diff --git a/src/pages/exam/setup/ExamTemplateSetupPage.tsx b/src/pages/exam/setup/ExamTemplateSetupPage.tsx
index d92e680..21f9b82 100644
--- a/src/pages/exam/setup/ExamTemplateSetupPage.tsx
+++ b/src/pages/exam/setup/ExamTemplateSetupPage.tsx
@@ -159,7 +159,21 @@ const ExamTemplateSetupInner: React.FC = () => {
       setPdfError(null)
       try {
         const bytes = await examRepository.getTemplateSourcePdf(templateId)
-        pages = await loadPdfPageImages(bytes)
+        pages = await loadPdfPageImages(bytes, undefined, (partialPages) => {
+          const newPage = partialPages[partialPages.length - 1]
+          const allGeometries = pageGeometryFromImages(partialPages)
+          pageGeometriesRef.current = allGeometries
+          const ed = editorRef.current
+          if (ed) {
+            const geometry = allGeometries[partialPages.length - 1]
+            const shapeId = createShapeId(PDF_PAGE_IDS_PREFIX + newPage.pageNumber)
+            if (!ed.getCurrentPageShapes().find((s) => s.id === shapeId)) {
+              ed.createShapes([{ id: shapeId, type: PDF_PAGE_SHAPE_TYPE, x: geometry.x, y: geometry.y, isLocked: true, props: { w: geometry.w, h: geometry.h, src: newPage.src, pageNumber: newPage.pageNumber } } as any])
+              try { ed.sendToBack([shapeId as any]) } catch { /* */ }
+            }
+          }
+          setPdfStatus('ready')
+        })
         setPdfStatus(pages.length ? 'ready' : 'missing')
       } catch (pdfErr) {
         const pdfMsg = apiMessage(pdfErr).message
diff --git a/src/pages/exam/setup/pdfLoader.ts b/src/pages/exam/setup/pdfLoader.ts
index 3f7baa8..4e3bfae 100644
--- a/src/pages/exam/setup/pdfLoader.ts
+++ b/src/pages/exam/setup/pdfLoader.ts
@@ -12,20 +12,27 @@ export interface PdfPageImage {
   height: number
 }
 
-export async function loadPdfPageImages(pdfBytes: ArrayBuffer, targetWidth = PAGE_WIDTH): Promise<PdfPageImage[]> {
+export async function loadPdfPageImages(
+  pdfBytes: ArrayBuffer,
+  targetWidth = PAGE_WIDTH,
+  onPageReady?: (pages: PdfPageImage[]) => void,
+): Promise<PdfPageImage[]> {
   const pdf = await pdfjsLib.getDocument({ data: new Uint8Array(pdfBytes) }).promise
   const pages: PdfPageImage[] = []
+  // Reuse a single canvas across all pages to avoid allocating ~120 MB of canvas memory
+  // for a typical 36-page exam paper.
+  const canvas = document.createElement("canvas")
 
   for (let pageNumber = 1; pageNumber <= pdf.numPages; pageNumber += 1) {
     const page = await pdf.getPage(pageNumber)
     const baseViewport = page.getViewport({ scale: 1 })
     const scale = targetWidth / baseViewport.width
     const viewport = page.getViewport({ scale })
-    const canvas = document.createElement("canvas")
     canvas.width = Math.ceil(viewport.width)
     canvas.height = Math.ceil(viewport.height)
     const context = canvas.getContext("2d")
     if (!context) throw new Error("Unable to create PDF render canvas")
+    context.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height)
     await page.render({ canvasContext: context, viewport }).promise
     pages.push({
       pageNumber,
@@ -33,6 +40,7 @@ export async function loadPdfPageImages(pdfBytes: ArrayBuffer, targetWidth = PAG
       width: canvas.width,
       height: canvas.height,
     })
+    onPageReady?.([...pages])
   }
 
   return pages