Almost everything written about the NAATI CCL is about vocabulary, note-taking and marking. Almost nothing is written about the fifteen minutes before any of that matters: proving to a stranger watching through your webcam that your room, your kit and your identity all check out. Get that wrong and the best interpreting in the world doesn't get marked. This is the practical setup guide — system check, bandwidth, ID, the second device, the desk, and exactly what gets flagged.
- There is no test centre. The CCL is delivered online only, on the Televic platform, invigilated live by ProctorExam.
- NAATI asks for at least 10 Mbps down / 1.5 Mbps up with ping under 25ms, on a private connection — not a library, campus or work network.
- Headsets, headphones and earphones (wired or Bluetooth) are banned. You sit the test on your device's built-in mic and speakers.
- A second device — your phone or tablet — runs a side camera on you the whole time, and you supply it yourself.
- Notes are allowed on paper with a pen you supply; typed notes and every electronic aid are banned outright.
It's online only — every time
Start with the fact that ends most confusion before it starts: the NAATI CCL is not something you can choose to sit online instead of at a centre. It only runs online. NAATI does operate five in-person testing venues around the country, in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide — but those sit the Certified Provisional Interpreter and Auslantests, never the CCL. If a coaching outfit advertises a “CCL test centre” near you, they are describing a classroom, not a sitting. The full case for why online is the only format is worth reading if any part of that still feels surprising; this guide picks up from there and gets into the mechanics of actually doing it properly.
The platform: Televic + ProctorExam
Two separate systems run your sitting. Televic is the testing platform: it plays the audio, times your segments, and records your interpretation. ProctorExam is the invigilation layer: a live proctor watches your webcam feed and your second-device side camera for the whole session, the same way an exam supervisor would walk the room in a physical hall. You interact with both through a Chrome browser extension, which is why the browser requirement below is not a minor detail — it is the thing the whole test runs inside.
The system check you must not skip
NAATI requires a mandatory system check before your test date, and candidate guidance is consistent that it should be completed with real time to spare — treat “at least 48 hours before your test” as the absolute latest, not the target. The check walks through installing the Chrome extension, granting camera and microphone permissions, pairing your second device, and running an automatic upload/download speed test.
Browser, OS and bandwidth
The requirements are specific rather than generous, so check them against your actual setup rather than assuming a modern laptop clears them by default.
| Requirement | What NAATI asks for |
|---|---|
| Browser | The latest version of Google Chrome, with the ProctorExam extension installed |
| Primary device | A personal laptop or desktop — work and institutional machines are frequently blocked by their own firewalls |
| Download speed | At least 10 Mbps |
| Upload speed | At least 1.5 Mbps |
| Latency (ping) | 25 milliseconds or less |
| Connection type | A private connection — not a library, campus or workplace network, and not a mobile hotspot |
That upload figure is the one people miss. Home connections are usually provisioned for download speed and are much weaker on upload — and your video and audio feed to the proctor rides entirely on upload. If your system check flags a marginal connection, the fix is rarely a better plan; it's usually a wired Ethernet cable into the router instead of Wi-Fi, and closing every other device competing for the same connection during your slot.
Headset and microphone rules — and why a bad one costs fluency marks
This is the rule that catches out candidates who interpret or study wearing a headset every other day of the week: no headsets, headphones or earphones are allowed— wired or Bluetooth. NAATI has tightened this over time, phasing out wired headphones on top of an existing Bluetooth ban, citing test security. You sit the CCL on your device's built-in microphone and speakers, or an external mic/speaker set that isn't worn on your head.
Treat this as a genuine preparation variable, not paperwork. A built-in laptop mic sitting 40cm away picks up room echo, a fridge compressor, traffic outside — all of it audible to whoever marks your recording. In a test where youare graded on the clarity and fluency of your spoken interpretation, a noisy or muffled recording makes confident, accurate interpreting sound hesitant or garbled. The fix is cheap: practise your mock dialogues on the exact hardware you'll use on the day, in the exact room, and listen back. If you can't clearly hear your own numbers and names on playback, the marker won't either.
The second device: your phone as a side camera
Alongside your laptop or desktop, you need a phone or tablet with a camera, running the ProctorExam companion app, positioned as a side camera — angled so the proctor can see you, your desk, your hands and the space around you throughout the test, not just your face front-on. This is the same purpose a human invigilator walking a physical exam hall would serve: confirming nobody is passing you anything and nothing unauthorised is within reach.
