e-EQE 2022: Take Simple Calendars on Paper to Exam

I was not planning to post this so close to the exam, but I have been getting a lot of questions about Calendars. You only need to know the EPO closing days, but you need the weekends on paper. I have also made some calendars you can use - as pdf (in English) or as Excel (so you can edit yourself or change language). Also includes comments on calculating time limits and when closing day extensions are to be used.

Time limits at the e-EQE (Main Exam and Pre-Exam)

• Calendars are no longer provided because the EPO closing days are available online during the exam. But there is no change compared to previous exams how questions are asked where time limits need to be calculated. You are only expected to know the EPO closing days based on the relevant OJEPO notices (usually once or twice per year). This was confirmed in the EQE info session of 8 Feb 2022. 
• For EQE 2022, you need to know the weekends and closing days for EPO offices in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The relevant OJEPO's are: 2020 in OJ 2020, A56 (22 May 20) and OJ 2019, A97; 2021 in OJ 2021, A4; 2022 in OJ 2021, A85. Although these OJEPO's are available online, there is no digital calendar to figure out weekends, and you cannot use one on your computer (or phone) during the exam. So, you need them on paper.
• Each national office and the IB have their own closing days - you are NOT EXPECTED to know these during the EQE, but you can assume that these offices are also closed in the weekend. If it is critical to answer a question, they will give you the details in the question. 
• If they expect you to take into account a disruption, like COVID or a hurricane, they will give you all the facts that you need. They want to test whether you know the relevant law and know how to apply the law to those facts - they are not interesting in testing whether you can find such facts.
• It is useful to have examples of such a disruptions as an overview of possible EPC and PCT remedies. For example, OJ 2020, A120 describes remedies when electronic communication is not available. For example, OJ 2020, A123 describes remedies when a disruption, such as COVID, occurs.

Avoid calculation mistakes

• Every year, candidates lose many marks because of avoidable mistakes in time limit calculations. A wrong calculation can lead to missed marks or lead to time being wasted on irrelevant details. 
• Under the stress of the exam, don't rely on your fingers or in your head - count the days/months on the Calendar. Always double check any critical calculations. Common mistakes include: 
• converting the written form of months in questions to the wrong month number. Mistakes are often made with June, July and August, for example (months 6, 7 and 8).
• assuming that every month has days 29, 30 and 31 (even February). If the "last day of the period" ends on a day that does not exist, it is shifted to the real last day of that month - R. 131(4) EPC and R. 80. 1 PCT.
• using the calendar for the wrong year (for example, 2020 instead of 2022).
• ending a period calculation in the wrong year. This is usually with the time limits longer than 12 months. Double check, or break the calculation down into smaller steps, for example: 
• 0 (priority) + 12m = 12m for end of priority year
• 12m + 6m = 18m for publication
• 18m + 12m = 30m for most national entries
• 30m + 1m = 31m for EP entry

Mock Exam: 3 Feb 2022 0930-1700 => last chance to test your setup

Updated 3 Feb 22 during Mock. Thankfully, the technical and functional issues with WISEflow and LockDown Browser are much less than last year. But candidates can still have individual issues due to hardware / software incompatibilities or disabled permissions. 

WISEflow now has a list of computer recommendations, and provides user guides and troubleshooting. Experience form last year is that you will have the least chance of technical issues if you use a dedicated desktop with one screen (at least 27 inch), one camera, one microphone, one keyboard, one mouse, one loudspeaker device, one printer, direct wired (USB/HDMI) connections to all peripherals, administrator access, cabled (LAN) access. The most chance of issues were with a corporate laptop without administrator access, laptop with an internal and an external camera, intelligent firewalls, or active virus scanners.

Use this LAST CHANCE to test your setup to make sure that you will not have any technical issues during the exam, even if you have already participated in an earlier Mock. At least join at the start of the session to run through the ID checks, and participate for an hour or so to check that the webcam and monitoring continue to work. The currently available mock flows will remain open until 6 March 2022, but you will not be able to test on your own with full invigilation.

The Pre-Exam mock will use Pre-exam (2021): Part 3 only. The Main Exam flow will be a single flow with all 2021 exams (A, B, C, D) - you may use any of the papers. 

