Technical Issues during the Exam

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    NCARB (Edited )

    Hi all,

    This is not what we expect from our test delivery vendor, PSI. Please reach out to our Customer Relations team, if you haven't already, and report your issues so we can work with PSI to ensure this doesn't happen in the future. NCARB's Customer Relations team will also be able to provide additional support on your technical issues. 

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    Kara Zhang

    I got the same issue. I took the exam at 9:00 01/19/2023. I took it in Richardson Texas.

     

    The case study freezes. I couldn't read the material when I tried to answer the 2nd question of the case study.

     

    Both of the case studies are like this.

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    Rodrigo Schmeil

    Kara thats great to know I was not the only one! Did you reach out to NCARB? and did they do anything about it? Cause ive talked to them twice already, and all they told me is I can take the exam again in 2 months. Also how did your PSI center assist you when you had these issues? 

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    Kara Zhang

    The workers didn't do anything when I ask them for help. They told me either I go back to finish my exam, or leave there and contact the NCARB.

    I chose to finish the exam because I though what if I can pass without finish the Case Study. But I did overestimate myself. I failed it.

    But I feel it is not fair to me, I paid the money and spent a lot of time to prepare the exam. And I can't read the scinario and files before answering the last 14 questions. (There are totally 75 questions) And I have to wait for 60 days.

     

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    Kara Zhang

    @Rodrigo Schmeil

    How did the PSI workers help me? Basically they did nothing that help. While they seemed to do something. They walked to my desk and ask me to show them. While I feel they don't understand it at all. They just say they can't do anything to help. They asked another senior guy if they can pause the time and help me to solve the problem, but the senior guy said he can't stop the exam.

    "EITHER GO BACK TO FINISH THE EXAM OR LEAVE HERE AND CALL NCARB." That  is the instruction I got from the workers. It doesn't help at all. 

    And they say they will submit a report to NCARB to report there were technical issues when I took the exam. But 1 hr later when I finished the exam, he didn't start to work on the report yet. I doubt if he will do it.

    Let God to judge it.

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    Jessika Amato

    I had the same issue yesterday on Project Management! And same, the Proctor had no idea what I was talking about when saying I could only see the scenario. They had ME call for assistance, was on hold for 25min and then suggested I called NCARB which was closed by that time. They did not stop my clock and the exam was terminated when I resumed.

    I called this morning and I was advised to take the case studies first, because apparently if you call within the first 30 minutes, you have the right to reschedule at no cost and without having to wait 60days to retake it. Instead I now have to wait 60 days because I got pretty far into the exam when the problem occurred. Also, they mentioned it’s a reoccurring problem on remote connection….

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    Rodrigo Schmeil

    NCARB, thanks for responding, but unfortunately I have been trying to talk to someone from customer service, and twice I was told that there is nothing they can do about it, and i have been waiting for a supervisor call to see if there is anything that can be done. All I was told is that it doesn't matter that I was directly instructed by your test delivery vendor, PSI, even them telling me to go ahead and finish the Exam, it will still count as a FAIL, and I will still have to wait the 60 day period. I would still appreciate some effort from NCARB to reconcile this situation, since this opportunity to pass was taken from me due to a technical issue, and lack of knowledge on your test delivery vendor. 

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    Dan Wu

    Same here, technical issue during my PA exam this week. It was definitely a horrible experience. I have tested at Prometric several times and all went smoothly. 

    I also called the customer relations team, and they told me there is nothing they can do except reschedule it after two months because of their protocol. Yes, they did a great job of keeping their testing content secret even during the exam.

    And how do I know it won't happen again, I have to wait for another 2 months or a year? 

     

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    Rodrigo Schmeil

    Dan, that’s a great point! They do a great job keeping their information secretive. Not even the candidate can see it! Haha also answering your question, after talking to ncarb 3 times, YES, this fail on THEIR system WILL count as a fail for YOU, so if this was your second attempt in the year, next one is your last one, and you WILL have to wait the 60 day period. Long story short, THEIR system fault, but YOU will be penalized! The only thing they do is give you the “free” seat!

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    Isaac Taylor

    I had the same issue on my CE exam this morning (01/20/2023) in the case study sections. The general description of the project loaded fine, but then when I went to a another tab I was stuck on that tab for the rest of the exam. I was able to finish the exam, and likely passed, but the problem added undue stress, as about 12% of my exam was based on information I didn't have access to. 

    My assumption was that the system had some issue handling the amount of vector information stored on those tabs (for both case study it got stuck on tabs of an entire CD set and a Gantt chart). 

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    Kristen Levin

    I took PPD yesterday morning (01/19/23) and experienced the same issue with the case study portion. The testing center employee was very nice and tried to work through it by putting me on different computers and calling support. I was given the same choice, walk away or finish the exam without the proper tabs to answer the questions. She said support knows that it's been an issue but does not have a solution. 

    It's extremely frustrating to spend time and money on preparing and taking exams and to have this happen. This is my last exam, I've already passed the other five, which makes this even more upsetting. This technical issue could have been the difference between passing (& completing the ARE in full) and failing. NCARB needs to make this right for anyone who has experienced this. 

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    Joanne Rimkeit

    @Rodrigo Schmeil, did anyone from NCARB tell you if you need to pay again for an exam seat when you reschedule?

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    Elif Erez

    I also had this issue - both on a practice test, and on the actual test (CE, taken 1/20). I scraped by a likely pass but it was a highly stressful experience. It seems like it’s widespread enough that NCARB should just stop administering these glitch-prone tests until they fix the bug that’s causing it. I’m honestly surprised it hasn’t been handled yet, given how big of a negative impact it’s having on candidates

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    Rodrigo Schmeil

    Joanne Rimkeit They did give me a free seat for an exam, and I was able to schedule it for 60 days from when I took it and it didnt work. 