Where to put it
A common working position is roughly to the side and slightly behind you, at a height that captures your desk surface, your hands while you write notes, and enough of the room that the proctor isn't looking at a wall. It needs its own stable footing — propped against something solid, not balanced precariously — and its own charge or power source for the full session, since a phone that dies mid-test is an interruption you caused.
ID and the room scan
Before the test proper starts, ProctorExam runs an identity and room check. You'll present a current, original photo ID — a passport from any country, or an Australian or New Zealand driver's licence or proof-of-age card — to the camera. Digital copies and screenshots of ID don't satisfy this; it has to be the physical document, held up and readable.
The room scan follows the same logic as the desk rules below: the proctor is confirming you are alone, that there's nothing hidden that could help you, and that the room itself is a plausible, quiet, private space for the next hour. Walk your camera slowly around the room — desk, walls, the door, under the desk — before you sit down, rather than waiting to be asked twice.
What can sit on your desk
NAATI's own instructions are specific about this, because it's the boundary most candidates worry about. Note-taking is genuinely permitted — this is not a closed-book test in the way people sometimes assume — but the permission is narrow.
| Allowed | Not allowed |
|---|---|
| Loose sheets of blank paper and a pen — you supply both | Any pre-written notes, printed material or reference sheets |
| Water | Food, or anything eaten during the test |
| Your ID document | A second screen, tablet or additional monitor |
| The two devices actually running the test | Typed notes of any kind, on any device |
| — | Electronic dictionaries, translation apps, web browsing, or live caption/transcription features |
The pattern underneath all of it is simple: anything electronic that could look up, translate or transcribe for you is banned outright, full stop — and that line doesn't bend for a “quick check.” Handwriting, by contrast, is exactly what NAATI expects you to be doing during the listening phase of each dialogue. If your note-taking technique currently depends on a phone or a laptop document, you need a paper-based system well before test day, not a last-minute substitute for one. If you would rather practise that substitution than invent it, the study planner can slot a note-taking drill into whatever time you have left.
What actually gets a sitting flagged
Proctors are trained to distinguish ordinary exam behaviour from genuine risk, and it helps to know which side of that line the things you're worried about actually sit on.
| Behaviour | Flagged? |
|---|---|
| Someone else entering the room during your session | Yes — a hard stop |
| A phone, smartwatch or second screen visible or in reach | Yes |
| Talking to, or being prompted by, another person off-camera | Yes — this is what the rule against “talking” actually targets |
| Quietly sub-vocalising or muttering to yourself while note-taking | Not a named violation — you're seconds from speaking the full interpretation aloud regardless |
| Looking away from the screen for an extended period | Reviewed — brief glances at your notes are normal; repeatedly looking off-screen is not |
| A connection drop that breaks the proctor's view of you | Reviewed — report it immediately rather than continuing and hoping |
That third-from-last row is worth sitting with, because it's the one candidates worry about most and are told least about. The CCL is an oral test — you have to speakyour interpretation aloud, every single segment. Muttering a name or a number to yourself while you scribble it down is not remotely the same behaviour NAATI's instructions are describing when they warn against talking during the test: that warning is aimed at a second voice, a person feeding you answers, or a candidate consulting someone off-camera. Your own quiet thinking-out-loud while you write is not what a proctor is trained to chase.
The mistakes that are entirely avoidable
Almost every voided or disrupted sitting traces back to one of a short list of things a candidate could have prevented with five minutes of setup the night before:
- Running the system check on a different device or room than the real one.
- Wearing a headset out of habit, having never practised on open speakers.
- Charging the second device for the first time on test morning and finding out its camera angle is wrong.
- Sitting in a room with a housemate, partner or child who may walk in.
- Testing on office or campus Wi-Fi that firewalls the ProctorExam extension mid-session.
- Leaving a phone's notifications on "just in case," and having it light up on the side camera.
None of these are about interpreting skill at all — which is exactly why they're the most frustrating way to lose marks, and the cheapest to fix. For the parts of exam day that are about the test itself rather than the setup around it, the full walkthrough of what to expect on the day picks up where this guide leaves off.
Your pre-test checklist
Quick check
Frequently asked questions
Sources
Every technical requirement above was cross-checked across NAATI's official CCL page and its own PDFs/news releases on 14 September 2026. NAATI updates equipment policy from time to time (it phased out wired headphones after already banning Bluetooth) — confirm current rules on the official site before your sitting.