• The participant password is: abc

Things to do and to check:

• Turn off screensavers, sleep/hibernate functions, scheduled tasks like virus checking and backup, and delay windows updates.
• Printing. As in the real examination the printable parts will be made available approximately 10 mins before the start of the flow (you might have to refresh your browser page).
• Taking entry images. Hold your valid ID card or passport into the camera, next to your face. 
• Video and audio surveillance. Try the integrated chat widget (human invigilation will however be very limited). 
• If you have a technical issue during the mocks, contact the invigilators using the chat widget. If this is not working, these are mocks, so you can also ask in the EQE Telegram Groups for advice. 
  • If you are kicked out and need to get back-in, enter WISEflow and start the flow (Lockdown Browser) and complete the ID check (if necessary). The chat widget appears bottom right before you are asked for participation or administrator passwords. So, you can access it from any computer with an internet browser where LockDown Browser is also installed.
• The invigilator password was not shared in the e-mail, so you will have to request it from the invigilators if you have technical issues. The invigilator password is needed to enter the flow after the start, or to exit early. There are also other WISEflow functions that can be accessed when instructed by an invigilator, such as saving or printing.
• Practice using the External references to see if they can be accessed. You should also try to search in the EPO Guidelines using Advanced Search, and navigate to the National Law tables. Browser shortcuts that work on my Win10: SHIFT+LEFT MOUSE (open in new tab), F5 (refresh - or use icon), ALT ← & ALT → (backward & forward - or use icon), SPACE or PAGE DOWN (scroll down), SHIFT+SPACE or PAGE UP (scroll up), HOME & END (top & bottom of page), jump to pdf bookmarks using toolbar icon, CTRL+SCROLL MOUSE (zoom - or use icon, or (i) options), CTRL+A, CTRL+C.
• Practice opening tabs, copy/pasting into your answer, and searching in the exam. Try not using the computer for 10 minutes to see if your screensaver or sleep/hibernate freezes the system.
• Test commands and actions that you may need, such as Winkey-SPACE for changing keyboard layout, F5 (or click on Refresh icon), CTRL-ALT-DELETE to allow a different network selection.
• When you have practiced enough with the exam, you can see whether some of the actions that caused problems last year will still cause you to be kicked out. For example, using ALT-TAB and multiple-finger gestures on a touchpad. 
• On my system: hitting ALT-TAB ONCE generates a warning that it is an unauthorised action, and if repeated will require the adminstrator password to continue.

EQE 2022 bug fixes, and lessons learned from EQE 2021

During the annual EQE Tutor's meeting on 19 & 20 Oct 2021 (online this year), EQE 2021 was discussed in detail, as well as the expectations of changes to be implemented for EQE 2022. The general approach is to slowly improve the issues: each change needs to be thoroughly tested to make sure improvements work reliably and do not make things worse. I have now tried the updated WISEflow platform and summarised the most important points and tips relevant for EQE 2022 based on the meetings and the experiences from candidates last year.

1. General advice:

• Watch the EPO’s EQE pages for updates: EPO EQE online page, EQE Notices & Downloads, EQE FAQ's
• Join the EQE Telegram groups to discuss issues with other candidates: Main group (283 members), Study group (108 members), ABC&PE-claims (167 members), D&PE-legal (137 members) and Marketplace (58 members). The groups are public, and open to any tutors or candidates. A few rules: treat others with respect, no discussion of cheating, no exchange of large sections of copyrighted materials (use of excerpts for study and discussion allowed). During scheduled exams, no discussion of the exam questions or answers. During mocks, no restrictions.
• WISEflow and LockDown browser provide limited possibilities compared to daily online working, so practice as much as possible with them.
• Do as many mocks as possible, even if you have not had any problems before. If short on time, at least do the initial part where the photos are taken and the flow is started. 
• Practice using the External references, and decide beforehand what will be faster to look up on paper, and what will be faster online. 
• Maximise your typing speed by taking an online typing course and using a comfortable keyboard / mouse. Become less dependent on answering on paper.

