NCARB (host) connection crashes during exam
I was testing for PDD today, an easy $300 test since I had to reschedule, and twice during the "case study" portion NCARB's servers became unavailable.
What is NCARB's policy regarding this? Next time, shall I refuse to continue the exam? I lost time during this exam at the very end, and my mojo as well. The connection error was clear: it was NCARB, not Prometric, that lost the connection (and during the most intense part of the exam). Prometric documented the incident.
Please, NCARB, are you going to allow me to re-take this exam free-of-charge? What does NCARB do for it's customers (hostages) when it's software malfunctions during an exam?
Is NCARB doing anything to address the increasing frustration by test-takers with 5.0? These exams should be administered on two computer screens, considering the number of drawings, the resizing of drawings, and scrolling required. Some of the diagrams and text on my PDD exam was so small they were illegible.
I suggest test-takers who read this bring these issues up with local AIA chapters as they have attorneys that may be willing to litigate these issues on behalf of future architects. Or bring the issues up with your state Architect Boards. In California, it's CAB: https://www.cab.ca.gov.
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I just spent over an hour with an NCARB representative discussing the latency issues that I experienced during my recent PPD exam. I have lost track of how much time I have spent trying to resolve this problem and have NCARB admit there was a problem... even when the Prometric staff told me that this is a very frequent/common problem.
I have continuously requested to speak with a manager and, after an entire week, have still been unable to speak with one.
I was told by a representative that NCARB "looks at the facts" when assessing whether or not a candidate is eligible for a seat credit. Although I attempted to make the point that the overall test conditions (e.g. delays, connection issues, etc.) and how they affect the test taker are facts, this seemed to fall on deaf ears. Since I finished my exam (i.e. completed all of the questions - even though the last half of the case study questions were done in a mad rush due to network lag/delay issues), NCARB seems to equate this to an acceptable test experience.
I was also told that NCARB "accounts for delays" experienced during an exam due to network issues. I was unable to receive a specific answer regarding how these delays are accounted for. During my exam, it took roughly 5-10 seconds for each page of the case study documents to load each time. When I received a "LOADING" message instead of the actual contents of a reference document, the clock was still ticking. The clock counts down; how was time "accounted for"?
I have created a post asking for a response to this question. The link is below:
I would be very curious to know just how many people face these types of network issues and are brushed off by NCARB.
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