Troubleshooting an Exam: Removing Glitch of Alison Online Learning Platform That Blocked User Interface

A day once has come when I thought that it would be great to get a fresh certificate for knowledge and skills I have on electricity, electronics repair, computers, soldering, and similar stuff. There are a lot of platforms available that provide a training course and issue a certificate on successful finish. Alison is one of such platforms, and I immediately enrolled into its COMPTIA A+ 1000 course. But before I could get a certificate I had to fix the glitch on this platform.

This glitch was like a mini boss in computer game you absolutely have to overplay in order to pass further down the path of adventure. Specifically, it was a glitch that appeared randomly in time during the in course exams. You were blocked from moving further until you give answers to all exam questions. And you could not give answers because the interface blocked you from selecting an answer.

You never knew when the glitch would appear. It could block you out on the second question of exam, or it could be the final question. Just imagine how it felt when you have already answered 99% of exam questions just to be blocked by the glitch on the last question.

The only option available – is to refresh the page, losing all exam progress and starting over. Just to stuck in the glitch again. And again. Sometimes it took more than five tries to get a web page that does not end with a glitch and allows you to pass the exam.

Luckily, some tinkering with the page's HTML and CSS has made the equivalent of "open, sesame".

In my last attempt, the glitch showed up on question four out of ten. Normally, I’d reload the page and lose everything. But this time, I tried something else: I pressed the right mouse button exactly on the questions. That’s how you launch the Developer Tools in Firefox. Edge, Opera, Chrome have their interface a little bit different.

Oh, sorry. I forgot my browser has its interface in Cyrillic. I'll switch it to English for the next screenshot.

Anyway, search for developer tools and page inspection. Specifically, I pressed the Inspect button to see the HTML of the element that was blocking the page.

Here’s the block with the questions:

<form novalidate="" class="ng-untouched ng-pristine ng-valid">
  <section formarrayname="response" class="m-course-player__question__answers ng-untouched ng-pristine ng-valid">
    <label class="m-course-player__question__answers__item result valid ng-star-inserted">
      <input type="checkbox" value="/X" class="ng-untouched ng-pristine ng-valid">
      <span>/X</span>
    </label>
    <label class="m-course-player__question__answers__item result invalid ng-star-inserted">
      <input type="checkbox" value="/R" class="ng-untouched ng-pristine ng-valid">
      <span>/R</span>
    </label>
    <label class="m-course-player__question__answers__item result invalid ng-star-inserted">
      <input type="checkbox" value="/F" class="ng-untouched ng-pristine ng-valid">
      <span>/F</span>
    </label>
    <label class="m-course-player__question__answers__item result invalid ng-star-inserted">
      <input type="checkbox" value="/Y" class="ng-untouched ng-pristine ng-valid">
      <span>/Y</span>
    </label>
    <section class="overlay ng-star-inserted"></section>
  </section>
  <section class="m-course-player__question__feedback m-course-player__question__feedback--correct ng-star-inserted">
    Correct.
  </section>
</form>
  

Notice the <section> element with the class overlay. That’s the culprit - it was blocking interaction with the question inputs. Once I deleted that element using the developer tools, the page became responsive again.

With the overlay gone, I was able to continue the exam as if nothing had happened. No more refreshing, no more lost progress - just smooth sailing to the finish line.

So if you ever find yourself stuck in a similar situation, don’t panic. Sometimes, a little curiosity and a press of a button are all it takes to turn frustration into triumph.

Good luck with getting new certificates that will light up your office wall and your LinkedIn page!