2. General IT advice = avoid issues

• Although helpdesk will be available and there are possibilities for complaints and even appeal, any issues during an exam will cause at least 20 minutes to be lost, and there is a minimum amount for marking that you must hand-in to be awarded a pass. So, it is better to avoid issues as much as possible.
• Lockdown browser is designed differently to other apps - it is not designed for stability, but to continuously monitor and to crash when something suspicious is detected. On startup, certain applications are closed. During operation, anticipated "forbidden" actions are blocked. But there will always be situations that are unexpected and unanticipated, particularly when running on the many different hardware/software configurations.
• Software is being continuously updated, so past positive results during mocks do not guarantee that you will have no issues during the exams. 
• Least chance of issues if you use a dedicated desktop with one screen (at least 27 inch), one camera, one microphone, one keyboard, one mouse, one loudspeaker device, one printer, direct wired (USB/HDMI) connections to all peripherals, administrator access, cabled (LAN) access.
• Don't use: hardware and apps you do not need, VPN (changes to IP address crashes LockDown Browser), and docking stations/port replicators.
• Turn off: screensavers, sleep/hibernate functions, scheduled tasks like virus checking and backup, and delay windows updates.
• Most chance of issues: corporate laptop without administrator access, laptop with an internal and an external camera, intelligent firewalls, or active virus scanners.

 3. Advice about EQE 2022 Exams

• Expect the 2022 exams to look very similar to the 2021 exams. Making exams takes 2-3 years in total, so the EQE 2022 exams cannot be fully adapted to the online format. It is not easy too split an existing exam into parts. EQE 2021 exams also had this problem - splitting was done by the relevant committee under responsibility of the Examination Board.
• The version of WISEflow and LockDown Browser available at Christmas 2021 will be the final one.
• More than one answer is frequently accepted (decided after the exam). But you can still fail if you are an acceptable answer track, and don't hand in enough to be marked. Make sure you hand-in as much as possible. 
• B exam will be still be difficult because you cannot easily compare - no side-by-side viewing of tabs.
• C exam will be difficult because of the split into two parts.

4. WISEflow and LockDown improvements for EQE 2022

• Current version: LockDown Browser 2.07.07 - 18 Dec 21
• Can now annotate exams when opened in a tab. Comments can be added, text can be highlighted, shapes can be added. These annotations are visible in all tabs where the exam is opened.
• Opening too many tabs used to longer crash the LockDown Browser. The maximum number of tabs depends on the display size. Now, a warning is generated that tabs must first be closed before new tabs can be opened.
• Can now apply strikethrough to text in the answer to be handed in.
• Copy paste seems to me to be improved. However, this is a problem where they do not understand what the cause of the problem is, so it is not certain it will work well on all exams.
• The invigilation has been integrated into a green hover button/window which remains on top in the answer tab. 
• Language switching of assignment has been changed to avoid the D1.1 problem in 2021.
• Side-by-side viewing of tabs is still not possible. Only the exam preview window can be viewed next to the answer tab, which is very limited in functionality.
• Pre-exam: the three languages have been separated in the questions, but not in the answers.
• ALT-TAB caused problems last year with crashes after being entered twice. It was stated during the 2022 exams that that it will just have no function. I have not seen any any problems during the mocks. I will try again in the full-function mocks in January.

Click READ MORE for other comments from Tutor's Meeting

EQE 2022 - preparation and top bugs that need to be fixed

Updated in separate post of 21 Dec 21.

Update 21 Jun 21: I have also made some of these points in epi Information 02/21

EQE 2022 has been announced (OJ 2021, A44), and it has been confirmed that the EQE will be online, it may be taken at any suitable location, and WISEflow will be used again. The exams will take place over two weeks: 

• Tu 08 Mar 22 - D Exam / Th 10 Mar - A Exam
• Tu 15 Mar 22 - B Exam / Th 17 Mar - C Exam / Fri 18 Mar - Pre-Exam

No details yet on which other software will be used or whether changes will be made in the room and workspace restrictions. But based on EQE 2021, taking an exam is likely to require: 

• an exam browser, such as LockDown Browser
• continuous AI-assisted camera and sound invigilation, so you must be visible in the webcam field of view for long periods
• online invigilation, such as Zendesk

So, EQE 2022 candidates can already plan ahead:

• Keep an eye on the EPO’s EQE pages for updated details: EPO e-EQE page, EQE Notices & Downloads, EQE FAQ's
• don't read through all the details from EQE 2021 - much of the info was provisional, a lot is repeated, and it is likely to change or be consolidated
• At least one mock should be expected in Jan / Feb. Reserve the time and take part - you must use these opportunities to test your system, and to check for individual problems with your hardware/ software
• Think digital for taking the exam: 
• a key skill is now typing speed. Take an online typing course and get a comfortable keyboard / mouse
• become less dependent on paper. Get comfortable reading work documents electronically, especially PDF.
• Look for resources that support working digitally
• websites that allow questions to be viewed and answered digitally, such as Practice EQE
• EPC and PCT books which are digital – a few, like EPC.App and PCT.App can even be annotated digitally and printed. 
• But be prepared to have your references availableon paper. During EQE 2021, access was provided to the electronic resources on the EPO website only, but it is not yet clear what will be available in 2022.

