Innovation has always been at the heart of Cirrus, and that won’t change. But in 2025, we’re sharpening our focus on what brings the most value to our customers—not just powerful software but a true partnership in all things testing. That means hands-on support from optimising exam design and ensuring a smooth candidate experience to streamlining marking and maintaining assessment security. We’re not just providing a platform—we’re working alongside you to make testing more efficient, fair, and future-proof.

At Cirrus, we’re stepping into 2025 with a clear focus: people first. We’ve always been committed to delivering great technology, but we know that true value comes from the people behind it. That’s why we’re investing even more in hands-on, tailored support—so our clients always have a dedicated partner to rely on. Our account managers will work closely with you to truly understand your needs and ensure your experience with Cirrus feels personal and collaborative.

We’re also doubling down on what matters most: delivering a world-class experience for your candidates. A great candidate experience means fewer disruptions, fairer outcomes and a stronger reputation for your assessments. By improving candidate delivery, we’re setting the standard for exam satisfaction. And as we refine our candidate and client journey, we’re putting renewed energy into our partnerships—both those we’ve cherished for years and the new ones we’ll forge.

Our roadmap gives a glimpse into where we’re headed, but it’s not set in stone. As needs evolve and new opportunities arise, we may adjust our plans to keep delivering the best experience. Think of it as a guiding vision rather than a strict timeline—always focused on making Cirrus better for you.

Together, we’ll make 2025 a year of growth, connection, and shared success.

Key Priorities for 2025:

• Customer-led growth: Putting our customers’ needs at the centre of our innovation—ensuring every improvement brings real value to you.
  
• Dedicated support with Account Managers: Expanding our team to provide you with hands-on account management and support.
  
• Candidate-centric excellence: Improving exam delivery to make your candidates’ experience enjoyable and stress-free.
  

Your voice matters: join us for Usability Testing!

We’re not just building Cirrus for you—we’re building it with you. This year, we’re launching a series of usability testing sessions to ensure our roadmap aligns with your needs.

Your feedback will help shape the features, enhancements, and updates we roll out. If there’s a workflow that could be smoother, a tool you’d love to see improved, or an entirely new way to do things, we want to hear from you! Stay tuned for sign-ups to participate and directly impact Cirrus’s future.

AI Authoring: a smarter way to build item banks

Time is precious, and we’re making sure you get more of it back. AI Authoring, already in its MVP (minimum viable product) stage, is introducing a faster, smarter way to build your item banks.

Simply upload a PDF of your syllabus, curriculum, or textbook section, and Cirrus AI will do the heavy lifting—creating balanced, well-structured questions for you. It generates multiple-choice, multiple-response, Either/Or and essay questions, ensuring a diverse and comprehensive item bank. The AI engine also helps maintain question difficulty balance, ensuring that assessments are fair and appropriately challenging.

This feature is perfect for educators and assessment designers looking to accelerate test creation, reduce manual work, and focus on refining content quality rather than starting from scratch. This is the perfect companion to LOFT 3.0, where having a bigger item bank allows you to generate more randomized, on-the-fly exams.

Transforming the Candidate Experience

A fair and accessible testing environment ensures candidates perform at their best. This year, we’re reimagining our Candidate Delivery Platform with a fully responsive design that adapts effortlessly across devices—no extra apps required.

Whether on a laptop, tablet, or mobile browser, candidates can engage with their exams confidently and without distraction

Enhanced accessibility support

Inclusion is a top priority. We’re introducing:

• Improved Text-to-speech functionality, allowing candidates to listen to questions and resources.
• Dark mode for high-contrast viewing, reducing eye strain.

• Text enlargement options for better readability, ensuring accessibility for visually impaired users.
• Keyboard navigation improvements, making the platform more intuitive for screen reader users.

Improved question navigation

Candidates can now highlight text in question stems and reference materials, making it easier to engage with content and mark key information for later review.

Customisable layout

No more awkward scrolling! Candidates can adjust the placement of media elements (images, videos, diagrams) to their preference—right, left, top, or bottom. This ensures they can focus on answering questions efficiently with minimal distractions.

Question status overview

A quick-glance status bar indicates answered, unanswered, flagged, and sectioned questions, helping candidates stay organised and manage their time effectively.

Redesigned score reports

Post-exam clarity is key. We’re redesigning score reports in a fresh, visually appealing way so candidates can easily understand their results, including performance breakdowns, strength areas, and suggested areas for improvement.

Full Offline Mode – data backup & improved messaging system

We know internet issues can happen. Our new Full Offline Mode ensures assessments keep running smoothly, even when connectivity drops completely.

• Downloadable exams allow candidates to take their assessments fully offline.
• Automatic data backup protects candidate progress.
• Clear offline messaging lets users know when data is syncing.
• Seamless re-upload ensures candidates can sync their completed exams once they are back online.
  

This update gives candidates peace of mind, knowing internet hiccups won’t disrupt their exam experience.

Strengthening Marking and Insights

Our newly enhanced Marking & Score Distribution Dashboard is designed to give coordinators and markers deep insights into performance, rescoring, and question effectiveness. This feature introduces:

New tabs for score distribution and overview

Coordinators will have access to a Score Distribution tab, which provides a clear snapshot of score trends, pass rates, and reliability data and provides direct access to rescoring tools. Markers will have an Overview tab, which allows them to review performance quickly and navigate to rescoring when needed.

Graphs and key performance metrics

Visual score distribution, total score range, average time per question or session, and response patterns offer deeper insights into candidate performance. Coordinators can identify trends and potential scoring inconsistencies, while markers can assess question effectiveness and adjust where necessary.

Enhanced rescoring with integrated question performance table

A redesigned rescoring page now includes a question performance table, streamlining the process of reviewing and adjusting scores. Instead of manually checking entire exams, users can filter and sort question data to pinpoint problem areas and ensure fairer assessments.

Real-time calculations with save timestamp

Data updates automatically at regular intervals, eliminating the need for manual refreshes. A save timestamp ensures full transparency, allowing for faster decision-making and maintaining a clear audit trail of any changes.

Redesigned rescoring UI

A more intuitive interface simplifies interaction, making selecting and adjusting scores with fewer clicks easier. A clearer layout improves navigation, while permissions-based access ensures that only authorised users can make changes.

With deeper insights, automated updates, and a streamlined workflow, this update helps assessment teams work more efficiently, reduce errors, and ensure exams are fair and reliable.

The Data Cube: unlock the power of your data

Understanding assessment performance at a granular level is now easier than ever with the Cirrus Data Cube—a powerful, structured way to analyse and interact with exam data. Unlike traditional flat reports, the Data Cube allows users to slice and dice information from multiple perspectives, making it an essential tool for data-driven decision-making.

• Custom reporting – Build and filter reports tailored to specific assessment needs, whether focusing on individual students, question pools, or institutional performance.
  
• Improved accuracy – The structured data analysis approach ensures a higher reliability level and reduces reporting errors.
  
• Predictive insights – Use historical performance data to identify trends and forecast future assessment outcomes.
  

Institutions and coordinators can move beyond static reports and gain true control over their assessment analytics with the Cirrus Data Cube. This will improve exam quality, candidate outcomes, and smarter decision-making.

Looking Ahead

2025 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for Cirrus. With a renewed focus on people, partnerships, and delivering a world-class exam experience, we’re ensuring that our platform evolves with you in mind.

Want to stay in the loop? Sign up for our newsletter to get updates, sneak peeks, and invites to our usability testing sessions. And of course, follow us on social media for the latest behind-the-scenes developments!

Here’s to an exciting, transformative year ahead. Let’s make 2025 the best one yet—together. 🚀