.

When it applies

The rules apply to every scored attempt: Quiz mode on any quiz, and every competition. They never apply in Revision or Preview mode, where nothing is being scored. In a browser the attempt begins with a warning to that effect — stay on the quiz, in fullscreen, or it will be submitted — and asks you to enter fullscreen before the first question appears.

What it enforces

• Fullscreen. In a browser the attempt runs in fullscreen; leaving it pauses the quiz behind an overlay until you re-enter, and is recorded. Right-click, copy, printing and the usual screenshot and developer-tools shortcuts are blocked and logged but do not count against you. On a phone, the app holds the screen awake so it cannot turn off mid-question.
• Staying on the page. Switching to another tab, app or window is detected. A short absence — up to about eight seconds, long enough for a notification or an accidental swipe — is forgiven: you are warned but nothing is counted. Anything longer is a strike.
• Three strikes. On the third strike the attempt is submitted as it stands. The banner at the top of the screen shows how many you have, and the warning before the last one is unmistakable.
• A fixed clock. The timer keeps running while you are away. Being absent never buys time.
• Shuffling. Hosts can shuffle the order of questions for each participant and the order of options within each question, so two people sitting side by side cannot usefully compare screens.

A strike that lands while the app is in the background is applied when you return, so backgrounding the app and relaunching it does not shed it.

Avoiding accidental strikes

• Close other apps and silence notifications before a competition.
• On a laptop, use a browser window with nothing else open, and do not press Escape — it leaves fullscreen.
• If a call comes in on your phone, decline it; the grace period covers the interruption but not the conversation.
• If you think an attempt was ended unfairly, email support@quizzyapp.net with the quiz or event name and roughly when it happened.

How scores stay honest

Beyond exam mode, a few standing rules keep the numbers on the platform meaningful.

• Sharing counts for nothing. Sharing a quiz never adds to its play count, its rating, anyone's XP, a leaderboard or your topic accuracy. It is a way to tell people about a quiz, not a way to climb.
• XP rewards learning, not speed. Every attempt earns 5–20 XP based only on the share of questions answered correctly. Speed scoring, where an author enables it, changes the displayed percentage and nothing else.
• Best score, not most attempts. In circle leagues a member who plays the round's quiz five times contributes only their highest score, so retaking to improve is fair and retaking to inflate is pointless. Round windows are strict, and a circle that joins mid-round earns only from that moment.
• Forfeits are real. Leaving a head-to-head battle hands the win to your opponent and forfeits any XP for the match.
• Learning modes are not scored. Revision and Preview attempts do not earn XP, appear on leaderboards or change weak-topic tracking. Only Quiz mode counts.

Content rules

Fair play also covers what gets published. Quizzes must be the author's own work or material they hold the rights to, and must not contain hateful, sexual or otherwise prohibited content. Reports on a quiz go to the author and to us; we remove content that breaks the Community Guidelines and act on accounts that repeatedly do. If someone has published your material, email us with a link and evidence that you hold the rights.

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