There were many issues in 2021 with the new exam platform. These are my top bugs that must be fixed for EQE 2022:

• Digital highlighting of exam pages
• this was not available at all for exam pages. Some highlighting was possible for the own answer.
• it is essential when reading off a screen to be able to keep your place, to note things you have used and/or things you need to use
• candidates should not be wasting their time copying large parts of the exam to their answer just to apply highlighting
• Copy/paste into the answer without losing formatting
• copy/paste was possible, but some or all formatting was often lost,
• this was especially poor with Apple computers
• candidates should not be wasting their time reformat excerpts
• Side-by-side previewing of exam pages, allowing correct copy/paste and highlighting
• copy/paste was only available between different tabs
• candidates should be able to answer in the same way that they are used to when working digitally
• Too-limited digital External References during the exam
• the EPO website was available, with searching
• this must be extended to include WIPO to avoid every candidate printing out 2000 pages of the PCT Applicant’s Guide
• Zendesk automatically logging out during the exam
• candidates had to keep checking every 20 mins and logging back in
• this should not be necessary.
• Camera and microphone, once tested, should function throughout the exam
• many candidates were interrupted by Zendesk during the exam because LockDown Browser had disabled their webcam. the camera tested during startup of LockDown Browser should not be disabled.
• there should be an automatic warning if the camera and/or microphone is unexpectedly not working

Other improvements needed for EQE 2022:

• lnclude an optional "digital exam desktop"
• so that candidates can prepare PDF's and upload them for use during the exam
• some EPC/PCT books are already digital, and many recommended EPO / WIPO references are only available digitally 
• allow searchable text of such PDF's, as you have in real-life, for all digital references. Being able to search broadly does not help as much as you think. Only with knowledge can you search quickly and precisely to pick out what you need.
• Find a more effective way of communicating with candidates than e-mail
• where follow-up questions can be posted. For example, a forum, Twitter, or Telegram chat groups 
• be more open about how the exams will be adapted to the platform
• Provide a technical helpdesk and forum 
• to solve network and access problems well before the exam
• especially for company networks and laptops, where candidates will not have Administrator rights.
• run an early beta test using a large number of external candidates and/or tutors to iron out the bugs
• Don't make it harder than it needs to be for those with En/Fr/Ge as a 2nd language. 
• Since 2017, an extra 30 mins was added to each Main Exam so that mainly non-native speakers would have more time. But this is no longer enforced, and it is clear from the 2021 B and C Exams that this time has just been absorbed by more material. 
• So, have a non-native review team for each exam from the countries who have a good language level, but not the highest. Sorry - no Dutch, Swedish or Danish etc. doing the English :-). They also need to test whether the exams can be made in time.
• For exams that are split, like the C Exam, subject-matter must be properly separated between parts. 
• The length of the current exams can be reduced by removing overlap and repetition. For example: 
• A Exam: reduce subject-matter, focus mainly on independent claims, and provide less prior art.
• B Exam is not realistic with client giving you claims. Go back to the old format, reduce subject-matter, only include a few claims, and provide less prior art.
• C Exam has much repetition in attacks. Include fewer claims, and provide a lot fewer documents.

e-EQE 2021 Mock3 - Experience & Tips

© UNIwise

On 23 Feb Mock3 was held as an extra test mainly for your setup: 

• 0930-1300 CET ME (B only - not a new paper, but Mock2)
• 1530-1640 CET - PE (one flow - not a new paper, but Mock1, Mock2)

Mock3 was your last chance to test under close-to-exam conditions. Different to Mock2, was the availability of an increased number of invigilators to help with problems and some monitoring of candidates (this picture is old - it is missing the audio/voice monitoring). See below for my comments on things that seemed new, and notes from the many messages I got before, during and after.

