Systems and methods are provided for carrying out an examination with a client computer. A client computer is booted using a secondary operating system other than a primary operating system of the client computer that is accessed from a computer readable medium provided by an administrator of an examination only on the day of the examination. A broadcast message is sent from the client computer to check for the existence of a local server and to establish communication with the local server. A client application is received from the local server for presenting the examination at the client computer. Assessment content is received for the examination from the local server. The examination including the assessment content is presented to a user of the client computer with the client application, and user responses are received at the client computer and transmitted to the local server.