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    Joanne Rimkeit

    @Rodrigo Schmeil, what do you mean "it didn't work"? Is this recent incident the 1st time they gave you a free seat?

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    Joanne Rimkeit

    @Jessika Amato, it is not a problem on only remote connection. I took my test in person and had the same issues.

    NCARB should include this in their ARE guidelines. What to do when the testing software malfunctions so that you don't FAIL and you can reschedule the exam immediately and not have to wait 60days.

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    Yvette Louka
    Happened to me today.
    Reading the amount of the same issue happening to my colleagues,
    Knowing that NCARB is and was aware of the issue (as per the NCARB associate who answered my phone call as well as the one who answered the PSI associate) and did not notify testers or testing centers that we should first check to see if the case study references are downloading or not before sitting for hours of brain abuse just to come to the end of the exam to find this. I believe the least and fair thing that NCARB should do here is to manually re-evaluate every test with this issue based on the exam without the case study questions. Not letting us have to go through the exam again. You’re teaching us how to act professionally so this is the least professional response we should expect from NCARB. 
    And I’m not just making this up because I failed. No I did study enough for the exam and I just passed PPD on my first try last week and I had full confidence going into this exam that I’m passing. Or reevaluate the exam giving full credit to case study questions. Bothe will be a fair response from NCARB to their technical issues. 
    I hope you look into this. 
    Respectfully. 
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    Yvette Louka

    The PSI associate told me to continue with my test because she tried reaching out to NCARB several times and got no help and they did not give her any advise of what I should do or if I should cancel my test or continue so this is what I did and now NCARB is treating this as a regular fail?

    This is unbelievable.

    I am going back today to PSI to get a copy of the incident report they have sent to NCARB.

    I can definitely foresee a big lawsuit here with all comments I have been reading yesterday and today.

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    Brigida Capicotto

    This same thing happened to me but I was unable to even continue to try and work through the test because the PSI worker while trying to blindly fix my issue locked me out of the test. I took the test on 1/18 and still have not gotten a resolution from NCARB. I got a test score report which is extremely unfair that there’s a possibility that if I fail the test when I retake it that I will have to wait a year to retake it.

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    Brian West

    HOW CAN YOU BLAME PSI??? HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW YOUR OWN TESTS!!!!???

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    Brian West

    Will the stimulus check come from PSI or NCARB? 

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    Gi Young Oh

    I had same technical issues yesterday, all case studies material tab frozen. 

    Since the case study is at the end, it is usually after many problems have been solved. According to the article and from blog (https://www.ncarb.org/blog/how-to-handle-are-technical-issues-during-online-proctored-exam), it is said that it is regarded as a test if it is 75% or more of questions are opened.

    But I think that this does not mean that unsolved problems after technical problems will be negative grade, which is totally ridiculous.

    It is reasonable for NCARB to convert open questions to a total score of 100, and recalculate the score based on it. I think it's common sense to give points.

    However looking some article here, if a technical problem is found after solving 75% of the problems, does it mean that the remaining 25 points are scored as incorrect questions automatically? If this is true, it's absolutely shocking... It is more than enough to win the lawsuit, and it is unfair from anyone's point of view.

    I don't think NCARB would do anything that much irresponsible by placing all the disadvantages caused by PSI technology issues on test takers.

     

    P.S. NCARB: 

    Please don't just declare that this technical problem will be solved. 

    Please tell us how to give another exam chance right away by cancelling the errored test from the count. This is common sense for this unfair test. Even if these solutions are provided, test takers who could not complete exam due to technical issues have been already paying a lot of sacrifices and suffering through unfortunate occasion caused by PSI technical issues.

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    Katelyn Frame

    It is still going on.

    I took my first test about 2 weeks ago and experienced the same things. I have been back and forth with NCARB's customer service. I have been insanely disappointed with how this is being handled and I can only assume there are so many more who have and will be affected. NCARB made claims I had all the time I needed, I viewed over 75% of the test PRIOR to technical issues, and that the test clock STOPPED when I had technical issues. NONE of that is true. One of those remarks were given by a higher-up and for some reason they could not look at when I started the test and when it ended to verify their assumptions before emailing days later. The clock keeps going. If it did stop, my test would have ended about 30-40 minutes past my expected end time. Never knew about the 75% thing or I would have not dedicate time to fill in remaining answers.

    My options in the test were to keep logging in when I was kicked out, to wait for the computer to load back up, and email NCARB directly. Quitting the test early was not presented as a helpful option, nor was any other help provided other then reporting it. It did nothing. I walked out of the testing facility in a daze and took a walk (shouldn't have done that really, it was a extremely dangerous city I drove to for this). I felt burned out and stolen from this testing experience. 

    NCARB took this as a "dampen experience." They may have given a refund to retake a failed test but no one is offering to pay for the therapy treatment needed for this abuse, offer real testing advise, or refund the money/effort spent on studies and travel. I thought there was only fail and pass...did not know there was another possibility! My family wants me to file an appeal or report it to the BBB. I am still looking into it and any other options.

    7 years in the making. For what?  :'(

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    Leta Berkowitz

    I experienced this issue last weekend when taking the PcM exam in Austin, TX! I had no idea about the 75% of the exam clause and I doubt my proctor had any clue either. I was told by the proctor that I should just finish the exam and contact NCARB afterwards. 

    When I openned my test, the first questions I went to were the case studies, and saw that it was missing text and basically completely frozen. This was also the case for the supplemental materials. We were able to resolve the issue by switching me over to another computer, but in the course of troubleshooting the issue, the clock kept running and I lost around 30 min of my exam time. And despite being able to look at all the questions, I definitely did not have enough time to give each one the thought it needed.

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