1. Resources (check regularly for updates):

• Official e-EQE page: including Step by Step to the e-EQE, Compilation of Information including the official user guides, Data Protection Statement, Instructions to Candidates, and a related Code of Conduct.
• See my post here about the Instructions and Creating your own evidence
• Official EQE notices: including EQE 2021 calendars (print them already), Notice on the use of calendars, Instructions to Candidates, current version of REE
• Official e-EQE FAQ's
• My unofficial list of technical issues to be solved before the exam
• My unofficial procedures for solving problems during the exam
• WISEflow: face recognition and face recognition monitoring (picture is old - there is also audio/voice monitoring)
• WISEflow: monitoring dashboard used by invigilators (pictures are old - there is also face recognition and audio/voice monitoring)

2. Telegram group(s)

• During and after Mock3, members of the main group exchanged tips, discussed problems in close-to-real time and helped each other. This is a very good way to beta-test software.
• The main group has 210 members, so the conversations were getting a little chaotic. Ignacio has now added 3 more: a summer study group for EQE 2022 preparation, an (ABC+PE claims analysis) group and a (D+PE legal) group. The main group will be more for general issues, and WISEflow + LockDown Browser + Zendesk issues.
• Mainly for students to discuss with others, but also open to any tutors. Group rules: no discussions of ways to cheat, no exchanges of large sections of copyrighted materials (excerpts, annotated examples, WIPO/EPO docs etc. are allowed)

3. Hardware / software

• Some problems may be due to using a company computer where you don't have full admin rights. For example, blocked urls, a missing chat window in Zendesk, changing IP addresses, automatic virus scans, screensavers that cannot be disabled, updates that cannot be disabled.  
• If you cannot solve the problems, you may have to switch to a personal laptop or PC, and either log on to the company guest network, and/or do the exam from a different location.

• During Mock3, many candidates had problems with the camera turning off after some time during the exam (entry image and initial testing by LockDown Browser were all done successfully). It is not clear why this happens. The LockDown Browser does not generate an error or warning. It should be detected by the invigilators dashboard - if they have time and it lasts too long, they should contact you to find out.
• If you notice the camera is off (e.g. LED turns off), report it as soon as possible in Zendesk chat (you likely will not know how long it has been off). 
• Solution (ME): Refresh Browser (Click on browser "refresh" icon top-left). If this does not work, you may need to exit the LockDown Browser.
• Solution (PE): For Pre-Exam, LockDown Browser works differently - you will need to enter flow AND invigilator password after a refresh before you can continue. So, you need to wait for instructions from Zendesk if you do not have the invigilator password to refresh.  If this does not work, you may need to exit the LockDown Browser.

4. Invigilation

• Some confusion about the AI monitoring. Surprisingly, the AI does not automatically generate warnings if you move your face out of view or speak. Your camera and microphone are sampled, and the invigilators have a dashboard (see picture above) with the real time status. For example, the degree of facial recognition is monitored. If one of them is "zero" or "low" (e.g. if you move too much), you should go to the top of the list, and they may contact you. But it depends on how busy they are. 
• When you hear the "bip" sound, you click on the Zendesk chat tab - there are no pop up messages.
• Not being contacted does not mean that everything you did was acceptable.
• After the exam, this data is combined with other inputs to generate a profile. All data collected is used afterwards to determine whether suspicious behaviour is suspected. The AI will generate a list of possible suspicious behaviour, which will be further analysed by people. It is the people who make the decisions.

• Some confusion about Zendesk. You must start Zendesk chat immediately (via External Resources) after starting Lockdown Browser. It must remain activated for the whole exam.
• However, if Lockdown Browser crashes, you can open a normal browser (Chrome etc) window, go to epo.zendesk.com and login instead. Once you restart Lockdown Browser, you need to activate the Zendesk chat again.
• More invigilators were available compared to Mock2, and some people chatted with them. They also attempted to solve hardware/software problems with others. People asking for the invigilator password had to typically wait 20 - 30 mins. 
• during the exam, there will be more invigilators available
• after 30 mins, any active chat automatically timed-out
• You can email a transcript of your Zendesk chat (before end of exam and before time-out) by clicking on three dots on bottom right and entering your email address. It gives you a full timestamped history. 
• But if you or the invigilator leave the chat, then the next contact will create a new transcript which has to be requested separately

