Complete Performance Failure by NCARB and Prometric
I signed in to take my 2nd online proctor test 15 minutes before my exam, PDD. I went through the system checks, took my photos, waited in the queue for a proctor to be assigned, then was given an error message. I closed the exam, rebooted as instructed, tried again and was still locked out of the exam (Error BB02020).
I talked to Prometric technical support for 20 minutes trying and failing over and over to get my exam up and running. Finally Prometric's answer was... that I can't take the test. I have to reschedule.
Prometric explained my exam slot itself was "corrupted" on their end and they would need to reschedule me with a new confirmation number. The person on the phone gave me a case number and a phone number to call to potentially reschedule the exam for later in the same day.
I called the number he gave me, I waited on hold for 1hr and 15 minutes, to be told they couldn't do anything about it for another 24 hours and to call back then. I thought that was bad, then I called NCARB...
Apparently when Prometric messes up your appointment like this, NCARB needs 3-5 business days to correct it. After they "correct it" I have to reschedule myself again, as if I hadn't just waited 1 month for my appointment, to find the next available slot. I could be loosing another MONTH because of this.
My first experience with online proctoring during PPD was okay. My exam only crashed once and I was able to get back in and finish in time.
In what other world would this be okay? I make an appointment 1 month in advance, pay $235 up front, prepare day and night for this appointment, show up for the appointment to find out I need to try again another day because someone messed up and has no backup plan!
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Update 3/5/2021:
My account was credited a free exam seat credit. My PDD exam was still "Awaiting Score" until this morning preventing me from re-scheduling. For a few hours my PDD exam also showed an "Eligibility Expired" warning stating I need to resolve an eligibility issue with my local licensing board. That error eventually went away, as did the "Awaiting Score" notice.
I was able to re-schedule myself for this Sunday, only 4 days after my exam crash.
Despite this seemingly good news, I haven't heard a word from NCARB or Prometric. The last thing I heard from NCARB was that I would receive an email in 3-5 business days telling me I can reschedule. If I had taken their word an twiddled my thumbs for 3-5 days like they said to I would be delayed another week.
I'm glad I can take my exam again so soon, but I am not at all confident in the software to get me through this test without another crash to delay me a few days. This re-scheduling process has felt like flying in the dark, no communication.
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Update 3/8/2021:
I passed PDD! But not without some technical difficulties...
Reboot #1: I signed in 20 minutes before my 2:30pm appointment. I appeared to be frozen on a spinning loading wheel so I closed the program and restarted my computer. I signed in again and got in queue for a proctor.
Reboot #2: After waiting for a proctor for 20 minutes past my 2:30pm appointment I figured something must be wrong so I rebooted again. This was later confirmed to be the suggested procedure, as a wait time for a proctor longer than 15 minutes is considered "concerning" by Prometric and a restart should be performed.
Proctor Found: 50 minutes after my 2:30 appointment time a proctor appeared on my screen to start my exam. Apparently on Reboot #2 everything was fine and I was in queue for my proctor, I was just experiencing a very long wait time. When I rebooted I left my place in queue and had to start my wait time all over again, which turned out to be about 30 minutes.
Crash #1: I made it through all my non-case study questions quickly and left myself 1hr 45mins left for the case studies. Toward the end of Case Study #1 my exam crashed and showed the error BB01045 which Prometric told me means there was an interruption in the internet connection, even though I was connected with an ethernet cord... I had the same crash experience during my PPD exam, which also happened during the case study portion of my exam.
And thank you Michael, I already filled it out.
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