CLICK BELOW FOR MORE

e-EQE 2021: Troubleshooting WISEflow, LockDown Browser, Zendesk

Updated 4 Mar 21

Updated 24 Feb after Mock3

Updated 22 Feb with note about "company computer" and chat window

Updated 19 Feb with WISEflow browser test

These are technical problems and solutions that candidates have had and sent to me that are not covered in the user guide and need to be solved BEFORE the exam. These are likely related to either personal or company restrictions or firewall settings. I have no idea how widespread these problems and if they will work for everybody. Let me know if you want to add. 

Testing your system using Mock1 and Mock3 flows

• Check your system by following the official Step by Step to the e-EQE: www.epo.org/learning/eqe/e-eqe.html. There is also a Compilation of Information with the official user guides. Check regularly for updates.
• Check that you can login to WISEflow, download and print the exams from WISEflow, login to Zendesk outside the LockDown Browser, start the LockDown Browser and login to Zendesk within the LockDown Browser.
• Unfortunately, there is no test portal you can log on to to see if the camera and microphone monitoring are working correctly under LockDown Browser exam conditions. 
• A testflow is available where you can take an image - see below

Testing your system and camera using test flows

• After logging in to WISEflow, click on the drop down menu next to your name and select "Edit profile"
• Click on the "System Requirements":
• Test Browser - it starts the LockDown Browser in a test mode, checking correct Browser operation and indicating that connection can be made to Secure Websockets.
• Start Flowlock - a dummy exam window, similar to Main Exam windows is opened so you can try it out
• Start Flowmulti -  a dummy exam window, similar to Pre-Exam T/F window is opened so you can try it out
• New: to test your camera, Start Flowlock to start the LockDown Browser. 
• In the Assignment Options, click on "Appendix material" and "Manage appendices" to open the "Appendix manager" tab.
• In the "Appendix manager" tab, click on "New appendix", and then "Take an image". This looks like the "Entry image" screen used before each exam / flow.
• Unfortunately, no microphone test

General Hardware/Software issues

• Some problems may be due to using a company computer where you don't have full admin rights. For example, blocked urls, a missing chat window in Zendesk, changing IP addresses, automatic virus scans, screensavers that cannot be disabled, updates that cannot be disabled.  
• If you cannot solve the problems, you may have to switch to a personal laptop or PC, and either log on to the company guest network, and/or do the exam from a different location.
• In general, only connect the hardware you need, and exit all software/apps except your normal internet browser. Also those running in the background, like backup software and synchronization programs (onedrive, dropbox etc).

1. USB-hubs, port replicators and docking stations. LockDown Browser disables "suspicious" processes on startup. Some people have had problems starting, and/or disconnection problems. This might be due to using a modern hub with more than one video output. Solution: use a simple USB-hub with only what you need.
2. VPN. Can lead to slow connections. LockDown Browser cannot handle changes in your IP address. Solution: don't use VPN's.

Camera

• Official troubleshooting: wiseflow.zendesk.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360015038320-Webcam-troubleshooting

1. Camera turns off during exam. During Mock3, many candidates had problems with the camera turning off after some time during the exam (entry image and initial testing by LockDown Browser were all successful). Cause: <unknown>. Solution (ME): Refresh Browser (either F5 in Windows or click on browser "refresh" icon top-left). Solution (PE): For Pre-Exam, LockDown Browser works differently - you will need to enter flow AND invigilator password after a refresh.

• your camera and microphone are sampled, and the invigilators have a dashboard with the real time status. If one of them is "zero", you should go to the top of the list, and they may contact you. But it depends on how busy they are. If you notice the camera is off (e.g. LED turns off), report it as soon as possible in Zendesk chat (you likely will not know how long it has been off). For PE, you need invigilator password to refresh, so don't try it - ask Zendesk what to do. For ME, you can try a refresh - if it does not work, you need the invigilator password to exit the LockDown Browser, so ask Zendesk first what to do.

WISEflow

• Official WISEflow troubleshooting: wiseflow.zendesk.com/hc/en-gb/sections/360005073860-Troubleshooting

1. Not able to download and print exams. Possible cause (1): <unknown, but it is likely that the url is blocked by the firewall>. Solution: <find it in the WISEflow page source code or with a network monitor, and whitelist the url and/or domain in firewall>

• To find url's, load regular browser as normal and disconnect the internet. Click on the link and you should see the url it was trying to access. Documents currently come from https://europe-files.wiseflow.net
• So whitelist traffic from *.wiseflow.net

• Added 4 Mar 21: possible cause (2): on systems where the links have worked before, they may not appear before the exam as intended. Helpdesk: ".. participant’s computer has changed its external IP addresses from when they last refreshed the page in WISEflow (flow overview)". Refreshing only the flow page (where the download links are visible) is not enough. Solution (1) from helpdesk: Reload (Refresh in browser or CTRL F5) of flow overview page in WISEflow
• Solution (2) from participant (if (1) does not work): logout and back in to WISEflow

Zendesk Chat

• After starting LockDown Browser, you must manually start Zendesk Chat through External Resources. Remain logged in through the whole exam. It is also accessible from a normal browser by going to epo.zendesk.com
• apparently, the chat widget will only appear if there is an invigilator logged in at the time
• Official troubleshooting: support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360022362053-Zendesk-Chat-system-requirements#topic_jt2_hqv_m4b
• only uses ports 80 and 443, which should be open on all firewalls
• whitelist traffic from *.zopim.com on the firewall
• relies on Amazon for services. Check whether Amazon IPs are blocked. 

1. No chat window in bottom right after logging in to epo.zendesk.com (only logo). Cause: firewall is blocking urls. Solution: whitelist three URLs (unsure which one worked). Source: Irina Bagyan: ^https?://([A-Za-z0-9.-]*\.)?zendesk\.com/ and ^https?://([A-Za-z0-9.-]*\.)?zdassets\.com/ and  ^https?://([A-Za-z0-9.-]*\.)?zopim\.com/

LockDown Browser (by Respondus)

• Official troubleshooting: wiseflow.zendesk.com/hc/en-gb/articles/115001307854-FLOWlock-browser-Troubleshooting
• Unofficial troubleshooting: saltedpatent.blogspot.com/2021/02/avoiding-respondus-lockdown-browser.html
• Respondus troubleshooting: LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor support.respondus.com/support/index.php (includes list of  ports and IP addresses to be open). Student FAQ: support.respondus.com/support/index.php?/Knowledgebase/List/Index/25

1. Browser freezes or crashes due to user input. Possible cause: certain keys and combinations that attempt to switch between windows/applications are forbidden. Solution: Mechanically disable the keys involved - either insert a piece of plastic or remove the keys.
2. Browser freezes or crashes due to trackpad input. Possible cause: certain gestures and finger combinations that attempt to switch between windows/applications are forbidden. Solution: disable all gestures in the trackpad settings and use an external mouse with a scroll wheel.
3. Browser freezes or crashes with no warning. Possible cause: Some computers change their IP address while you still working. Solution: <not sure>
4. Browser freezes or crashes when new tab is opened. Possible cause: Too many open tabs crashes the browser. It is related to screen width, but for most people seems to be max. 10. Solution: don't open too many tabs (Zendesk chat and external resources will open their own tabs as well)
5. Main tab in LockDown Browser is blank. Possible cause: firewall blocking traffic. Solution: see official troubleshooting above. At least whitelist traffic to *.wiseflow.net. Someone who had an internet failure noted that the Browser retrieves exam content from https://europe.wiseflow.net/participant/flowlock/display.php#

External Resources (EPO site)

• Also possible to access official EPO legal texts within LockDown Browser. A separate tab is opened when you click on EPO legal texts on dropdown menu.
• You should see www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts.html, and be able to browse to any page within www.epo.org domain, including OJEPO, EPO EPC Guidelines, EPO PCT Guidelines, Euro-PCT Guide, Case Law (only if looking for specific case - you can waste a lot of time reading this)
• At bottom right of page is link to Advanced Website Search, which allows limiting the scope of the html search to specific documents: www.epo.org/search.html

1. Not able to access legal texts. Possible cause: firewall is blocking urls. Solution: whitelist complete www.epo.org domain 
2. Not able to open pdfs of legal texts. Possible cause: large pdfs cannot be opened in LockDown Browser. Solution: brows using html or use html search www.epo.org/search.html